VirtualBox: access shared folders from Windows XP guest OS

September 28th, 2007
From the VirtualBox's menu, go to Devices Shared Folders... to add/remove the folders of the host operating system that you would like to share with the guest operating system (Windows XP, in this example). When done click Ok.

Now we are going to access the folders we added. DO NOT open My Network Places! Instead open a new explorer instance. You can do that by pressing WinKey-E or by executing the explorer command (Start Run... type "explorer" Ok). You should see a windows that looks like this:

windows explorer screenshot



Now, carefully click on the expand icon (expand icon) right next to My Network Places. Make sure you click exactly on the expand icon. If you accidentally clicked on My Network Places, you ruined everything and you will have to go back and start all over again. After expanding the My Network Places branch, you should be able to see Entire Network right underneath:

windows explorer screenshot



Now expand the Entire Network branch, too, and you should be able to see VirtualBox Shared Folders:

windows explorer screenshot



Open VirtualBox Shared Folders. Normally, you should be able to see your shared folders in there.

124 Responses to “VirtualBox: access shared folders from Windows XP guest OS”

  1. Dhakir Says:
    You're a genius!
    From all WinXP bugs I've seen, this is one of the weirdest.
  2. ranjeet sih Says:
    thanks
  3. J Says:
    YES!! The company Innotec dont help out but this does!
  4. b.qiya Says:
    Hiya. Sorry, but this method doesn't work out with me. Am using OS X host and Win XP guest and just cannot connect to the shared folder using Explorer. Do you have any alternative ideas?

    Cheers.
  5. Aaron Ortiz Says:
    Hi b.qiya, I have the same woeful problem...:(
  6. Grub Says:
    tis works! thx
  7. Ginger Says:
    Thanks for this. It worked for me
  8. The One Says:
    Hello, thank you very much for your posting. It really helped.

    To hell with all those other so called fkin' geeks on the Internet who, instead of helping you out, rather confuse the hell out of you. If you don't know, don't fkin' write and waste our time. If you know what you are writing, then write it like this post -- simple solution that actually gets thing done.

    Thanks again
  9. Olivier Berger Says:
    It seems that the 1.6.0 works but versions above may not. More details here : http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/313
  10. Nikhil Khullar Says:
    Thanks a lot !!!
  11. rca Says:
    thanks! I got virtualbox to run fine, and was pissed when I couldn't find my shared folder under windows. Now I got all my files up and running sweet thanks again!
  12. brandon Says:
    THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!! I couldn't figure out why the shared folders weren't working. You're awesome.
  13. Czadd Says:
    I can't believe this worked. I've been working all day on this problem and these simple steps did the trick.

    Thanks!
  14. Fritz Says:
    Thank you Giannis for this post.

    I almost gave up before I found this page. Most of the instructions out there are very complicated.

    This post is simple, to the point and it worked for me. I am using OS X as the host.
  15. smv Says:
    Thx buddy. It solved my problem. Thx alot
  16. Peter Says:
    Thank you giannis, you have saved me a lot of time and effort pointing this bug. I knew I had it working once but could remember what I did.
  17. Fred Says:
    Great! This is great Thanks!
  18. anonim Says:
    i ve got micro xp and it dosn't work. anybody know how to install "net use"?
  19. vanfbkr Says:
    Wow, I looked for this all day and came across your help - quite easy and it works. Thanks!!!
  20. Garry Says:
    Thank you for this clever solution! All the other suggestions just said "Click on Network Places". When I did that, my shared folders didn't appear. Only you were able to anticipate this difficulty and help me and a lot of others solve this problem.
  21. p liu Says:
    It does not work for me. I'm in Vista running XP with VirtualBox 2.1.0. I don't see the shared folders under My network using your method. Virtual PC seems more intuitive for file transfer btw systems that you can drag and drop to either one, although VirtualBox feels faster. Any solution to the problem I'm having?
  22. p liu Says:
    It turns out that I need to install Guest Additions in order to use the shared folders function. It's working now after I did that. Thanks for the instruction.
  23. Dominik Wujastyk Says:
    Excellent! Got me unwedged. Thank you very much.

    Dominik
  24. Asim Says:
    Came really close to giving up too and this solved my problem perfectly. Thanks!
  25. kecheri Says:
    You saved my life.

    I am using Virtualbox 2.1.2 and running winxp on Ubuntu 8.10. Wasted about an hour trying to figure out this.
    I shared the folder and couldnt find it by going to network places or by manually typing \\vboxsvr\.

