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How to install VirtualBox Extension Pack to VirtualBox latest version on Linux?

I would also like to be able to verify extension pack has been successfully installed and and uninstall it, if I wish.

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4 Answers 4

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First, you need to adhere to the VirtualBox Extension Pack Personal Use and Evaluation License.

Second, I advise to only install this package if actually needed, here is the description of the VirtualBox Extension Pack functionality:

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure integration, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 Host Controller, Host Webcam, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM, Disk Encryption, NVMe.

Now, let's download the damn thing:

  • we need to store the latest VirtualBox version into a variable, let's call it LatestVirtualBoxVersion

  • download the latest version of the VirtualBox Extension Pack, one-liner follows

LatestVirtualBoxVersion=$(wget -qO - https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/LATEST-STABLE.TXT) && wget "https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/${LatestVirtualBoxVersion}/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-${LatestVirtualBoxVersion}.vbox-extpack"

Simplification attribution goes to guntbert. Thank you.

You might want to verify its integrity by comparing its SHA-256 checksum available in file:

https://www.virtualbox.org/download/hashes/${LatestVirtualBoxVersion}/SHA256SUMS

using

sha256sum -c --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS

Then, we install it as follows:

sudo VBoxManage extpack install --replace Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-${LatestVirtualBoxVersion}.vbox-extpack

To verify if it has been successfully installed, we may list the installed extension packs:

VBoxManage list extpacks

To uninstall the extension pack:

sudo VBoxManage extpack uninstall "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack"
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  • updating the Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack works fine with the listed command(s) ! Thanks! This is very important since the GUI does not work from remote: There is an access rights elevation request not shown in the GUI process (popup missing). Then fails. GUI always fails - CLI command shown above works fine. Thanks!!
    – opinion_no9
    Nov 6, 2021 at 9:40
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You can install the Extension Pack via the GUI too:

First you visit the VirtualBox download page, there under the heading
Virtualbox ... Extension Pack you find a link All supported platforms. A click on this link downloads the the extension pack.

Now from the Menu select File/Preferences

enter image description here

click on the icon I marked to select an extension file and proceed.

Of course the CLI method has the big advantage that you get it much quicker and need not scroll through the EULA...

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  • I still don't understand why this answer is underrated. Keeping the terminal out is a far simpler way of doing things.
    – X.LINK
    Feb 1, 2018 at 21:18
  • I couldn't get the GUI to work, but this may just be an anecdote
    – Oskar Skog
    Mar 22, 2020 at 12:19
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Keeping your Extension Pack up-to-date from CLI.

I am assuming you always have the latest VBox version installed (Oracle provides repositories for Ubuntu, Debian, OpnenSUSE, SLES, Fedora and Oracle Linux).

Get the version number of the latest version:

vboxversion=$(wget -qO - https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/LATEST.TXT)

wget -qO - keeps wget quiet and retrieves the content of that file to stdout, where it can be saved into the variable.

Download the latest Extension Pack

wget "https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/${vboxversion}/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-${vboxversion}.vbox-extpack"

Install it (even if an older version already exists)

sudo vboxmanage extpack install --replace Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-${vboxversion}.vbox-extpack
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Alternatively, if you're running Debian with the non-free repositories, or Ubuntu with multiverse:

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-ext-pack

This will display the license if you haven't already approved it, and if you agree to the license, download the appropriate version of the extension pack and install it. The extension pack will then be upgraded along with VirtualBox when necessary.

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  • The packages in the repos tend to be much older versions than what you get directly from the site. And as VBox is still moving rather fast...
    – guntbert
    Jun 16, 2016 at 20:24
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    @guntbert I just wanted to point out that the extension pack is packaged — of course if you download a newer version of VirtualBox from the VirtualBox web site, download the pack from there; but if you use the packaged VirtualBox in your distribution, use the matching pack from the distribution. Ubuntu 16.06 has 5.0.18 which isn't very old at all, and is newer than the version you get by following Burian's instructions!
    – Stephen Kitt
    Jun 16, 2016 at 21:07
  • Excellent point (I am used to finding the repo versions much more outdated) and a very good catch about the outdated Extensions version suggested in burian's anwer.
    – guntbert
    Jun 17, 2016 at 18:23
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    virtualbox-ext-pack downloads the "real" file from Oracle's VirtualBox website. Installing virtualbox-ext-pack broke my system, hanging waiting on a "license agreement" -- with no way to "agree". This is a bug in the post-install script, where you're getting whatever Oracle gave you. I'd tend to avoid this package and rather install the extension pack on the command-line via VBoxManager or the GUI (file>preferences>extensions>add, select pre-downloaded file, agree to license). askubuntu.com/questions/754815/…
    – michael
    May 26, 2017 at 17:24
  • @michael_n thanks for the update. Did you file a bug for your specific case, or is it one of the existing Launchpad bugs?
    – Stephen Kitt
    May 26, 2017 at 18:56

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