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I've installed the latest version of Kali Linux using virtualbox but I can't install guest additions, I found this question.

After uname -r command I have in my terminal:

4.15.0-kali2-amd64

And when I try to install linux-headers executing apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) command I have the following errors:

Unable to locate package linux-headers-4.15.0-kali2-amd64 Couldn't find any package by global 'linux-headers-4.15.0-kali2-amd64' Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-headers-4.15.0-kali2-amd64'

For comparison I've installed Ubuntu on Virtualbox and it is working fine.

Please tell me what can I do in this case?

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    Kudos on that edit @Rui, I much prefer that over linking to the usual Q&A ;-) Commented Aug 26, 2018 at 9:21
  • @StephenKitt I have my honest doubts this question seen from a broader angle has not been asked before. However, it is a waste to close a well written question with a good answer. Commented Aug 26, 2018 at 9:24

2 Answers 2

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Your kernel is out-of-date, and the corresponding kernel header packages are no longer available. You need to upgrade your system:

apt update apt upgrade

then reboot your VM. This should give you the current kernel, 4.17.0-kali3 as I write this, and allow you to install the corresponding header packages.

To install the guest additions then, run the following command:

apt install virtualbox-guest-dkms virtualbox-guest-x11 linux-headers-$(uname -r)
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  • I don't know how and why but my /etc/apt/sources.list file was empty i just added "Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-headers-4.15.0-kali2-amd64'" into this file and followed your steps in your answer and it is working fine for me. Thanks for your help! Commented Aug 26, 2018 at 9:42
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    Stephen, We are having multiple instances of people having the sources.list empty. It might be more than clueless users, or a statistic anomaly, something is wrong. Which in turns makes that duplicatte having more sense where applicable. Commented Aug 26, 2018 at 9:46
  • Yes, I think there are several (real) dupes for this question... Commented Aug 26, 2018 at 10:52
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When you run apt update and the kernel getting updated to a newer version. The command uname -r may takes the current older kernel version.

This mismatches between the updated kernel version and the old version the reason why it fails.

So to test: Do not update

  1. apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
  2. do not install the new headers
  3. run update and upgrade
  4. rerun apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
  5. error
  6. reboot
  7. rerun apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
  8. works..
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  • Welcome, The question is how to install the guest addition, not the linux-headers. Commented Sep 21, 2018 at 14:38
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    It does seem like the title of the question is aimed at installing the guest additions, but the question (confusingly) lands at asking how to get past the "unable to locate ... linux-headers..." issue. Commented Sep 21, 2018 at 15:07
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    @JeffSchaller Already mentioned on the accepted answer , upgrading the package , rebooting , installing the kernel headers and the guest additions. Commented Sep 22, 2018 at 10:13
  • That it does and I was providing feedback on why it fails. Sure it was the accepted answer but I wanted to provide additional information on WHY it actually fails. Don't understand the downvoting tbh. Commented Sep 28, 2018 at 13:24

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