    This is really weird bug. Thanks again for your post!
  26. suradasa Says:
    If you don't want to have to do that every time, you can use the option "Map Network drive" to map a drive letter to it. Then it can be accessed from My Computer. I did it from an "Open" dialog in Powerpoint (in the upper right).
  27. i Says:
    Doesn't work for me, I don't see the "VirtualBox Shared Folders".
  28. obo Says:
    i see nothing on osx host, xp guest, guest additions installed. has anyone succeeded with an osx host?
  29. sk Says:
    Thank you very much!
    All works fine. It's wonderful bug from Microsoft!
  30. Aaron Says:
    Works like a charm, thanks.
  31. Lee Says:
    Works like a charm. Thanks i've spent 3 days trying to get this to work. Now just need to get fedora to see windows on Virtualbox now :)
  32. bj Says:
    Yeah nice :) Helped me out much.... searched the complete "my computer" but didn't find any drive haha-...
  33. Dieter_be Says:
    Thanks ! The funny thing is you need to follow this to the letter otherwise it doesn't work. I couldn't believe this at first...
  34. mel Says:
    Yeah... this didn't work at all for me.
  35. McColley.net » Blog Archive » The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox [How-to] Says:
    [...] to running Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux. Giannis Tsakiris has also explained setting up sharing from an XP guest, and the process is much the same for any virtual Windows (although some of the network tools have [...]
  36. The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox [How-to] · TechBlogger Says:
    [...] to running Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux. Giannis Tsakiris has also explained setting up sharing from an XP guest, and the process is much the same for any virtual Windows (although some of the network tools have [...]
  37. The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox [How-to] - 1213th Edition | Technology Revealed Says:
    [...] to running Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux. Giannis Tsakiris has also explained setting up sharing from an XP guest, and the process is much the same for any virtual Windows (although some of the network tools have [...]
  38. infoyourway.com » The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox [How-to] Says:
    [...] to running Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux. Giannis Tsakiris has also explained setting up sharing from an XP guest, and the process is much the same for any virtual Windows (although some of the network tools have [...]
  39. The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox [How-to] | My Blog Channel Says:
    [...] to running Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux. Giannis Tsakiris has also explained setting up sharing from an XP guest, and the process is much the same for any virtual Windows (although some of the network tools have [...]
  40. The Beginner’s Guide To Creating Virtual Machines With VirtualBox | Lifehacker Australia Says:
    [...] to running Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux. Giannis Tsakiris has also explained setting up sharing from an XP guest, and the process is much the same for any virtual Windows (although some of the network tools have [...]
  41. The Far Edge » Blog Archive » The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox [How-to] Says:
    [...] to running Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux. Giannis Tsakiris has also explained setting up sharing from an XP guest, and the process is much the same for any virtual Windows (although some of the network tools have [...]
  42. The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox [How-to] | Techcom for dummy Says:
    [...] to running Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux. Giannis Tsakiris has also explained setting up sharing from an XP guest, and the process is much the same for any virtual Windows (although some of the network tools have [...]
  43. OS X Says:
    the problem is insisting on VB 2.2.0 installed on Mac OS X, hosting windows xp; shared folder doesn't show up under "entire network"
  44. The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox [How-to] | Web Burning Blog Says:
    [...] to running Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux. Giannis Tsakiris has also explained setting up sharing from an XP guest, and the process is much the same for any virtual Windows (although some of the network tools have [...]
  45. Roman Says:
    Thanks a lot!
    It works for me - Windows XP SP1 as a guest, Ubuntu 9.04 as a host.
  46. speed32219 Says:
    Thank You, Thank You, did I say Thank You.
    I have been trying to copy stuff all day, searches by google kept pointing me in the wrong direction. It seems that with every release of VB there was a different way to copy between the os's. Thank you again.
  47. Guille Says:
    THANK YOU!!!!!
  48. Lee Says:
    Hi,

    Thanks so much. My tech guy got everything right except this last crucial bit of information. I learned that you cannot use a search in XP to find these shared files. Nor do they turn up in the program files.
  49. Davor Says:
    This seems to be solved in SP3.
  50. Chris Friend Says:
    Thank you VERY much. Extreme help!!!
  51. Rajasekaran Says:
    Thanks for your information. I had some problem while moving large files between guest OS to host OS using USB drives. Now my problem will be solved. Once again Thank you to all who may work for this....

    by,
    V.Rajasekaran
  52. richard Says:
    thank's for this wonderful post, same as others i also encounter other post which are of no effect.

    more power
  53. seetchoo Says:
    thank you for the post, i was very helpful.
  54. seetchoo Says:
    "it was" of course :)
  55. EVOL1 Says:
    YOU ARE AWESOME!!!! thank you so much :()
  56. Omelet Says:
    Thanks a lot.
    It's help me more.
  57. Someone Says:
    Thanks a lot!!! This helped!!!
  58. wmb Says:
    p liu pointed correctly that guest additions are required; access command to install additions from virtualbox host menu, download additions iso, mount it when prompted. this will start installation inside windows. after reboot works fine (thou you still need to do the magic). thanks giannis for posting.

