Error when trying to start minikube

Question

I try to start minikube with minikube start but i get the following error:

charlie@charlie:~$ minikube start Starting local Kubernetes v1.10.0 cluster... Starting VM... E0705 00:39:35.199099 20888 start.go:168] Error starting host: Error creating host: Error executing step: Running precreate checks. : We support Virtualbox starting with version 5. Your VirtualBox install is "WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module\n available for the current kernel (4.15.0-23-generic) or it failed to\n
load. Please recompile the kernel module and install it by\n\n
sudo /sbin/vboxconfig\n\n You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.\n5.2.12r122591". Please upgrade at https://www.virtualbox.org.

Retrying.

I tried starting the virtualbox but i get the following error:

charlie@charlie:~$ virtualbox WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module available for the current kernel (4.15.0-23-generic) or it failed to load. Please recompile the kernel module and install it by
       sudo /sbin/vboxconfig

     You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.

I tried running sudo /sbin/vboxconfig but i get the following error:

charlie@charlie:~$ sudo /sbin/vboxconfig vboxdrv.sh: Stopping VirtualBox services. vboxdrv.sh: Building VirtualBox kernel modules. vboxdrv.sh: Starting VirtualBox services. vboxdrv.sh: Building VirtualBox kernel modules. vboxdrv.sh: failed: modprobe vboxdrv failed. Please use 'dmesg' to find out why.

There were problems setting up VirtualBox. To re-start the set-up process, run /sbin/vboxconfig as root.

I tried as root but still the error above even though i am root. I am using Ubuntu 18.04 with minikube v0.28.0

There is some clarification needed. The problem is probably with VirtualBox installation. 1) How did you install the VirtualBox? Did you use official documentation for that? https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads#Debian-basedLlinuxdistributions if not try to reinstall with this instructions . 2) Is Secure Boot turned on? — aurelius, Jul 05 '18 at 10:46
the instalation of virtualbox was done according to the instructions on the site and the secure boot is disabled — Charles, Jul 05 '18 at 21:37
Maybe [this answer I just posted here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39030662/cant-install-virtualbox-in-arch/59536730#59536730) can help you — Adriana Hernández, Dec 30 '19 at 20:56
Check [my answer in this post](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38437264/i-cant-execute-command-modprobe-vboxdrv/59536913#59536913), maybe could help :) — Adriana Hernández, Mar 08 '22 at 12:06

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 11 '18 at 15:46

I tried to recreate the problem, and it is for sure Virtualbox on Ubuntu 18.04 specific. As I can't remove secure boot on my laptop to fully check it, I tried some solutions from the forums, but secureboot stands on my way. I would suggest trying install linux-headers, dist-upgrade and check if you have the required packages:

sudo apt-get -y install gcc make linux-headers-$(uname -r) dkms

sudo apt-get install dkms
sudo apt-get install virtualbox

So if this does not work, I suggest using different vm-driver. You can use minikube start --vm-driver=none or try different hypervisor. I can also say that it does work if Ubuntu 18.04 is a VM while using --vm-driver=none.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 30 '19 at 07:09

Just having the exact issue.

leo@tmv:~/dev/kubernetes$ minikube start --kubernetes-version v1.9.4
Starting local Kubernetes v1.9.4 cluster...
Starting VM...
E0430 16:10:25.962867    1225 start.go:180] Error starting host: Error creating host: Error executing step: Running precreate checks.
: We support Virtualbox starting with version 5. Your VirtualBox install is "WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module\n         available for the current kernel (4.15.0-47-generic) or it failed to\n         load. Please recompile the kernel module and install it by\n\n           sudo /sbin/vboxconfig\n\n         You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.\n5.2.22r126460". Please upgrade at https://www.virtualbox.org.

 Retrying.
E0430 16:10:25.964185    1225 start.go:186] Error starting host:  Error creating host: Error executing step: Running precreate checks.
: We support Virtualbox starting with version 5. Your VirtualBox install is "WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module\n         available for the current kernel (4.15.0-47-generic) or it failed to\n         load. Please recompile the kernel module and install it by\n\n           sudo /sbin/vboxconfig\n\n         You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.\n5.2.22r126460". Please upgrade at https://www.virtualbox.org
E0430 16:10:27.905310    1225 util.go:151] Error uploading error message: Error sending error report to https://clouderrorreporting.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/k8s-minikube/events:report?key=AIzaSyACUwzG0dEPcl-eOgpDKnyKoUFgHdfoFuA, got response code 400

It's VM issue. Solution:

fully remove (include all the vm images files) and reinstall virtualbox 6
if using ubuntu 18 - https://tecadmin.net/install-virtualbox-on-ubuntu-18-04/

After installation, try virtualbox cmd, if no issues, then you should be good to minikube start

Error when trying to start minikube

2 Answers2