Install VirtualBox 6.1 on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04/16.04 & Debian 10/9

How do I Install VirtualBox 6.1 on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04/16.04 & Debian 10/9?. VirtualBox 6.1 has been released with plenty of new features waiting for you to explore.  VirtualBox is a powerful,feature-rich, high-performance and open source x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization solution for both home users and enterprise.

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 new features on Changelog for VirtualBox. Without further ado, let’s dive into the installation of VirtualBox 6.1 on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04/16.04 & Debian 10/9.

Step 1: Update your system

We always recommend you run latest stable versions of your installed packages. if you don’t want to upgrade any package, just update APT package index and skip the upgrade.

sudo apt update
sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo reboot

Step 2: Import apt repository

Add repository key

wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Step 3:  Add the VirtualBox Repository

Once the system is updated and Repository key imported, you can add VirtualBox Repository to it by running the commands below:

Ubuntu 20.04:

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

Ubuntu 18.04/16.04 & Debian 10/9:

echo "deb [arch=amd64] http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian $(lsb_release -sc) contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list

Step 4:  Install VirtualBox & Extension pack

Finally, install VirtualBox on your Ubuntu 20.04/18.0416.04 | Debian 10/9 system by running the commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r) dkms
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-6.1

Download Extension Pack:

cd ~/
wget https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/6.1.6/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-6.1.6.vbox-extpack

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 Ubuntu / Debian

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 interface looks like below:

You should now have the latest version of VirtualBox installed on your Ubuntu 10.04/18.04/16.04 & Debian 10/9 system.

Ready to start using VirtualBox?, check our guides below:

How to Install Minikube on Ubuntu

How to install Fedora on VirtualBox & Vagrant