VirtualBox: access Windows-host shared folders from Ubuntu-guest
April 9th, 2008
This is the scenario that you run Windows as your host operating system and Ubuntu in a VirtualBox, and that you want to access a specific Windows folder from Ubuntu.
First you have to make sure that have install Guest Additions. From the VirtualBox's menu go to Devices → Install Guest Additions... This will mount a virtual CD on your /media/cdrom. Normally this folder's window will show up. As root run the program VBoxLinuxAdditions.run. When the program completes reboot your VirtualBox.
With Guest Additions installed you may now go ahead and define the shared folder(s). From the VirtualBox's menu go to Devices → Shared Folders. A dialog will show up. In this dialog you can specify which folder from your Windows system you want to share with your Ubuntu. Press the button with the + symbol to add a new shared folder in the list. You will have to specify a Folder Name for each folder you add. Make sure you memorize that name because you will need it very soon.
When done with you shared folder(s) specification, you may now go ahead and actually mount these folders from Ubuntu. First you have to create a mounpoint, that is, a directory in your Ubuntu which will reflect the shared folder from Windows:
Of course you may choose an alternative path for your mountpoint. With your mountpoint created you can now mount the shared folder, like this:
Where folder-name will be the name you assigned for this folder when you were adding it in the shared folders list.
You could use the /etc/init.d/rc.local script to execute these commands on startup to have the shared folders automatically mounted every time you start your Ubuntu VirtualBox.
First you have to make sure that have install Guest Additions. From the VirtualBox's menu go to Devices → Install Guest Additions... This will mount a virtual CD on your /media/cdrom. Normally this folder's window will show up. As root run the program VBoxLinuxAdditions.run. When the program completes reboot your VirtualBox.
With Guest Additions installed you may now go ahead and define the shared folder(s). From the VirtualBox's menu go to Devices → Shared Folders. A dialog will show up. In this dialog you can specify which folder from your Windows system you want to share with your Ubuntu. Press the button with the + symbol to add a new shared folder in the list. You will have to specify a Folder Name for each folder you add. Make sure you memorize that name because you will need it very soon.
When done with you shared folder(s) specification, you may now go ahead and actually mount these folders from Ubuntu. First you have to create a mounpoint, that is, a directory in your Ubuntu which will reflect the shared folder from Windows:
# sudo mkdir /media/windows-shareOf course you may choose an alternative path for your mountpoint. With your mountpoint created you can now mount the shared folder, like this:
# sudo mount -t vboxsf folder-name /media/windows-shareWhere folder-name will be the name you assigned for this folder when you were adding it in the shared folders list.
You could use the /etc/init.d/rc.local script to execute these commands on startup to have the shared folders automatically mounted every time you start your Ubuntu VirtualBox.
November 5th, 2008 at 6:48 am Very useful!!!
thanks a lot for this article...
From Chile - Southamerica
pamorale
November 12th, 2008 at 9:46 am thank you so much!!!
November 12th, 2008 at 9:49 am One question though, how do I used the " /etc/init.d/rc.local" ?
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:07 pm but in my machine, i get this message
mount: unknown filesystem type 'vboxsf'
January 6th, 2009 at 1:14 am This is just what I needed! I would add that the shared folder may need to be in the following directory: C:\Program Files\Sun\xVM VirtualBox
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:58 pm Works like a CHARM. THANKS for outlining this.
February 4th, 2009 at 6:00 pm Sorry, I'm pretty new to OS stuff, so my question might be quite low level.
Qn) There are several VBoxLinuxAdditions(sth).run. How do I know which one I should choose?
February 6th, 2009 at 9:29 am Great tip, thanks for sharing this! FYI this is what I added to my Ubuntu VirtualBox guest /etc/rc.local file (top section of rc.local omitted). It now connects to the shared folder automatically on startup, as the blog owner stated. Very cool! (I have _VirtualBoxShared added under Vbox menu Devices > Shared Folders. _VirtualBoxShared is the name of the actual folder on my Windows Vista host box.) The folder ubushare is what I created instead of the tutorials /media/windows-share example.
#
# By default this script does nothing.
mount -t vboxsf _VirtualBoxShared /home/ubuntu/ubushare
exit 0
February 9th, 2009 at 4:49 am Finally, a quick solution that works! Thank you!
February 12th, 2009 at 12:56 am I've followed the guide and I still can't get this to work.
After I set up the folders I keep getting this :
fisher@fisher-laptop:~$ sudo mount -t vboxsf VBShare /home/fisher
[sudo] password for fisher:
/sbin/mount.vboxsf: mounting failed with the error: Protocol error
Can anyone help me out with this?
February 17th, 2009 at 10:26 pm thanks for sharing this, couldn't be easier !
