Can't install Debian Stretch in VirtualBox

[loukingjr]

Someone suggested I try changing a copy of Debian 8 Stable VB guest to testing. I changed the repos to testing, updated everything then the guest would no longer boot. Just end up with a black screen with a cursor. I then downloaded the Debian Stretch daily build, installed it and after a restart ended up with the same result. Any ideas why 'Stretch' won't run as a guest in VitualBox?

TIA.

[morks]

Hi,

I ran into the same problem (installing debian strech in virtual box / host: win7) today, but was able to resolve it by installing a couple of additional packages in the guest system.

- start the virtual machine
- once you're seeing the blank screeen with the (flashing) underscore (_) change to a terminal by using CTRL + ALT + F2 (or one of the other F keys) (a terminal login should be displayed after using this combination) (alternatively one may boot the recovery mode which does not start any X11 instance but provides a terminal)
- install (in the guest system) dkms
- install (in the guest system) the linux header package for the installed kernel (e.g. linux-headers-3.16.0-4-686-pae) - if not yet installed
- install (in the guest system) virtualbox-guest-dkms
- restart the guest system

Afterwards you should see the login screen

[kalle123]

Hi,

I ran into the same problem today, but was able to resolve it by installing a couple of additional packages.

- install dkms
- install the linux header package for your kernel (e.g. linux-headers-3.16.0-4-686-pae) - if not yet installed
- install virtualbox-guest-dkms
- restart

Afterwards you should see the login screen

What host? You installed those 3 packages in host or guest?

br

[morks]

What host? You installed those 3 packages in host or guest?

br

host: Win7
install these packages in the guest system (Debian Stretch)

[stevepusser]

If you had the same problem, a blank screen with a flashing cursor, how did you manage to install anything? Did you manage to switch to another virtual terminal and get a login screen on the CLI?

[Richard]

I ran into the same problem (installing debian strech in virtual box / host: win7) today, but was able to resolve it by installing a couple of additional packages in the guest system.
- install dkms
- install the linux header package for your kernel (e.g. linux-headers-3.16.0-4-686-pae) - if not yet installed
- install virtualbox-guest-dkms
- restart
Afterwards you should see the login screen

I think he means to say that he installed dkms, headers, vbox-guest-dkms, and virtualbox-guest-dkms into the host;
since, all this has to be installed in the host for use by the guest.

[kalle123]

host: Win7
install these packages in the guest system (Debian Stretch)

I think he means to say that he installed dkms, headers, vbox-guest-dkms, and virtualbox-guest-dkms into the host;
since, all this has to be installed in the host for use by the guest.

[morks]

If you had the same problem, a blank screen with a flashing cursor, how did you manage to install anything? Did you manage to switch to another virtual terminal and get a login screen on the CLI?

once the blank screen with the flashing cursor (in my case it was an underscore) is displayed I was able to change to a terminal by pressing CTRL + ALT + F2. Alternatively one can also boot into the recovery mode.

I think he means to say that he installed dkms, headers, vbox-guest-dkms, and virtualbox-guest-dkms into the host;
since, all this has to be installed in the host for use by the guest.

Nope, all the packages from my second post needs to be installed in the guest system (as my host is a Win7 machine, deb packages cannot be installed there).

btw. I try to keep the steps in the second post up to date...

[ismaeltxu]

I've alse installed Stretch in Oracle VM VirtualBox 5.0.8 and the screen in blinking asking for login.

When I put the login name and password (is not easy: it's blinking) goes to terminal, not to graphical interface.

When I try

#apt-get install dkms

the answer is can't access to repo

What can I try?

[stevepusser]

What desktop environment did you pick at install? GNOME 3 is the default, and it requires 3D accelerated graphics in the guest, which A) have to be enabled in the machine's settings, and B) require the guest additions be compiled and installed in the guest after the install. Even then, the 3D is limited.

What happens if you pick a less demanding desktop, such as xfce4 or lxde?

About the repo error, you can try "apt-get update", to build a package database. If that throws errors, you may not have a net connection in the guest, or something is wrong with /etc/apt/sources.list (see its contents with cat /etc/apt/sources.list)

[prahladyeri]

What worked for me was switching from gdm to lightdm. The gdm of stretch (at least on testing) seems to have some disagreement with virtualbox. Hold down the shift key right from the bios screen, then boot into recovery mode, then install lightdm using apt-get, and finally choose lightdm in the configuration screen that follows.