How To Fix “Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)” VirtualBox Error In Ubuntu

You installed VirtualBox on your Ubuntu system to run virtual machines. However, when you try to start a VM, you get the frustrating "Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)" error. This is one of the common problems with Virtualbox.

This problem prevents VirtualBox from working properly. In this guide, we provide step-by-step instructions to resolve it. By the end, your VirtualBox setup will run smoothly, letting you utilize virtual machines without errors.

Introduction

I use Oracle VirtualBox to test various Linux and Unix distributions. I've tested many virtual machines in VirtualBox over the years.

Today, I started Ubuntu 18.04 server VM in my Ubuntu 18.04 desktop and I encountered with the following error:

Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)

The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver (vboxdrv) is either not loaded or there is a permission problem with /dev/vboxdrv. Please reinstall virtualbox-dkms package and load the kernel module by executing

'modprobe vboxdrv'

as root.

where: suplibOsInit what: 3 VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_INSTALLED (-1908) - The support driver is not installed. On linux, open returned ENOENT.

"Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)" Error in Ubuntu

I clicked OK to close the message box and and then noticed another one in the background.

Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Server.

The virtual machine 'Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Server' has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1 (0x1).

Result Code: 
NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component: 
MachineWrap
Interface: 
IMachine {85cd948e-a71f-4289-281e-0ca7ad48cd89}

The virtual machine has terminated unexpectedly during startup with exit code 1 (0x1)

I didn't know what to do first. So, I ran the following command to check if it helps.

$ sudo modprobe vboxdrv

And, I got this error:

modprobe: FATAL: Module vboxdrv not found in directory /lib/modules/5.0.0-23-generic

After carefully reading the both error messages, I realized that I should update the Virtualbox application.

If you ever run into the "Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908)" error with VirtualBox in Ubuntu and its variants like Linux Mint, all you have to do is just reinstall or update the "virtualbox-dkms" package using command:

$ sudo apt install virtualbox-dkms

Or, it is much better to update the whole system:

$ sudo apt upgrade

Now the error has gone and I could start VMs from VirtualBox without any issues.

Related read:

• Solve "Cannot change group vboxusers for device /dev/vboxdrv" Virtualbox Error
• Solve “Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)” VirtualBox Error In Arch Linux