February 19th, 2009 at 10:39 am thanks for sharing, this definitely was a quick solution to my problem... much appreciated...!!!
February 25th, 2009 at 4:34 am I have a question... Is it possible to unmount the shared folder??? I accidentally put it in the wrong directory...I'm an ubuntu noob...
March 15th, 2009 at 11:43 am thanks ,a lot ....it really workssssssss
March 19th, 2009 at 3:02 pm Thanks a lot!! Very helpful article.
March 19th, 2009 at 3:11 pm Thanks a lot!!
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:48 pm A great solution, thanks!
April 7th, 2009 at 9:54 pm Great site! You really helped me with the shared folders in virtualbox.
Good luck being smoke free!
You made the right decision.
May 3rd, 2009 at 4:26 am mount is not working for me!
but I use this command instead:
mount.vboxsf NAME /PATH/TO/FOLDER
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:14 am Thanks for documenting this. I'm used to a few other VM tools where this is all automagic, I couldn't figgure out why it wasn't working.
June 5th, 2009 at 8:39 am Anyone having problems might be helped be this link:
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=17827#p77284
I was initially getting something along the lines of "filesystem vboxsf unknown" but resolved it by following the steps in that post.
Note: do not run "guest additions" shell script from the window manager -- use the command line. I tried running the script by double clicking on it and it did not work (permission problem, probably).
Works now!
June 15th, 2009 at 1:31 am >>I have a question... Is it possible to unmount the shared folder??? >>I accidentally put it in the wrong directory...I'm an ubuntu noob...
I had the same problem =)
To unmount folder use this:
sudo umount /media/windows-share
where /media/windows-share - your wrong directiory
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:52 pm I've spent about 20 hours trying to find help on this... and found your article, which solved my issue in 2 minutes! Thanks!
July 1st, 2009 at 4:32 am as clear as crystal.
Thanks
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:13 pm This was very useful, thanks!
July 24th, 2009 at 2:52 pm @fisher
- Check to make sure that "vboxsf" is the name of your shared folder in "Devices > Shared Folders". That was causing the same error for me.
August 1st, 2009 at 12:09 pm This is a great article. The only suggestion as a Linux newbie is that a detailed explanation of the sybtax would be great to get a complete understanding.
August 11th, 2009 at 10:42 pm Glad I found this article. You saved me many hours of going throuhg the docs. Thanks !
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:59 pm Help a newbie
How do i avoid to insert sudo mount -t vboxsf folder-name /media/windows-share
every time a start ubuntu?
And how to make it available at "PLACES"
tks in advance
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:01 pm forgot to add
great post :)
October 3rd, 2009 at 4:28 pm Hi,
Thanks a lot! Worked great!
October 9th, 2009 at 4:05 am I had to:
sudo apt-get install dkms
then reinstall the guest additions, reboot and then:
sudo mount -t vboxsf folder-name /media/windows-share
and it worked.
October 21st, 2009 at 7:12 pm Wonderful! It worked exactly as the article published. Helps me playing with my Linux toy :)
October 25th, 2009 at 12:04 pm thanks a lot. . .It's really an easy solution to the specified problem! ! ! nd ur solution works like a charm! ! ! ! ! !
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:08 am so far that sums up my linux experience. why do i have to do something as fundamental as mounting a drive using the command line?? i don't want to go back to the DOS days, it's 2009 not 1989. could you please describe how to do this using a gui?!!
November 4th, 2009 at 1:56 pm Nice one. I *needed* this info :)
November 7th, 2009 at 1:15 am To have the shared folder show up when you boot Ubuntu, add a line like this in /etc/fstab:
folder-name /media/windows-share vboxsf uid=myusername 0 2
Don't use a startup script to mount a filesystem.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:26 am fisher, I had this problem too
You need to run the command from another dir (e.g. do not run it from the /media dir)
Anyways, great tutorial - Thanks!
November 8th, 2009 at 5:56 pm Thanks... it worked... :)
November 11th, 2009 at 8:18 am Just as an alternative - you can configure your guest network adapter as bridged. This will allow the guest to get an address on the same subnet as your host from the DHCP server. From there, you can use WinSCP to copy files back from a linux installation that has SSH set up on it.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:52 pm Perfect Thank you it works
November 15th, 2009 at 9:12 am had to use mount.vboxsf, mount -t vboxsf wouldn't work for me. thanks!
November 21st, 2009 at 4:07 am Hi, I did the above and it works, but I can't write to it from Ubunto, it say's Permission denied. I tried to sudo chmod, sudo chown. In the virtual box I did set it to mount permanently, but did not check off readonly. In windows I did the same. I can write as root, but just not as the regular user
November 24th, 2009 at 10:35 am Awesome, thank you so much!
