VirtualBox "shared folders" dreadfully slow

[geronimo]

I can confirm this problem in 1.6.2 on an Ubuntu host as well. Either way of filesharing (which i guess is technically more or less done teh same way?!) - Virtualbox shared folders and windows file sharing is very, very slow and takes the above mentioned 8-10 seconds to for example display directory contents.

[eifelastronaut]

I had exactly the same problem after upgrading from 1.5.6 to 1.6.2 on Ubuntu Hardy (in fact, I had to install the new version of the guest additions TWICE to get shared folder working at all). 10 second delay when opening files. Displaying folder contents (even of large folders) did not seem to cause any delays.

I downgraded to 1.5.6 because of this and other issues. You can still download 1.5.6 here. Luckily, I still had a backup of my old .VirtualBox folder.

[yawie]

I have the same problem.
It is really dreadfully slow (opening a 60k ppt file takes 20 seconds and makes powerpoint to hang up...)
I hope this will be fixed soon.

[amoresunaramera]

ok, not the greatest solution but I've found that if you disable networking for the guest's settings, the 10 second delay goes away. Not a good long term solution but it may indicate a conflict with networking. If you get a chance, see if that removes you delay.

- i tried disabling networking and opening the shared folders did improve... problem was... without networking, i couldn't use the network printers

[cfcyoung]

Same delays too - Excel & Word & Quickbooks - often up to 15 seconds. Virtualbox 1.6.2 + Ubuntu 8.04. With Duo Core CPU + 2Gb RAM, I don't think h/w is the issue. Except for this delay, VB is a wonderful product! But I need to use apps from both o/s.

(1) Has anyone tried using Raw Disk access - will it go faster? (I have my shared work area as NTFS partitions, rather than a folder). (2) What about SAMBA (I tried following a few online helps, but somehow just cannot get SAMBA to work!) Still experimenting - non techie - so all is new to me. Thanks.

[ThomasNovin]

Just re-confirming that issue still exists in VB 1.6.4 with the related VB Guest Additions.

Any ideas from the developers?

Edit: There is a ticket on this, http://virtualbox.org/ticket/1728

[janmartin3]

Problem still exists in 1.6.6 with 1.6.6 GA.
on
Ubuntu 8.04 host and
Windows XP SP3 guest.

Any ideas from the developers?

[HellBoyz77]

Problem still here in 2.0.0.

Ubuntu 8.04 Host
WinXP SP2 Guest

[Meetloaf13]

I can vouch for this behavior as well
Host: Ubuntu 8.04
Guest: WinXP SP3

When trying to open an file in OneNote (never did open the file) I eventually got a BSOD.

Very slow access here.

[ThomasNovin]

There is a workaround which is described in the ticket, http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/1728

[sunlover]

A fix is available for VBox 2.0.2. See http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/1728
comment 09/23/08 18:19:53.

[yawie]

Seems to work OK
vbox 2.0.2
host ubuntu hardy last update
guest win xp sp2 guest additions 2.0.2 + modified vbox MRXMP.dll v2.0.1.0

[studleylee]

I noticed this also even with the newest version VirtualBox 3.0.
I really needed faster shared folder access and can enable internet surfing whenever, so:
As a workaround, If you disable the virtual network adapter( Devices->networkAdapters->uncheck the one you have. ),
the shared folder screams along like it should.

It appears to be a latency with address resolution handling between the using shared folder and the rest of the world.
-Lee Studley

[NetComrade]

Is there another workaround besides disabling the network adapter?
It's not really practical.
Same issue with 3.0.2 and windowx XP Sp3

[blazer]

In this thread: http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18044&start=0 sasquatch said:

Instead of using Shared Folders through the GA, you can also set up Samba on the Host and serve files that way. The best, and most secure way to share the files is to add a second NIC to the Guest, set it to Host-Only and configure Samba to bind to only the Host-Only interface.

And it's working fine for us. Very fast.