How To Install VirtualBox 6.1 on Kali Linux / Linux Mint

Welcome to our Virtualization guide on how to install VirtualBox 6.1 on Kali Linux / Linux Mint 19. VirtualBox is an open source, high-performance Virtualization solution being developed by Oracle Corporation. It is a commonly used tool among Developers and System Administrators.

For Fedora – How to Install VirtualBox 6 on Fedora

VirtualBox 6.1 New Features

The following major new features were added:

• Implemented support for exporting a virtual machine to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
• User interface: greatly improved HiDPI and scaling support, including better detection and per-machine configuration
• Major rework of user interface with simpler and more powerful application and virtual machine set-up
• User interface: a new file manager enabling user to control the guest file system and copy files between host and guest.
• Graphics: major update of 3D graphics support for Windows guests, and VMSVGA 3D graphics device emulation on Linux and Solaris guests
• Added support for surround speaker setups (as used by Windows 10 Build 1809)
• Added utility vboximg-mount on Apple hosts to access the content of guest disks on the host
• Added support for using Hyper-V as the fallback execution core on Windows host, to avoid the inability to run VMs at the price of reduced performance

Check out the complete list of VirtualBox 6.1 new features on Changelog for VirtualBox 6.1

Install VirtualBox 6.1 on Kali Linux / Linux Mint

Below are the steps you need to install VirtualBox 6.1 on Kali Linux / Linux Mint.

Step 1: Update your system

Ensure your system is up-to-date.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

Perform a reboot if it’s required:

[ -f /var/run/reboot-required ] && sudo reboot -f

Step 2: Import apt repository

Add repository key

curl -fsSL https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc|sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/oracle_vbox_2016.gpg
curl -fsSL https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox.asc|sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/oracle_vbox.gpg

Step 3: Add the VirtualBox Repository

Once the system is updated and Repository key imported, you can add VirtualBox Repository.

Kali Linux:

echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bullseye contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list

Linux Mint:

### Linux Mint 21 ###
echo "deb [arch=amd64] http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jammy contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list

### Linux Mint 20 ###
echo "deb [arch=amd64] http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian focal contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list

Step 4: Install VirtualBox & Extension pack

Finally, install VirtualBox 6.1 on your Kali Linux / Linux Mint system by running the commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r) dkms
sudo apt install virtualbox virtualbox-ext-pack

You can also download it manually  https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads. Once the file is downloaded, install the extension pack by clicking on the Downloaded file. Click install and wait for the installation to complete.

Step 5: Launching VirtualBox 6.1 on Kali Linux / Linux Mint

Once VirtualBox is installed, you can launch it using the terminal or Desktop applications search.

From terminal, use:

$ virtualbox

The new user interface for VirtualBox 6.1 looks like below:

You should now have VirtualBox 6.1 installed on your Kali Linux / Linux Mint system.