This system is currently not set up to build kernel modules

I’m trying to install VirtualBox 6.1.16 on a LinuxMint 19.3 host which is based on Ubuntu 18.04 bionic. I have checked all other answers and tried all possibilities, but to no avail.

Previously I had VirtualBox 6.0 which I uninstalled before installing 6.1 .

I’m getting the following error message:

sudo dpkg -i virtualbox-6.1_6.1.16-140961~Ubuntu~bionic_amd64.deb

(Reading database ... 455695 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack virtualbox-6.1_6.1.16-140961~Ubuntu~bionic_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking virtualbox-6.1 (6.1.16-140961~Ubuntu~bionic) ...
Setting up virtualbox-6.1 (6.1.16-140961~Ubuntu~bionic) ...
addgroup: The group `vboxusers' already exists as a system group. Exiting.
This system is currently not set up to build kernel modules.
Please install the gcc make perl packages from your distribution.
This system is currently not set up to build kernel modules.
Please install the gcc make perl packages from your distribution.

There were problems setting up VirtualBox.  To re-start the set-up process, run
  /sbin/vboxconfig
as root.  If your system is using EFI Secure Boot you may need to sign the
kernel modules (vboxdrv, vboxnetflt, vboxnetadp, vboxpci) before you can load
them. Please see your Linux system's documentation for more information.

So far I’ve tried:

• install all dependencies with sudo apt-get install build-essential gcc make perl dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
build-essential is already the newest version (12.4ubuntu1).
make is already the newest version (4.1-9.1ubuntu1).
dkms is already the newest version (2.3-3ubuntu9.7).
gcc is already the newest version (4:7.4.0-1ubuntu2.3).
linux-headers-5.4.0-53-generic is already the newest version (5.4.0-53.59~18.04.1).
perl is already the newest version (5.26.1-6ubuntu0.5).
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.

• checking for previously installed versions sudo dpkg -l *virtualbox* and sudo dkms status

dpkg-query: no packages found matching virtualbox-6.1_6.1.16-140961~Ubuntu~bionic_amd64.deb

• Checked SecureBoot was already disabled.

• Tried booting to a 4.15 kernel

• Tried installing using the "All distributions" link:

sudo ./VirtualBox-6.1.16-140961-Linux_amd64.run 
Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing VirtualBox for Linux installation.............
VirtualBox Version 6.1.16 r140961 (2020-10-15T15:03:02Z) installer
Installing VirtualBox to /opt/VirtualBox
Python found: python, installing bindings...
This system is currently not set up to build kernel modules.
Please install the gcc make perl packages from your distribution.
This system is currently not set up to build kernel modules.
Please install the gcc make perl packages from your distribution.

There were problems setting up VirtualBox.  To re-start the set-up process, run
  /sbin/vboxconfig
as root.  If your system is using EFI Secure Boot you may need to sign the
kernel modules (vboxdrv, vboxnetflt, vboxnetadp, vboxpci) before you can load
them. Please see your Linux system's documentation for more information.

VirtualBox has been installed successfully.

You will find useful information about using VirtualBox in the user manual
  /opt/VirtualBox/UserManual.pdf
and in the user FAQ
  http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/User_FAQ

We hope that you enjoy using VirtualBox.

The installation log file is at /var/log/vbox-install.log.

This is the log file:

VirtualBox 6.1.16 r140961 installer, built 2020-10-15T15:03:02Z.

Testing system setup...
Removing previous installation of VirtualBox 6.1.16 r140961 from /opt/VirtualBox

vboxdrv.sh: Stopping VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Starting VirtualBox services.
vboxdrv.sh: Building VirtualBox kernel modules.

but nothing is helping. I’m really at a loss here. Many thanks in advance.