Installing VirtualBox's "Guest Additions" is not as straight forward as I'd like it to be for an Ubuntu Server Guest but I figured out the solution.

In this tutorial I am using:

• Host: Windows XP Professional
• VirtualBox: 3.1.6
• Guest: Ubuntu Server 10.04 (Lucid Lynx)

So say you have a host with VirtualBox installed (I have Windows XP, you have any version of Windows, Mac, Solaris, Linux, etc.) and have an Ubuntu Server installed as a guest. If you want to install "Guest Additions" for added features (such as seemless mode, copy and paste support, or shared folders in my case), you're supposed to click Devices > Install Guest Additions... but when I clicked the button, nothing popped up. Why doesn't anything pop-up? Did it download? Was there an error?

Unbeknown to me, VirtualBox actually downloaded an image called VBoxGuestAdditions.iso, all without telling me. Great,  it's downloaded, but how do I mount and install it?

First off, let's grab some libraries we need for Guest Additions to install
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`
Then mount it
sudo mount /dev/cdrom1 /mnt

Then run the proper executable (make sure you look for the correct one for your machine)
sudo bash /mnt/VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run

There will be an error that states the not all features could be installed

Installing the Window System drivers ...fail!
(Could not find the X.org or XFree86 Window System.)

But this is okay. VirtualBox's Guest Additions installs some features that we don't need on a server (seemless mode, copy and paste, etc.) If you want these features, you'll have to install 67MB+ of X.Org libraries
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core

So it's up to you: GuestAdditions with 67MB+ of X.Org libraries or let these drivers fail and enjoy shared folders.

Between December 2008 and March 2009, I wrote a 4-part series on web development in Ubuntu for the online magazine Full Circle Magazine. All articles have been translated into Chinese, French, Hungarian, Italian, Russian and Turkish.

• Part 1 - Software for web development in Ubuntu (issue 20)
• Part 2 - Basic HTML and CSS (issue 21)
• Part 3 - Install a LAMP (web) server (issue 22)
• Part 4 - Basic PHP (issue 23)

I will be re-posting this series in HTML and extending the series soon.

Just a reminder to the Ubuntu community that the contest for community-submitted wallpapers is continuing from Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) into Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx).

For Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), 19 community-submitted wallpapers were chosen. This was a great improvement from the very first Ubuntu - 4.10 (Warty Warthog) - to Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) where only 2 to 4 wallpapers were shipped by default.

If you want to make Lucid a release to remember, head over to the Ubuntu Artwork Flickr page, sign up for Flickr if you don't have an account (unfortunately this is a necessity) and submit your wallpapers!

Here are my submissions thus far:

• shack
• vanilla
• sunset