Improving Performance by Installing Guest Additions

To get better performance out of our machine, we install the VirtualBox Guest Additions, which is a collection of drivers and programs provided by VirtualBox. With the Guest Additions installed, we get better video performance, and we’re also able to share files with the host operating system or copy and paste text between our host and guest operating systems.

Installing packages

First, we need to install the following additions. Open a terminal, and install the make, gcc, perl, and dkms packages. These packages will let VirtualBox modify the Ubuntu kernel when we install the Guest Additions:

$ sudo apt install make gcc perl dkms

Starting installation process

Once those packages install, select the “Devices” menu in VirtualBox and choose “Insert Guest Addition CD Image” from the menu. Ubuntu then displays a message asking if we want to run the software. Choose “Run” to start the installation process.

Setting up a password

We’re prompted for our password. The installation process begins once we enter it.

Once the installation completes, we restart Ubuntu by typing the following in the Ubuntu terminal:

$ sudo reboot

We can set our shared folders and clipboard settings under the “Devices” menu. Review the VirtualBox documentation for more on how those options work.

We now have an environment we can use to practice working on the command line.