How To Install VirtualBox 7.0 on Ubuntu 24.04|22.04|20.04

In this tutorial we are performing the installation of VirtualBox 7.0 on Ubuntu 24.04|22.04|20.04?. VirtualBox 7.0 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.

The following major features added to VirtualBox 7.0:

• Added a new GUI utility which lists performance statistics (CPU usage, RAM usage, disk I/O rate, etc.) of running guests
• Virtual machines can be fully encrypted now, including the VM config logs and saved states (CLI only for now)
• Improved GUI theme support on all platforms – Linux and macOS use native engine while for Windows host it is separately implemented.
• Implemented ability to wait for and/or reboot the guest when updating Guest Additions via VBoxManage
• Implemented initial support for automatic updating of Guest Additions for Linux guests
• Linux Guest Additions: Reworked guest screen re-size functionality, added basic integration with some of guest Desktop Environments
• Added virtual TPM 1.2 and 2.0 devices
• Implemented new 3D support based on DirectX 11 (and DXVK on non Windows hosts)
• Added EFI support for Secure Boot
• Added experimental support for guest debugging through GDB and highly experimental support for guest debugging through KD/WinDbg
• The EHCI and XHCI USB controller devices are now part of the open source base package
• Cloud networks can now be configured via Network Manager tool same way as it is done for Host-only and NAT networks
• Cloud virtual machines can be added to Virtual Machine Manager and controlled as local VMs

Check out the complete list of VirtualBox new features on Changelog for VirtualBox. Without further ado, let’s dive into the installation of VirtualBox 7.0 on Ubuntu Linux system.

Install VirtualBox 7.0 on Ubuntu

Follow the steps outlined in this article to install, configure and use VirtualBox 7.0 on Ubuntu.

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

2) Import VirtualBox GPG Keys

Add repository key:

#Download
curl https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc | gpg --dearmor > oracle_vbox_2016.gpg
curl https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox.asc | gpg --dearmor > oracle_vbox.gpg

#Install on system
sudo install -o root -g root -m 644 oracle_vbox_2016.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/
sudo install -o root -g root -m 644 oracle_vbox.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/

3) Add VirtualBox 7.0 Repository

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

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

4) Install VirtualBox 7.0 and Extension pack

Finally, install VirtualBox on your Ubuntu system by running the commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r) dkms
sudo apt install virtualbox-7.0

Install VirtualBox Extension Pack

Download VirtualBox Extension Pack. You can download the debian package build manually  https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Or with wget command line downloader

cd ~/
VER=$(curl -s https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/LATEST.TXT)
wget https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/$VER/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-$VER.vbox-extpack

Once the file is downloaded, install the extension pack using CLI:

sudo VBoxManage extpack install Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-*.vbox-extpack

Or by clicking on the Downloaded file.Click install and wait for the installation to complete.

5) Launch VirtualBox 7.0 on Ubuntu

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 Linux system.

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

• How to Install Minikube on Ubuntu
• How to install Fedora on VirtualBox & Vagrant