January 5th, 2010 at 2:49 am Thanks loads for this! Very easy to follow and helpful.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:30 am Worked like a charm! Thanks!
January 29th, 2010 at 7:10 am Thanks. Now I can share files. Also, thanks donnie for the tips.
Now, to figure how to make the windows-share as a desktop shortcut....
January 29th, 2010 at 7:14 am "Now, to figure how to make the windows-share as a desktop shortcut.... "
Nvm, ctrl+ shift drag did the trick. :)
February 4th, 2010 at 3:55 pm Good tip. Thank you.
February 6th, 2010 at 10:17 pm Excellent, a Big Thanks!!!!
February 20th, 2010 at 9:00 pm Great!
Also works well for USB-Sticks. (I never found a way to reliably accesss them under VirtualBox.) Thanks!
February 24th, 2010 at 10:33 pm thanks for the pointer. i did this and it worked flawlessly.
so i got the brilliant idea to share a fat32 usb disc rather than repartition my ntfs drive (permissions issues with ntfs not fun). so i shared my empty usb disc and mounted it, but i couldn't ls on the disc. said:
"/bin/ls: cannot open directory .: Operation not permitted."
what the? it worked 2 minutes ago!
it seems the disc IS working, but for some reason ls fails on an empty disc. so i created a text file:
vi hi.txt
i edited and saved the file. worked fine. i was then able to ls on the top-level directory.
March 4th, 2010 at 8:41 am Thanks ... It really helped me to mount a windows shared box on Ubuntu
March 18th, 2010 at 10:21 pm Really simple and nice blog
April 13th, 2010 at 11:49 pm Why in the world does this require us to use the command line? Ridiculous. Make it show up as a virtual thumb drive or something.
May 1st, 2010 at 3:06 am If you're root ("#" signal is showed), why do you proceed sudo command?
May 19th, 2010 at 12:31 am Thank you. Worked great!
@Teiji: Thanks for the "ctrl+ shift drag" tip!
May 31st, 2010 at 4:07 am Thank you very much. Worked like a charm.
June 19th, 2010 at 4:43 am Thank you a lot for this. VirtualBox configuration is confusing. You were clear and it works perfectly.
Congratulations!
June 19th, 2010 at 4:45 am I typed "configuration" meaning "documentation" lol
I'm sorry, I'm too sleepy :P
June 21st, 2010 at 2:55 am I can see the entire c: drive when I do an ls -la ~/shared. but when try to cp a file to ~/shared I get "cp: cannot create regular file `/home/mrentz/shared/redmine-0.9.3.tar.gz': Protocol error."
What am I doing wrong?
It would be awesome to get it working now that I've got this far.
Cheers!
June 21st, 2010 at 3:03 am Forget previous message... I've figured it out and got it going. I just cd'ied into ~/shared/vboxsf (which is on the C:/ drive) and did a cp ~/path/file .
boom boom and wallah!
p.s. this is my first submission to an online post "ever"!
I think you people who read and help on these things are Sooooo Coooool
July 19th, 2010 at 11:45 pm You freakin rock... I too had to run the installation via command line though.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:25 pm you save my time. Bunch of thanks.
August 7th, 2010 at 12:23 am Many many thanks buddy.
V.Good.
August 23rd, 2010 at 11:07 pm Thanks a lot for posting this, it worked like a charm. Will link this later when I write it down on my blog.
September 4th, 2010 at 3:38 pm thx !
September 10th, 2010 at 10:48 am thanxxx
hey buddy can u help me in starting opensource developement under linux
September 20th, 2010 at 4:02 pm Excellent...thanks. I followed it and worked great. I was looking for it for a while now. It works great. Thanks a lot.
September 25th, 2010 at 1:45 am Thanks for posting - this issue seems to cause a lot of confusion.
However, I do think the posters who wish to see how to mount the drive in the Ubuntu GUI.
September 25th, 2010 at 1:47 am Thanks for posting - this issue seems to cause a lot of confusion.
However, I do think the posters who wish to see how to mount the *folder* in the Ubuntu GUI.
September 30th, 2010 at 4:35 pm thanks dude :)
October 15th, 2010 at 3:55 pm Thanks!
October 30th, 2010 at 7:35 pm Thank you!
November 26th, 2010 at 5:09 am Thank you, I have checked other tutorials and they were not successful but this one worked a charm. Thanks
December 1st, 2010 at 4:03 pm Thanks, this is really helpful!
