Sharing drives or folders

[Perryg]

While you are considering what to do, do this.
Install another copy of the Linux guest, just do not name it exactly the same.
Use the procedure above and see if it works and let me know.

[anfho]

so the vbox software does not need to be reinstalled?

[Perryg]

No this is not a host or VirtualBox problem. AFAICT.
If you want to try to recover the original guest you can try to remove the guest additions and anything related to VirtualBox using the synaptic package manager. Then reboot the guest and follow the instructions I gave you a few post back on how to properly install the guest additions and share folders.

Go slow and be exact.

[anfho]

ok. so please give me the step by step instructions on how to use the synaptic package manager

[Perryg]

Open it and search for virtualbox. select to remove anything that shows up as virtualbox.

[anfho]

where is the program? how do I open it? I suppose this time it is located in the guest?

[Sasquatch]

The program Synaptic Package Manager is located in the Guest. Click on the top bar on System, then Administration, in the list that expands now will be the program you're looking for.

[anfho]

Ok. I can auto mount and manually mount now.
I have removed the package "virtualbox-ose-dkms" with the Snyaptic Package Manager. This package has not been removed with the console command as suggested by Perrryg above.

The manual mount follows an odd behavior from your standpoint:
If I do:

Code: Select all

sudo mount -t vboxsf -o rw,uid=1000,gid=1000 documents /mnt/documents

I get

Code: Select all

/sbin/mount.vboxsf: mounting failed with the error: Invalid argument

But if I do

Code: Select all

sudo mount -t vboxsf -o rw,uid=1000,gid=1000 Documents /mnt/documents

it works. But let's leave it like that.

Here is a peronal message to Mr. Perryg:
Before judging other people's ability to listen and to communicate I would look at my own abilities to communicate. I am certainly not a specialist in Linux nor in the handling of the hundreds of VBox settings. I am learning and I am certainly not stupid. And this is what this forum is for - to ask questions. In my case I still believe that all of my questions were justified. So please let's keep it professional and not get personal.

Now Sirs,
I would highly appreciate if you could give me a hint on how to change the default auto-mount directory.
The manual is not very clear about it and this is where all of my problems started, because I followed the manual.

Thanks very much. Best regards.

[Perryg]

Then you must have change it. Your showvminfo states exactly what the share name is. I do not make these thing up. If the share name is with a cap and you do not use a cap Linux will reject it and if it does not have a cap and you use one it will still reject it. I don't make judgements only observations, but if you want someone else to help I can understand that and will not bother you with my assistance.

[anfho]

Here is what I mean with communication:

I do appreciate your assistance.

I do not appreciate your unprofessional comments, like:
"you need to listen".
"you are lacking in Linux experience". (I know that myself by the way)
"you fail to see it"
"there must be a language barrier"
"if you want someone else to help I can understand that and will not bother you with my assistance".

So again, please let's be professional and work TOGETHER on resolving the issues here.

Since our last conversations, I have not changed anything in my settings. Please find my current showvminfo file attached with the current settings. I believe you that you don't make things up. But I am telling you what I am observing on my side. If there are odd things happening that means that something is off. But I do not want to work on that anymore.

Now: Would you be willing to give me a hint on how to change the default auto-mount directory or not?

[Perryg]

This is described in Chapter 4.3.2 Automatic mounting
If you are talking about the automount feature in VirtualBox 4.* you can not change it. It is hard coded to /media/sf_<share name>.

If you want to use a specific location for a mount you must not choose automount only permanent mount
After you have the share you put the mount statement in the /etc/rc.local
The file /etc/rc.local must be executable.

Not to seem unprofessional but do you know how to do this?

[utski]

Hi, I have the following setup:
- Windows 7 Host
- Ubuntu 10.10 32-bit guest
I have successfully shared a folder between the host and the guest after installing Guest Additions
For awhile, this worked fine in all respects.
Recently I agreed to an offered upgrade to Vbox 4.0.2.
Now, I get a "protocol error" when attempting to create a symbolic link in the Ubuntu guest:

user@ubuntuusd:/media/sf_test$ ln -fs item-one dir1/dir2/item-two
ln: creating symbolic link `dir1/dir2/item-two': Protocol error

I upgraded the Guest Additions to 4.0.2, same error.
I upgraded Vbox and GA to 4.0.4, same error.
I downgraded Vbox and GA to 4.0.0, same error.

Any ideas on other things I could try?

[utski]

I tried making sure the GA were uninstalled before reinstalling by using:

$ sudo sh VBoxLinuxAdditions.run uninstall

and rebooting the Guest. I find some still around with:

$ apt-cache search virtualbox
virtualbox-ose - x86 virtualization solution - base binaries
virtualbox-ose-dbg - x86 virtualization solution - debugging symbols
virtualbox-ose-dkms - x86 virtualization solution - kernel module sources for dkms
virtualbox-ose-fuse - x86 virtualization solution - virtual filesystem
virtualbox-ose-guest-dkms - x86 virtualization solution - guest addition module source for dkms
virtualbox-ose-guest-utils - x86 virtualization solution - non-X11 guest utilities
virtualbox-ose-guest-x11 - x86 virtualization solution - X11 guest utilities
virtualbox-ose-qt - x86 virtualization solution - Qt based user interface
virtualbox-guest-additions - guest additions iso image for VirtualBox

I tried removing the last one, but sudo apt-get remove virtualbox-guest-additions said it was not installed, so not removed.

[Perryg]

@utski,

ln: creating symbolic link `dir1/dir2/item-two': Protocol error

This is a Linux error not a VirtualBox error.
Do you see the files/folders in the /media/sf_test?

The version of VirtualBox that you seem to have installed (in the guest) is from you Ubuntu repo. You would need to remove them using the Synaptic Package Manager.
Keep in mind that we will only be able to give limited help as the Repo is responsible for their builds. They use the original VirtualBox source but we have no idea how they have compiled it nor any changes they may have made.

[utski]

Yes, I can see the files in the folder /media/sf_test.

I originally installed Vbox for windows by downloading it from the vbox website, and then installed ubuntu in a guest.
During the upgrade / downgrade process, I got vbox from the vbox website.
I don't recall installing any ubuntu-derived packages for vbox.
Thanks for your help, btw.