If you are evaluating a Linux distribution using Virtualbox, and you want to have a graphics resolution better than 1024×768, or proper sound/accelerated graphics support, then you will need to install the Virtualbox guest additions.
Features/Benefits to using the (official) Guest Additions:
- High Resolution Support
- Accelerated Graphics Support
- Drag and Drop files etc between host and guest OS
- Shared copy and paste between guest and host OS
- File sharing between guest and host OS (eg via SMB/Windows Shares)
- Full multimedia support (audio etc).
Installing the Guest Additions on Solus OS [Video]
Unfortunately there’s no native Guest Additions package for Solus. Here’s a quick video guide on how to do this. If you want to do it on another distribution, keep reading below the video.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkSnZDnWTnw[/embedyt]
Using the additions on Ubuntu or other distributions
The steps here can be used on other Linux distributions, however you will need to install the Linux kernel headers package for your relevant distro yourself. Note that more later versions of Ubuntu (and its derivatives) already have support for the VirtualBox guest additions, in fact, they even have a package in the main ubuntu repository, however the Ubuntu packaged version only enables some of the features. If you want all of the features of the official VirtualBox Guest Additions, simply mount the guest additions from the devices menu and run the installer:
- Click “Devices” on the VirtualBox menu at the top of the screen
- Click “Install Guest Additions CD Image…”
- Follow the on-screen prompts as needed, enter your password, etc.
- Restart the virtual machine
To enable all the features
- Machine -> Settings -> General -> Advanced -> enable Shared Clipboard and/or Drag’n’Drop.
- Make sure View -> Auto-resize Guest Display is checked.