December 2nd, 2010 at 11:13 pm Ok this is great n all but... when I try to mount I get
user@user-desktop:/$ sudo mount -t vboxsf PDWNLDS /home/user/pdwnlds
[sudo] password for user:
/sbin/mount.vboxsf: mounting failed with the error: No such file or directory
User=me but not real me
so WTF? Ive been working to solve this issue for 6 days now! Fracking G@Y! I have the folder shared etc and it still wont mount, been to hundereds of sites without any success and even tried to get a product to mount the virtual disk so I can just extract my fracking data...you know if all you linux people want others to use linux instead of windows...MAKE IT FRACKING SIMPLER and GUI FRIENDLY!! So tired of this l33t speak shit makes me want to puke JUST TELL WHAT THE FRACKING SOLUTION IS and GET IT OVER WITH!
December 6th, 2010 at 9:29 pm @Noobulon,
I had the exact same problem. What I had done wrong was I hadn't written the path correctly. I'd double check the path if I were you.
December 7th, 2010 at 8:12 am I have a problem When I install an error occured it says that "unknown file system 'vboxsf' "
By the way I'm using Ubuntu 10.10 is it because of the version or what??
please tell me about this problem immediate action is highly appreciated. :D
Dotcom
December 19th, 2010 at 6:36 am Thanks! great resource...
January 22nd, 2011 at 12:07 pm Thanks for this simplicity. It works but in my case I need to run through the whole process including installation... I am newbie... any clues?
January 29th, 2011 at 3:59 am How about if i'm using live cd to run ubuntu 8.04 on vbox ?, is'nt work properly.....
February 12th, 2011 at 7:33 pm Thank you for precisely showing how to do this. It works! Thanks again! I am confused on how to make changes to rc.local because it opens read-only but I'm a newbie and sure I'm doing something wrong. Probably rights related. Also, another user recommended modifying fstab instead of rc.local - not sure what the difference is and what's better. Thanks!
February 24th, 2011 at 7:02 pm I'm running a Vista host and Kubuntu 10.10 guest.
Thanks for your excellent article. I'm new to this. It only took me two days to do this. So many people have posted replies I thought I should try to remember what worked for me. I finished about midnight so it's kind of a blur but here is what I can remember. First I got errors when installing the VB Additions I copied the error into Google and found this VB forum post http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=15679 that states extra packages must be installed. After doing that VB Additions installed correctly.
I created a shared folder in windows C:\AA and a shared forlder in Linux in my home dir called 'host'.
I used Dolphin to create the linux folder.
I had a lot of trouble with: sudo mount -t vboxsf folder-name /media/windows-share
My errors were using a path for the windows 'folder-name' like \\win-pc\AA. All that's needed is the folder name 'aa'.
Also, the win and linux folder names must be different.
Writing to '/etc/init.d/rc.local' must be done as root. This page http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=15868 also helped change the ownership from root to me.
Thanks again.
March 12th, 2011 at 10:52 pm This worked great! Thanks!
May 8th, 2011 at 7:20 am to mount the shared folder @ boot time, add the following commands in a terminal.
sudo su
gedit /etc/init.d/rc.local
mount -t vboxsf VMshare-win /home/hitman/Desktop/VMshare-Ubu
where "VMshare-win" is the folder created in Windows host OS
and
"VMshare-Ubu" is the folder created on Ubuntu guest OS.
note: add the last line @ the end of rc.local file.
July 4th, 2011 at 4:28 pm Took me a great deal of time to get this solved. As I read somewhere before, it isn't at all expected that any Ubuntu user as to deal with DOS like commands to get things going, especially newcomers.
I found a webpost with the easiest solution to sharing folders between Host OS (Win7) and Guest OS (Ubuntu 11.04) with VirtualBox:
http://www.manhinli.net/blog/2011/03/18/permanently-sharing-folders-in-virtualbox-4-0-4-with-ubuntu-10-10-guest/
I hope this saves a lot of someone else's time looking for a way to make things work!
August 2nd, 2011 at 9:50 am I found this when trying to set up share folder(s) between BackTrack guest OS with XP 2000 Prof host. Hope this also saves your time too!
http://foxlinx.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/virtualbox-installation-windows-host-with-a-backtrack-4-guest-and-virtualbox-linux-guest-additions/
September 22nd, 2011 at 7:11 pm Hi HItman,
I tried to do the same u mentioend regarding adding the command to etc by gedit, but I have run into problems. Now, when ever I open my places and enter home folder, I am not able to open the folder, but it opens gedit with error showing /home/ is not the directory. How can I solve this problem and revert back to see my home folder.
October 14th, 2011 at 1:20 pm hello
every time when i reboot share folder does.t work
why ?
help me
November 25th, 2011 at 3:39 pm Thanx!
This was really helpful!
K.
December 12th, 2011 at 1:17 am Worked great!
Many thanks!
December 20th, 2011 at 2:25 pm Worked great! The Unbuntu and VirtualBox sites were unclear in their instructions, and had bad examples. You laid it out simply and it worked the first time! Thanks!