Linux guest does not see shared folder contents

[ptoye]

I'm a bit of a newbie here, and I'm having difficulty sharing data between a Windows host and a Linux guest. The host is Windows 10 Home. The guest is a Debian-derived Linux distro.

I've set up a shared folder on the host, and have made myself a member of the vboxsf group on the guest.

VM settings for shared folder

VM Shared Settings.png (4.13 KiB) Viewed 7991 times

I've also made the folder accessible to everyone on the host.

Folder security settings

Host settings.png (12.54 KiB) Viewed 7991 times

The guest can see the folder OK, but not the file in it. See the attached zip file.

Shared folder views.zip

Zip of shared folder views from host and guest

(10.45 KiB) Downloaded 33 times

My guess is that it's probably a user access issue on the host, but the documentation is silent on how best to set that up. I'd have thought that giving everyone full access to the folder would work, but may be wrong.

Any ideas on how to set it up? Or would network sharing be easier?

[mpack]

There's no need to make the host folder "visible to everyone on the host". Guest Additions (GA) shared folders have nothing to do with networking, they are just made to look like it because that's what the guest OS understands. On the host VirtualBox is a local process which already has direct access to the folder (assuming that you do), so enabling additional permissions is not required.

The only thing absolutely required to get GA shared folders working is to install the Guest Additions in the guest. You don't mention doing that.

I'm not a Linux user, but according to the manual an auto mount shared folder should be found in /media/sf_sharename.


p.s. This topic does not belong in "Windows Hosts", since the question involves the guest, not the host. I'll move the topic.

[ptoye]

There's no need to make the host folder "visible to everyone on the host". Guest Additions (GA) shared folders have nothing to do with networking, they are just made to look like it because that's what the guest OS understands. On the host VirtualBox is a local process which already has direct access to the folder (assuming that you do), so enabling additional permissions is not required.

Ah, I see. Thanks.

The only thing absolutely required to get GA shared folders working is to install the Guest Additions in the guest. You don't mention doing that.

Yes, I already have the Guest Additions.

I'm not a Linux user, but according to the manual an auto mount shared folder should be found in /media/sf_sharename.

Interesting. That's what Chapter 8.31 says for VBoxManage. But Chapter 4.3 suggests the Settings dialogue, which allows you to set a mount point. The /media directory on the guest is empty.

p.s. This topic does not belong in "Windows Hosts", since the question involves the guest, not the host. I'll move the topic.

Hmmm.. That depends on whether it's a Windows or Linux issue. What makes you think it's a Linux issue rather than a VM or Windows one?

[mpack]

What makes you think it's a Linux issue rather than a VM or Windows one?

Windows isn't having a problem accessing files in that folder. This is a guest OS config issue.

[ptoye]

Windows isn't having a problem accessing files in that folder. This is a guest OS config issue.

Well, it could still be a VBox issue as the shared folder isn't being auto-mounted.

I guess I'll have to wait for a Linux guest expert to join this thread. Meanwhile I'll try manually mounting it.

[later] Manual mounting works, but auto-mount doesn't seem to. Wonder what I'm doing wrong, as the clipboard doesn't automatically switch on either.

[mpack]

Looks like I read the manual section too quickly anyway. It says that you can specify the mount point for automatic mounting (as you did). It only uses the path I gave if you leave it unspecified.

[ptoye]

Looks like I read the manual section too quickly anyway. It says that you can specify the mount point for automatic mounting (as you did). It only uses the path I gave if you leave it unspecified.

Oh well, it happens.

It looks as if the Guest Additions aren't being switched on - is there something I need to do on the guest to enable them?

[mpack]

I think at this point I will need to see your VM's log. With the VM fully shut down, right click and "Show Log" in the GUI, save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip, and attach the zip here.

[ptoye]

I think at this point I will need to see your VM's log. With the VM fully shut down, right click and "Show Log" in the GUI, save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip, and attach the zip here.

I assume the log from my last session will suffice. Here it is. Attached.

[mpack]

00:00:12.754474 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 5.2.24 r128122 '5.2.24_Debian'
00:00:12.754537 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Interface = 0x00010004 osType = 0x00053100 (Linux >= 2.6, 64-bit)
00:00:12.754686 VMMDev: Guest Additions capability report: (0x0 -> 0x0) seamless: no, hostWindowMapping: no, graphics: no

The log shows that you're using the Debian fork of the VirtualBox 5.2.24 Guest Additions. It would be useful to know if you still have the problem with genuine and updated GAs.

