[Solved] Can't write to shared folder from guest

[istrasci]

I've been searching for this for a while and can't find any solution, so forgive me if I've overlooked anything...

Anyway, I'm running VB 3.0.6 on an Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) host... I'm running a Win XP (SP3) guest and have a shared folder between the host and guest... The problem is that I can't write anything to the shared folder from the guest... If I try to write/delete anything to/from the guest, it says that "The Media is write protected."

I am definitely a member of the vboxusers group, and the folder permissions on the Linux side are 755 (and chown'd by myuser.myuser)... Even if I change the permissions to 777, I still can't write to it from the guest...

Has anyone seen this before...? Any suggestions on how to fix it...? I basically can't do my work until I can write to this shared folder from both OS'es... Thanks in advance...

- Ian

[Perryg]

Check the share settings in the guest and make sure that the read only box does not have a check mark in it. (you will need to edit it to see)

Also run in a host terminal vboxmanage showvminfo <VM Name> and post here. Replace <VM Name> with the actual name of the VM Use "" if the name has a space in it.
Also in the guest pick a text file or anything that that has a generic file extension that is common to both Linux and Windows. Right click on it and the tell me what the properties say. Read only, archived, hidden should not have a check mark in it

[istrasci]

I'll check tomorrow when I get back to work, but I'm pretty sure the "read only" box is checked, but 1) even if I uncheck it, it still doesn't work, and 2) this is not a viable solution when I need to be editing huge sub-trees of source code. I'll post the rest of the info tomorrow...

[Perryg]

I'll check tomorrow when I get back to work, but I'm pretty sure the "read only" box is checked, but 1) even if I uncheck it, it still doesn't work, and 2) this is not a viable solution when I need to be editing huge sub-trees of source code. I'll post the rest of the info tomorrow...

istrasi, If the share is marked as read only there is no way you will be able to write to it. Make sure that the read only is unchecked and then we will see what the other problem could be. You may need to delete the share and then re-share it making sure that the read only flag is truly gone. As for the viable solution I am not sure what you mean. Once the folder is released from read only then all sub folders should also be write accessible.

[istrasci]

istrasi, If the share is marked as read only there is no way you will be able to write to it. Make sure that the read only is unchecked and then we will see what the other problem could be. You may need to delete the share and then re-share it making sure that the read only flag is truly gone. As for the viable solution I am not sure what you mean. Once the folder is released from read only then all sub folders should also be write accessible.

OK, here's what I found:

1) I can't see the properties for the top-level share because it is the part mounted as my V: drive. Right-clicking and showing its properties, there's nothing about "read-ness" there; just the volume info (type, file system, free/used space pie chart)
2) Looking at all the -files- in the top-level, none of them are marked read-only, but I still cannot alter them.
3) Looking at all the -directories- in the top-level, they all have a green square (not checkmark) in the "read-only" box. I'm not sure what this means (some read-only, others not?) Anyway, if I uncheck the "read-only" box to try to change its contents, a dialog says "You have chosen to make the following attribute changes: unset read-only", so I do "Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files", but it fails on every file, saying "An error occurred applying attributes to the file: <file> The media is write protected" (thanks, that's what I was trying to fix). So I can't really change the read-only attribute, but even if I could I suspect it wouldn't matter (as in 2 above).

By "deleting the share", do you mean remove it as a shared folder from this VM and re-add it, or actually delete the folder in Linux, mkdir a new folder and share that one with the VM...? I'll refrain from either for a while to see if any more diagnosis might help.

Finally, here's the output to vboxmanage showvminfo <name>:
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.6
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Name: Win XP
Guest OS: Windows XP
UUID: a8ddae08-42b0-4672-861c-c3865b145c6a
Config file: /home/istrasci/.VirtualBox/Machines/Win XP/Win XP.xml
Memory size: 1024MB
VRAM size: 128MB
Number of CPUs: 1
Boot menu mode: message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI: on
IOAPIC: off
PAE: off
Time offset: 0 ms
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Nested Paging: off
VT-x VPID: off
State: running (since 2009-09-25T14:07:12.665000000)
Monitor count: 1
3D Acceleration: off
Floppy: empty
SATA: disabled
IDE Controller: PIIX4
Primary master: /home/istrasci/.VirtualBox/HardDisks/Win XP.vdi (UUID: a87a34c7-ecd5-4563-b7cb-2b860ee0f392)
DVD: /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso (UUID: de877e22-61d4-4233-adb1-d32fe901ff05)
NIC 1: MAC: 080027714E71, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: Am79C973, Reported speed: 0 Mbps
NIC 2: disabled
NIC 3: disabled
NIC 4: disabled
NIC 5: disabled
NIC 6: disabled
NIC 7: disabled
NIC 8: disabled
UART 1: disabled
UART 2: disabled
Audio: enabled (Driver: PulseAudio, Controller: AC97)
Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
Video mode: 1680x1050x32
VRDP: enabled (Address 0.0.0.0, Port 3389, MultiConn: off, ReuseSingleConn: off, Authentication type: null)
USB: enabled

USB Device Filters:

Index: 0
Active: yes
Name: SMI Corporation USB DISK [1100]
VendorId: 090c
ProductId: 1000
Revision: 1100
Manufacturer: SMI Corporation
Product: USB DISK
Remote: no
Serial Number: AA04012700012760

Available remote USB devices:

<none>

Currently Attached USB Devices:

<none>

Shared folders:

Name: 'virtualbox_share', Host path: '/home/istrasci/Desktop/virtualbox_share' (machine mapping), readonly

VRDP Connection: not active
Clients so far: 0

Guest:

Statistics update: disabled

[Perryg]

Name: 'virtualbox_share', Host path: '/home/istrasci/Desktop/virtualbox_share' (machine mapping), readonly
The above is what is causing your problem.
You need to open the VBox gui and go to shared folder section of the guest. Remove the share. Then recreate the share but in the name portion do not use the underscore, just call it share or something easy, short, and no spaces or characters. Make sure that it is not marked read only and also make sure that it is made permanent.

[istrasci]

Name: 'virtualbox_share', Host path: '/home/istrasci/Desktop/virtualbox_share' (machine mapping), readonly
The above is what is causing your problem.
You need to open the VBox gui and go to shared folder section of the guest. Remove the share. Then recreate the share but in the name portion do not use the underscore, just call it share or something easy, short, and no spaces or characters. Make sure that it is not marked read only and also make sure that it is made permanent.

Thanks a million! Got it working. But I'm sorry to say it was a stupid, bonehead error on my part. I had my VBox GUI set in Japanese (as with most other apps where I can do so), and the part where you add a shared folder, I MISREAD the "Read-only" checkbox in Japanese. I thought it translated to "Used for reading", and I'm like, "Yeah, I wanna be able to read from it." But I missed the part that mean "ONLY used for reading". Sorry. I guess I'll never forget how to translate that! Anyway, thanks again for all your help!

[Perryg]

Great. I have marked the post as Solved.