Ubuntu

Installing VBox 4.1.2 Windows Guest Additions on Ubuntu 11.10

Graham Hay6 Comments

I’ve been having some trouble copying files from my host fileshare (\\vboxsvr), and the internets recommended re-installing the guest additions. Unfortunately, trying to download the guest additions iso resulted in the error below:

Error downloading VBox Guest Additions iso

Some frantic searching of the VBox forums offered a solution: download the guest additions for the previous version (4.1.0), and put them in the location VBox expects to find them (either /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso or /usr/lib/virtualbox/additions/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso).

sudo mv VBoxGuestAdditions_4.1.0.iso /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso

And now I can copy files without any problems, hurray!

Sharing files between Ubuntu and a Windows VirtualBox

Graham HayLeave a comment

I’m currently running Ubuntu (11.04) with Windows in a VirtualBox, both at work and at home.

Every once in a while I have a need to share a file in one direction, or the other. So here are my notes on how to do it, for future reference!

Mounting a Windows share from Ubuntu is pretty easy:

  1. Share the folder, if you haven’t already
  2. Open your Home Folder, and go to File -> Connect To Server…
  3. Select “Service Type”: Windows Share
  4. Enter the server name, and logon credentials
  5. Job’s a good ‘un

Going the other way is a little more involved, and I think you need the Guest Additions installed:

  1. In the vbox instance menu, select Devices -> Shared folders
  2. Either right click and “Add Shared Folder”, or press Ins
  3. Select “Other” from the folder path drop down, and choose the host folder you want to access (tick “Make Permanent” if you’re going to need it in future)
  4. Back in Windows land, open Explorer and go to Tools -> Map Network Drive
  5. Your share will be called \\vboxsvr\<SHARE_NAME> (you should be able to browse to it if you’re not sure what it’s called)
  6. Done