Can I install virtualbox on bazzite/ublue

I really need to use virtualbox(not qemu/virt-man) on my computer for school. For some courses like windows server or linux II I need to use virtualbox, since the teachers and everyone are using virtualbox to configure the networking, and other virtualbox specific things, not to even mention the fact that as tasks we need to hand in virtual machines, which need to be from virtualbox. This week is the first week I've been using bazzite and I love it, but for my tasks I have been switching over to my other partition where I have virtualbox installed, so my question, is there any way to install virtualbox on bazzite? Since it'd save my ass haha
12 Replies
iljo
iljoOP2mo ago
I'm genuinely so lost, and I'd do anything for someone being able to help me, fr 🙏
friselis
friselis2mo ago
pretty sure u can but if u need emulation just go for libvirt and qemu and virtual machine manager
termdisc
termdisc2mo ago
have you tried the binary from the "All Distributions" link at https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads ?
iljo
iljoOP2mo ago
it requires out-of-tree kernel modules, so it won't according to bazzite contribs, so I won't try it ig, since it will probs not result into good stuff
friselis
friselis2mo ago
im telling u check virtual machine manager qemu and libvirt pretty simple to install
zany130
zany1302mo ago
The best I think you can do is run virtualbox inside of another OS running in libvirt. So a nested virtualization setup. I don't think you can install virtualbox on bazzite.
iljo
iljoOP2mo ago
yes, I'm already using that, but for my specific school tasks it isn't viable haha sounds crazy, I'il look into that some time soon when I have more time but thanks
zany130
zany1302mo ago
Yeah look up "nested virtualization" never done it but I know it's a thing. Not 100% sure if it will work between diffrent virtualization software so in your case libvirt -> virtualbox I would look up "libvirt virtualbox nested virtualization setup" or some thing like that. but it may just be easier to dualboot lol
HikariKnight
HikariKnight2mo ago
if you got an amd system, nested virtualization (depending on what the nested program is trying to do) can be a bit iffy
dae
dae2w ago
@iljo After a lot of trial and error I finally got VirtualBox working on bazzite by building the kernel modules in a custom image created using https://github.com/ublue-os/image-template, and I decided to look through the ublue server to see if it was something anyone could use and found this thread. If it's still something you're wanting to get working, here's what I had to do: https://github.com/Preston159/bazzite/blob/f6a493a60a9b708c2301bfefba64a6a3e38b364b/build.sh#L31C1-L65C5. It's definitely not perfect or pretty, but it gets the job done.
GitHub
bazzite/build.sh at f6a493a60a9b708c2301bfefba64a6a3e38b364b · Pres...
Contribute to Preston159/bazzite development by creating an account on GitHub.
dae
dae2w ago
Oops, mentioned the wrong person initially. @iljo
dae
dae2w ago
I've turned this into its own image if anyone needs it https://github.com/Preston159/bazzite-virtualbox
GitHub
GitHub - Preston159/bazzite-virtualbox
Contribute to Preston159/bazzite-virtualbox development by creating an account on GitHub.
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