Why am I getting 'Protocol error' reading shared folder?

[yurivict]

I run Ubuntu guest on FreeBSD host (I know it's not supported but it works fine)

My question is that I am getting 'Protocol error' when I try to read the folder in guest.
It mounts without an error.

What might be the problem?

[Sasquatch]

Protocol error with which application? Gedit? Nautilus? Terminal?

[yurivict]

Any application. For example 'ls' prints:
ls: cannot open directory host-yuri/: Protocol error

[Sasquatch]

Then something really is not right there. Are you sharing a private folder from the Host like your My Documents or profile folder?

[yurivict]

I am sharing my home directory.
It's not private. Its name on the host is /home/yuri, and I am trying to mount it in the guest as /home/yuri/host-yuri

[Sasquatch]

And that's the problem. you can't share your entire home folder. You have to pick a subfolder.

[yurivict]

This was it. Thanks!

I have a suggestion: VirtualBox GUI should warn users if they select home directory or any other directory not allowed to be shared. This will save a lot of time for many people in the future.
Or maybe just allow sharing the home directory. This should be no big deal on UNIX systems.

[Sasquatch]

And that's the problem too. For some, it gives errors like yours, for others, like me, it just works without any issue. I have shared my home folder with an XP VM and it's mapped without problems. I can read and write on it. I also have my /home shared with an Ubuntu VM, no issues either. It's a though problem to fix.
For now, avoid sharing personal folders.