    (kubuntu(xp))
  59. I Am Says:
    It works perfectly...thanx.....
  60. PV Says:
    I installed VirtualBox 3.4 and XP on my Mac OS Snow Leopard. I am not able to find Shared folder in my XP. I tried all the solutions from above threads, but no use. Can some one help me please to share the folder with my Mac OS and XP.
  61. bleeblah Says:
    Also have micro xp and have the same problem. instructions do not work,
  62. Odoiporos Says:
    Γιάννη, ευχαριστώ πάρα πολύ για αυτήν την συμβουλή. Πράγματι από το Network Places δεν βγάζεις άκρη. Αντιμετωπίζω όμως ένα άλλο πρόβλημα. Ενώ από τον κοινό φάκελο μπορώ να αντιγράψω τα αρχεία που έχω ρίξει μέσα για να πάνε στον εικονικό, δεν μπορώ από τον εικονικό να ρίξω μέσα σε αυτόν τον φάκελο αρχεία και να τα πάρω μετά από τον κανονικό μου Η/Υ.
  63. Tomek Says:
    thanks, you saved me some troubles
  64. Sandeep Says:
    Its Wonderful.. made my work.. Any guess how to use the LAN card for sniffing through virtual PC
  65. Dave Says:
    Thanks!
  66. Kundaliniboy Says:
    Hi

    Thanks work out perfect,

    Regards Kundaliniboy
  67. Gene Says:
    Thanks!
  68. Deepak Says:
    ohhh cheers man! life saver!
  69. Hades87 Says:
    You are a genius, really really thanks!
  70. jb Says:
    You, my man, are a genius. Thank you very much.
  71. vinan Says:
    Worked like a CHARM

    on ubuntu host

    THANK you
  72. spetz Says:
    Thanks, worked beautifully virtual xp on ubuntu 9.04 host
  73. Oh I see Says:
    It didn't work at first, but now it does.

    I think you have to install "Guest additions" first. You should probably mention that.
  74. Brad Says:
    Works awesome, thanks!
  75. Jim Says:
    Nice work. Now I'm running both Windows XP and Ubuntu guests on my Mac Snow Leopard host. Technology is amazing.

    PV: Remember to 'Machine' - "Install Guest Additions' - then reboot. Everything worked for me the first time.

    For those with an Ubuntu guest, you have to use terminal to mount the shared folders. If you want to have the shared folders mount on boot up, you have to alter your etc/modules and etc/fstab files (see How do I automatically mount my shared folder?).
  76. Vera Says:
    Now when you see Virtual Box shared folders, right click on any of folder, and click "MAP NETWORK DRIVE". You will see this drive when you will click "My computer" with no need to go again to explorer.
  77. Geoff Says:
    Cheers. You just stopped me tearing out what's left of my hair.
  78. The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox « hamza butt Says:
    [...] to running Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux. Giannis Tsakiris has also explained setting up sharing from an XP guest, and the process is much the same for any virtual Windows (although some of the network tools have [...]
  79. Chandra Says:
    Wonderful.. Thank you.
  80. Adrian Says:
    Cheers! I thought I was going mad not being able to figure this out!
  81. Ashalia Says:
    Cheers indeed, one hell of a weird bug that one oO
  82. Rajesh Sharma Says:
    Great. After testing my patience on trying to find a manual where everybody is running linux as guest.. This is what was needed.

    Thanks.. merci.. .. and I owe you a beer... KEG ... :)
  83. RandomPixels Says:
    thanks dude! it was so easy, but oh so hidden :)
  84. steff Says:
    Wow man, this is amazing! Thank you very much! This has been bugging me the whole day! :) There are no words!
  85. Sharer Says:
    This method does not work with OS X host. Alternatively you can open cmd and map folder manually:

    net use v: \\vboxsvr\name_of_your_share

    Works also with OS X host and all Windows 7 guest.
  86. Micro Robots Says:
    Written on 12/12/09

    Sir, you are very amazing and clever. You figured out something that no one could have. I say, when you
    read this comment, you should be proud of yourself and you wonderful talents, whether you are a Christian or not.
    I do really want to emphasize this when no one could but only because you already spent alot of time figuring this out. I just want to say thank for you help. Even Google appreciates this because I found your site there.

    Well, I you don't mind....make a website of how to fix stuff and do stuff that nobody understands, like tech wizard.

