shared clipboard is not working

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
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wrkbear
Posts: 36
Joined: 13. Nov 2008, 05:05
Primary OS: Ubuntu 12.04
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Windows XP

shared clipboard is not working

Post by wrkbear »

I have both Windows XP and Windows 7 as guests on my Ubuntu 20.04 host using VirtualBox 6.1.14. The bidirectional drag and drop are working fine, but the bidirectional clipboard doesn't work in either direction.

I can drag and drop files from one to the other only if I resize the guest so that both host and guest appear on the screen. This is a nuisance since resizing the guest window always results in Windows shuffling the icons around on the desktop.

The shared folders are working perfectly so my workaround is to copy from linux to a shared folder and from there to windows (and vice versa) but that is awkward and I would prefer to just copy and paste from one to the other.

Does anyone have any idea why the clipboard is not shared?
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20945
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: shared clipboard is not working

Post by scottgus1 »

The clipboard is only for text, not files.

I don't know if Drag-n-drop was programmed to handle guest-to-guest.

The most optimum solution would be to put the guests both in a Bridged or Host-Only network, then real shared folders can be used between guests and the host.
wrkbear
Posts: 36
Joined: 13. Nov 2008, 05:05
Primary OS: Ubuntu 12.04
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Windows XP

Re: shared clipboard is not working

Post by wrkbear »

I'm afraid my memory is failing. I thought I remembered moving files over with the clipboard. :?

The clipboard works fine with text.

Copying files from guest to guest is not an issue as it isn't something I would want to do.

Many thanks.
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