00:00:04.776618 Changing the VM state from 'CREATING' to 'CREATED'
00:00:04.777785 SharedFolders host service: Adding host mapping
00:00:04.777805 Host path 'D:\Peter\Shared', map name 'Shared', writable, automount=true, automntpnt=/, create_symlinks=false, missing=false
00:00:04.845145 Changing the VM state from 'CREATED' to 'POWERING_ON'

We can clearly see VirtualBox trying to mount a GA shared folder. I'm not happy to see '/' as the auto mount point though - I assume that's root, and I assume root is protected. I would experiment with deleting your preferred mount point in the VM settings and see if the folder then appears where the manual says, i.e. in the "/media" directory.

On general observations: you only gave 1 core to this 64bit VM. Your host can afford 2. You didn't pay any attention to the graphics settings, e.g. you only assigned 16MB of graphics RAM. I'd increase that to 64MB. You can't go overboard since your host is already tight on RAM, in fact it would be good if you could free up some.

[ptoye]

The log shows that you're using the Debian fork of the VirtualBox 5.2.24 Guest Additions. It would be useful to know if you still have the problem with genuine and updated GAs.

00:00:12.754474 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Version 5.2.24 r128122 '5.2.24_Debian'
00:00:12.754537 VMMDev: Guest Additions information report: Interface = 0x00010004 osType = 0x00053100 (Linux >= 2.6, 64-bit)
00:00:12.754686 VMMDev: Guest Additions capability report: (0x0 -> 0x0) seamless: no, hostWindowMapping: no, graphics: no

I don't quite understand this. Are you saying that my GA is out of date? I've only just started using VBox, so it can't be that old. My VBox version is 6.1.2, but I see that the GA is 5.2.24, which seems odd unless the GA and VBox versions don't keep in step. Where do I get the latest version from?

00:00:04.776618 Changing the VM state from 'CREATING' to 'CREATED'
00:00:04.777785 SharedFolders host service: Adding host mapping
00:00:04.777805 Host path 'D:\Peter\Shared', map name 'Shared', writable, automount=true, automntpnt=/, create_symlinks=false, missing=false
00:00:04.845145 Changing the VM state from 'CREATED' to 'POWERING_ON'

We can clearly see VirtualBox trying to mount a GA shared folder. I'm not happy to see '/' as the auto mount point though.

Neither am I! But the settings clearly shows that it should be /mnt/shared.

VM Shared Settings.png (4.13 KiB) Viewed 7912 times

[_johnny]

Yeah, the GA and VirtualBox versions are indeed supposed to match. Download link is mildly hidden (took me a minute on Google):

http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/6.1.2/

[mpack]

Please ignore _johnny. You don't download the VirtualBox Guest Additions separately, because they came bundled with the host VirtualBox install. Nor do the GAs have to match the host software, though it's probably a good idea right now because of the number of recent virtual hardware changes. Johhny was probably thinking of the Extension Pack, which is an entirely different feature - host plugins.

You don't understand what a fork is? VirtualBox is open source. It is possible for someone to take the source and modify it (i.e. create a "fork" in the development path) in ways unknown to us. That's why we offer no support if you use third party builds of either the host software or the GAs (the extension pack is closed source, so the problem doesn't arise there).

So, your current GAs are a third party fork. I need you to remove the fork GAs and replace them with supported GAs, ideally the current ones. Instructions are in the user manual but frankly aren't too clear IMV. I advise you to Google how to install the prerequisites needed to build the Guest Additions. If you see DKMS being mentioned - ignore that, you are reading obsolete guidance. Ideally stick to advice from the last couple of years.

[_johnny]

My mistake, didn't realize they came bundled. Thanks for the correction.

[ptoye]

Thanks. I don't have time to do that now. Maybe tomorrow or Friday even, so if you don't hear from me don't assume I've lost interest.

I do understand what a fork is, but I downloaded VBox from (as I recall) the official site and installed it. Then used "Insert CD for Guest Additions" and followed the instructions (I think). But of course I don't have a log of this.

I'm told that an improved version of my guest OS is available, so over the weekend I may install it , install the GA and see what happens.