    I hope you have a great time. Merry Christmas!
  87. noobie Says:
    Nothing worked until I downloaded the "guest additions" iso from the lower right corner of the host window. Now the shared folder shows up in network places and some other neat things work too, like mouse capture, where I don't have to click on the guest OS for it to capture/uncapture the mouse, it happens automatically. Neat!
  88. motero57 Says:
    wow.... this did the trick and solved.
    Best solution.
    Thanks for taking your time to show it to us
  89. SteevOh Says:
    Excellent solution to a strange tricky problem. Only showed up on 2nd account, thought it might be a permission issue. Great job!
  90. the_guv Says:
    big cheers .. appreciated!
  91. Vee Says:
    Rockon! thanks!
  92. Fed up with W7 - going back to XP - Page 2 - Tech Support Forums - TechIMO.com Says:
    [...] You can definitely access your host hard drives as Steve mentioned. Make sure you install the Vbox Tools on the guest OS.
  93. pankaj Says:
    Thankx for the help dude! Nice post really worked!!!!!!!!
  94. Boudewijn Says:
    Thanks mate, great tutorial.
    I was messing around with this for hours.
  95. DanBan Says:
    Well done....but addons have to be installed if using virtualbox 3
  96. Brad Says:
    This is an outstanding solution. Thanks!
  97. Fred Says:
    Thank you, I can unbend my mind now.
  98. bluegum Says:
    have mac OS x, hosting windows xp, it worked fine thanks,
    remember to install guest additions:
    http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/virtualbox-guest-addons.html
    thanks again
  99. rhino Says:
    Thanks a lot, this helped
  100. Paul Says:
    Despite this post being an old post I have to really thank you for this! It worked when everything else failed. Thanks!!!!
  101. Noah Says:
    Thank god for this post! Luckily it is the first one I read, and it works beautifully!
  102. Serge Says:
    Hi Man,
    your advice really works, this is the only way I was able to transfer files from Windows Vista (Host) to Windows XP (Guest).
    Thanks a lot!
  103. TDDJ Says:
    Doesn't work for me :(.
  104. Yash Says:
    great !! I love you man.. saves my huge time
  105. K. Cenk Says:
    Thank you Sir, i rarely Post any Comments but your Post made my day ;) Thanks again!
  106. mamobros Says:
    you are a genius.
    thanks
  107. VirtualBox and Windows Shared folders Says:
    [...] 1040; [Log in to get rid of this advertisement] I've tried to follow the instructions listed on http://www.giannistsakiris.com/index...s-xp-guest-os/ with no luck. The main problem shows up when I get to step 3 where you "expand the Entire [...]
  108. Lunarose Says:
    This is my first post ever. but i had to . U have no idea how much this helped me . My whole project work n graduation program was at stake . thank u so so so so much I really do love you.......
    u r a life saver....................
  109. Ludo6431 Says:
    Thanks a lot :)
  110. kleanchap Says:
    Repeating what everyone said positively about these instructions but loudly. THANK YOU!!
  111. Gamal Says:
    It help me a lot
    Thanks
  112. Répertoire partagée sur Virtual Box « A son image Says:
    [...] un peu bizzare mais ça a marché comme ça : Lien (merci au mec qui l’a [...]
  113. jack Says:
    thanks so much,i cant say fairer
  114. ArionKrause Says:
    Thank you!

    I was in trouble trying to access my host shared folders, and your solution worked just fine!
  115. Taguro Says:
    You need to use Map Network Drive.

    Follow these steps.

    Open My Computer - Got to Tools Tab - Mapped Network Drive..

    Driver: Z --- Any driver letter that you want
    Folder: _________ -- click on Browse

    Under Browse:
    My Network Places
    + Entire Network
    + VirtualBox Shared Folder
    --- Vboxsvr
  116. Taguro Says:
    Or do the other way...

    On the second picture above..

    Click My Network Places, then right click Entire Network below that, then select Explore or Expand..

    Now, you will be able to see VirtualBox shared folder..

    Hehehehe.. Enjoy sharing.. :-P
  117. Sven Says:
    Hi, this is sooooo amazing!! It finally works!! Thanx!! Cheers, Sven
  118. Anthony Says:
    Tnx a lot :D nice post
  119. T Says:
    Running on Fedora 11. The \\vboxsvr that kecheri suggested worked perfectly.
  120. sas Says:
    Thanks

    thank you very much for Explain virtualbox it's great program and nice
  121. Manuel Schäfer Says:
    Here is a tip if the "VirtualBox Shared Folders" entry does not show up along with Microsoft Terminal Services and others:

    You need to install the Guest Additions! From the VirtualBox's menu, go to Devices → Install Guest Additions and keep clicking "next" and "continue anyway" etc. (as i understand it, this will install some additional software not from SUN).

    After that you may have to reboot, and the "VirtualBox Shared Folders" entry should be visible as described in this article.
  122. Alex Says:
    Thanks a lot. This solved my problem!
  123. Tigran Mankulyan Says:
    Thank you!!! It is finally working. You are a genius!!!
  124. mosq Says:
    that's very helpful, thank you!

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