Install Guest-Additions on Ubuntu 10.10 Beta : Workaround

I took some time today to check out Ubuntu 10.10 Beta. So far I’m impressed with some of the improvements, and I’ll blog about those later, but in the meantime I thought I’d share a workaround I came across in getting Guest Additions working when running Ubuntu 10.10 inside VirtualBox.

My first attempt at getting Guest Additions installed was by mounting the CD and running the command:

sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run

While this attempted to compile the drivers necessary for Guest Additions, it never seemed to work. After repeated reboots and rebuilds, I could never get a better resolution. After a little searching I came across a solution that seems to take care of the problem.

To install Guest Additions in Ubuntu 10.10 Beta, you’ll need to install a pre-packaged version available through the repositories. You can run the command below, or click on the URL:

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-ose-guest-x11

After a quick reboot you should be set.

I hope you enjoy Ubuntu 10.10 Beta (and forward). It’s the little things like this that make testing it in a virtual machine worthwhile.

9 thoughts on “Install Guest-Additions on Ubuntu 10.10 Beta : Workaround”

steve p. 2010/09/20

Thanks so much for this. As you say, it makes testing the beta so much more enjoyable.
Steve.

Benoit S. 2010/10/02

Thanks a lot for this quick tutorial, I was desperate to have a better resolution on my Ubuntu guest.
You saved my day 😀

Methuselah 2010/10/07

Thanks! It took me two resizings of the window to get the full 1920×1080, but now I’m a happy camper.

Colek 2010/10/26

as you say, installing vboxlinuxaddition not giving a significant effect. then i follow your instruction here, and it work. many thanks.

Heath Jordan 2010/11/26

Thanks for these instructions. You definitely saved me and probably many others some time.

maks 2010/11/26

Thanks for your instructions!
But I still have the problem with resolution. There are only 2 variants in Monitor Preferences: 640×480 and 800×600. How do you think, what is the reason for this problem?