In this tutorial I will show you how to install VirtualBox guest additions in Linux Mint virtual machine. To follow this tutorial, you need to have Linux Mint installed inside VirtualBox as a guest OS. I’m using Debian 10 Buster as the host OS, but the following method works for any host OS (including MacOS and Windows).

What is VirtualBox Guest Additions?

VirtualBox guest additions provide the following capabilities:

  1. Enable users to seamlessly move mouse pointer between host and guest OS.
  2. Allow guest OS to have read and write access to hard drives on the host OS, so you can transfer files between them.
  3. Power up the graphics/video ability of the guest OS. The screen resolution of guest OS can be automatically adjusted and 3D graphics can be accelerated.
  4. Enable bidirectional shared clipboard between host and guest OS, so you can copy and paste stuff between them.

How to Install Virtualbox Guest Additions in Linux Mint

Log into Linux Mint (guest OS) and run the following command in a terminal window to update software packages.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Please note that if a new Linux kernel is installed in the upgrade process, then you need to reboot Linux Mint virtual machine. After that, run the following command to install required packages for building kernel modules.

sudo apt install build-essential module-assistant

Next, prepare Linux Mint for building kernel module with the following command.

sudo m-a prepare

Then in the VirtualBox window menu bar, select Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD image.

If your host OS already has the CD image, then you will be asked if you want to run the software. Select Run.

Then you will need to enter your password in order to install the guest additions.

Output in terminal window.

Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing VirtualBox 6.0.10 Guest Additions for Linux........
VirtualBox Guest Additions installer
Copying additional installer modules ...
Installing additional modules ...
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Starting.
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Building the VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel
modules. This may take a while.
VirtualBox Guest Additions: To build modules for other installed kernels, run
VirtualBox Guest Additions: /sbin/rcvboxadd quicksetup 
VirtualBox Guest Additions: or
VirtualBox Guest Additions: /sbin/rcvboxadd quicksetup all
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Building the modules for kernel 4.15.0-55-generic.
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-55-generic
VirtualBox Guest Additions: Running kernel modules will not be replaced until
the system is restarted
Press Return to close this window...

Once the guest additions is installed, press Enter to close the terminal window and restart your Linux Mint virtual machine. Now the resizeable display should be working. The screen resolution of Linux Mint VM will adjust with the size of VirtualBox window. You can press right Ctrl and F keyboard shortcut to enter full-screen mode. You can now also configure shared folder and bidirectional shared clipboard.

If VirtualBox Can’t Find the Guest Additions CD Image

If your host OS doesn’t have the guest additions CD image, then it will ask you to click a button to download the CD image onto the host OS. Click Download.

If you can’t download it from the above window, then go to http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/. Select a version and download VBoxGuestAdditions ISO to your home directory. Once downloaded, insert the ISO image. If you see the following error, click Force Umount.

Enable Copy and Paste Clipboard Between Host and Guest

After installing guest additions, you can go to the virtual machine settings -> General -> Advanced and enable bidirectional clipboard.

Enable Shared Folder

Now you can also share files between host and guest OS via the shared folder feature. Go to the virtual machine settings. In the left pane, select Shared Folders. Then click on the add button to add a shared folder.

  • In the Folder Path field, select a folder on your host OS.
  • Tick on the Auto-mount checkbox so that the shared folder will be automatically mounted to the guest OS when virtual machine boots up.
  • In the Mount-point field, enter a path on the guest OS, such as a sub-directory in your user’s home directory.
  • Tick on the Make Permanent checkbox.

After saving the settings, you will find the shared folder appears in your home directory in the Linux Mint virtual machine, but only the root user and members of the vboxsf group have read and write access to this shared folder. So what we need to now is add your user to vboxsf group. Open up a terminal in Linux Mint and run the following command. Replace username with your real username.

sudo adduser username vboxsf

Log out of the current session and log back in. Now you should be able to access the shared folder.

Wrapping Up

I hope this tutorial helped you install VirtualBox guest additions in Linux Mint.You may also want to read:

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