How to Install VirtualBox on Ubuntu 24.04

VirtualBox is a software program that lets you run multiple operating systems on a single computer. It’s a type of software called a hosted hypervisor. It allows us to create Virtual Machines (VMs). Each VM is a separate computer with its operating system but with shared resources from our Physical system. Depending on Computer / Laptop resources multiple VMs can be created with different Operating Systems for each on the same machine.

Why Use a Virtual Machine?

From running multiple operating systems to allocating resources and testing complex network setups, virtual machines give you an isolated sandbox on your local computer. They are commonly used by:

IT professionals for testing, staging, and software validation.
Developers to create clean, isolated environments without polluting their host system.
Students and educators to experiment with different Linux distributions safely.

If you need an isolated environment on your Ubuntu 24.04 workstation, VirtualBox is one of the most reliable free options available. Let’s get it installed.

There are initial system requirements and a few steps to install VirtualBox on Ubuntu 24.04.

Prerequisites

A laptop/computer running on Ubuntu must be 64-bit
Access to root user
A terminal
Minimum 2 GB of RAM, recommended 4GB or more
Enough free disk space to accommodate the software itself. and VMs. 40 to 60 GB
A 64-bit processor with virtualization technology enabled, dual or higher is better.
Better internet connection

Before I begin, I need to install a few peer dependencies and update our system.

Update the System Packages

Update your system using the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Terminal showing sudo apt upgrade and update commands

Installing Peer Dependencies

sudo apt install gcc make libx11-dev libxext-dev libqt5gui5 libqt5dbus5 libqt5network5 libssl-dev liblzf1 libqt5help5 libqt5opengl5t64 libqt5printsupport5t64 libqt5sql5-sqlite libqt5sql5t64 libqt5xml5t64 libtpms0

Terminal installing VirtualBox peer dependencies packages

VirtualBox peer dependencies installation completed

Okay, alright. It’s time to move forward to our actual installation.

Installing VirtualBox

Okay, so the initial step is downloading VirtualBox from their official website. Use direct link.

VirtualBox download page from official website

Step 1: Open the Terminal

Open the terminal using Ctrl + Alt + T.

Update package lists after adding the peer dependencies:

sudo apt update

Change to your Downloads directory:

cd Downloads

ls -lta

Terminal listing Downloads directory with ls -lta

Step 2: Installing

After locating the deb file, now install it. Use the following command to install it.

sudo: full root access

dpkg -i: to extract and install the binaries into the system

location/path: Location or path of the .deb file

After summing up, the command should be following

sudo dpkg -i virtualbox-7.0_7.0.18-162988\~Ubuntu\~noble_amd64.deb

Terminal running sudo dpkg -i virtualbox deb package command

Hit enter and see the magic. And boom!!!.

VirtualBox installation completed successfully in terminal

Step 3: Open VirtualBox and Enjoy

Oracle VM VirtualBox application running on Ubuntu 24.04

That covers the full installation of Oracle VM VirtualBox on Ubuntu 24.04. If you hit any errors during the dpkg step, ensure that all peer dependencies were installed properly or run sudo apt --fix-broken install to resolve missing libraries.

I ran into a few snags with missing packages during my initial setup and had to clean them up before getting it to run smoothly. Following these steps will save you that trial and error.