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I'm trying to find a way to run VirtualBox on an OpenBSD host. I know there is a port for FreeBSD. I also know there is a Linux compatibility layer in OpenBSD. Would this Linux compatibility feature allow me to run the Linux version of VirtualBox on OpenBSD? Is there any other way to run VirtualBox on OpenBSD?

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OpenBSD supports running (some) Linux userland programs. It does not support running Linux kernel modules. VirtualBox on Linux requires kernel modules (including vboxdrv, vboxnetflt, vboxnetadp, and vboxpci).

OpenBSD can not run VirtualBox as a host. It can run as a guest VM in VirtualBox.

You need to be running Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, Solaris, or even Windows if you want to run VirtualBox as a host.

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    Thanks. You saved me a lot of frustration. Time to learn QEMU. Commented Nov 4, 2015 at 4:38
  • A native hypervisor is in the works, i've read. Something to be excited for - vmm(4) @undeadly.org Commented Nov 5, 2015 at 1:00
  • personally, i'd find your problem a fine excuse to switch to linux. in particular, debian. but that's just my subjective opinion :) Commented Nov 5, 2015 at 1:02
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    @cas I'm a big fan of Debian too; I use it most of the time. OpenBSD is mainly something to expand my horizons. I definitely think learning OpenBSD has helped me to understand Debian (and Unix-like systems) better :) Commented Nov 14, 2015 at 8:23
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    The Linux emulation support was removed in release 6.0 of OpenBSD. Nobody was using it. Commented Jan 9, 2017 at 21:21

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