Install VirtualBox 6.1 on Ubuntu 18.04 or 20.04 via Official repository + web GUI

Sometimes official documentation is hard to follow, especially if you want to test something only or just get started. I made a write-up particularly for Ubuntu 18.04 including 18.04.1–18.04.4 iterations.
Updated 2021–03–04: For Ubuntu 20.04, need to change from bionic to focal, and version of extension. Also added steps to install web interface.

Preparation

Before getting started make sure you don’t have an old one. If you installed from ubuntu repository, it’s could be around VirtualBox 5.2 :)

sudo apt remove --purge -y virtualbox
sudo apt autoremove -y

add the official repository

sudo bash -c "echo deb [arch=amd64] http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic contrib > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list"

for ubuntu 20.04

sudo bash -c "echo deb [arch=amd64] http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian focal contrib > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list"

add GPG Keys

For official repository need to add GPG keys

wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Installation

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y virtualbox-6.1

Verify the installation and version

vboxmanage --version

6.1.6r137129

Download and install an extension

Need to download install an extension package I am doing it from terminal. Just to make sure that installed version matching the extension version/

# Download
wget https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/6.1.6/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-6.1.6.vbox-extpack
# install
sudo vboxmanage extpack install --replace Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-6.1.6.vbox-extpack

For 6.1.8 version

# Download
wget https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/6.1.18/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-6.1.18.vbox-extpack 
# install
sudo vboxmanage extpack install --replace Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-6.1.18.vbox-extpack

open with Virtualbox and install. It will ask for admin password.

additionally steps for Web interface

Additionally a few steps to install web interface:

first install Apache2 server, is mysql isn’t needed.

sudo apt install -y apache2 libapache2-mod-php php php-soap php-xml

and download.

wget 'http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpvirtualbox/files/latest/download' -O ~/phpvirtualbox.zip

Extract archive to your directory

unzip ~/phpvirtualbox.zip

one more thing

sudo mv phpvirtualbox-5.0-5/ /var/www/html/virtualbox
cd /var/www/html/virtualbox/

edit config file

cp config.php-example config.php
nano config.php

add username and password assuming you have user vbox with password pass

var $username = 'vbox';
var $password = 'pass';

also need to add this user to vbox group.

sudo usermod -aG vboxusers vbox

create a new file with name

sudo nano /etc/default/virtualbox

and add settings

VBOXWEB_USER=vbox

And finally restart services below:

sudo systemctl restart vboxweb-service
sudo systemctl restart vboxdrv
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Please note, to upgrade virtualbox you need to stop all your vms and vboxdrv service before upgrading.

Default login creadentials are admin/admin it also on port 80 without SSL, just keep in mind.

Reference:

# 1 https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads
# 2 https://ostechnix.com/install-oracle-virtualbox-ubuntu-16-04-headless-server/