Virtual box install Guest Additions in Linux

What are Guest Additions?

Guest Additions are those tools, which gives you extra functionality with the virtual machine. It contains all the drivers and system tools and applications that further optimize the working of your VM.
Advantages of Installing Guest Additions?

• Mouse Pointer integration.
  No need to use Right Ctrl key everytime you want to check something on base machine. Once you install the Guest Additions, all you have to do is, take the cursor out of VM. Same goes for coming inside VM. Just move the cursor and start using. it in VM.
• Shared Folders.
  You can directly go in tools, select shared folders and add the folder you want to share with base machine. If you put anything in that folder, it will automatically sync and show it on VM! Similarly, if you give the ‘Write’ permissions, you can write any file from VM into the shared older, and see it in the base machine.
• Better video support.
  You can use it in Full screen mode.
• Shared Clipboard.
  Whatever text you copy on base machine can be pasted in the Virtual Machine. How cool is that?

These are some advantages of installing Guest Additions.

Installation:

Now, we all know installing anything except servers is a child’s play in Windows. But when it comes to Linux, it is a uphill task. Frankly, installing Guest Additions is really not that tough. So lets see how to install Guest Additions in Linux in Virtual box.

1. Mount the Guest Additions.iso file.
   You can do this step in two ways. We will see both of them.
   Either select it directly from the tools menu
   

   Direct mount!

   Or
   Mount it manually from storage settings.

   

   Settings –> Storage

   

   Select the iso

   

   Check!

    

2. Open terminal and enter cd /media/V[tab]
   No need to write the whole address. Just write the first letter and use tab key, it will automatically select the file present.
   If you don’t know the location, open explorer, select any file and right click on it. Select details. And check the location.
   

   Select any file–> right click–> Click on properties

   

   check the location!

   

   Change directory to the CD drive

    

3. sudo su
   Change to superuser.
4. sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run or ./VboxLinuxAdditions.run
   Now we are in the CDROM. We need to run a script named ‘VboxLinuxAdditions.run‘ to install the guest additions.
   You can use ‘sh’ or you can directly write it with ‘./’
   But make sure you’re root user.
   If prompted enter Yes. By default this file has executable permissions.
   But if it doesn’t executes, try chmod +x VboxLinuxAdditions (Give executable permission to this file IF IT DOESN’T RUN)
   

   Run the script!

    

5. Installation Complete.
   
   

   Installation complete!

    

6. Restart.
   

   Login screen

    

7. Check Desktop.
   
   

   Desktop full screen!