How To Install virtualbox-guest-utils on Kali Linux

In this tutorial we learn how to install virtualbox-guest-utils on Kali Linux. virtualbox-guest-utils is x86 virtualization solution - non-X11 guest utilities

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install virtualbox-guest-utils on Kali Linux.

What is virtualbox-guest-utils

virtualbox-guest-utils is:

VirtualBox is a free x86 virtualization solution allowing a wide range of x86 operating systems such as Windows, DOS, BSD or Linux to run on a Linux system.

This package provides the non-X11 guest utilities for VirtualBox. These utilities are meant to be run inside the virtual machine. They provide closer integration and allow to share data through shared folders between the host system and the virtual machine.

Either the virtualbox-guest-dkms or the virtualbox-guest-source package is also required in order to compile the kernel modules needed for virtualbox-guest-utils.

There are three methods to install virtualbox-guest-utils on Kali Linux. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install virtualbox-guest-utils Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install virtualbox-guest-utils using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install virtualbox-guest-utils

Install virtualbox-guest-utils Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install virtualbox-guest-utils using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install virtualbox-guest-utils

Install virtualbox-guest-utils Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude on Kali Linux first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Kali Linux. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install virtualbox-guest-utils using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install virtualbox-guest-utils

How To Uninstall virtualbox-guest-utils on Kali Linux

To uninstall only the virtualbox-guest-utils package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove virtualbox-guest-utils

Uninstall virtualbox-guest-utils And Its Dependencies

To uninstall virtualbox-guest-utils and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Kali Linux, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove virtualbox-guest-utils

Remove virtualbox-guest-utils Configurations and Data

To remove virtualbox-guest-utils configuration and data from Kali Linux we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge virtualbox-guest-utils

Remove virtualbox-guest-utils configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove virtualbox-guest-utils configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge virtualbox-guest-utils

Dependencies

virtualbox-guest-utils have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install virtualbox-guest-utils package on Kali Linux using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.