virtualbox.org

I run both Linux and XP hosts, and have a separate data partition (ntfs) that is used to store data that is accessed by both hosts and all guests. I have a number of 'portable' apps also in this data folder, which means I can use the same programs to access the same data regardless of whether I am in the XP host or a Windows guest on the Linux Host. This has worked well for XP guests on the Linux host, but I am having problems with a Windows 7 guest I recently installed.

The problem seems to be that it sees the shared data folder as a network drive, and refuses to do certain operations on those files, sometimes apparently randomly. I have tried turning off real time protection in the W7 guest to no effect. For example, an updated version of a PIM app cannot access it's own data base, saying that the file format is not recognized. If I copy the entire portable app folder to the guest C: drive, it opens exactly the same (relocated) database with no problems. Yet an earlier version of the PIM app has no problem accessing it's data base file on the same shared drive.

My assumption is that this is some sort of W7 protection issue. A lot of file protection options (right clicking in Explorer) are not available for files in the shared folder (giving the reason that it is a network drive), yet it seems to be applying protection policies to some files (although, not necessarily consistently), and I can't find where the settings are.

Thanks,

Richard

A VBox shared folder is not the same as a real file share like samba, so use a real share system for this.

vbox4me2 wrote:A VBox shared folder is not the same as a real file share like samba, so use a real share system for this.

Thanks for the response, but I am confused. I thought the only way to access a host folder from a guest is through the vbox share method. In the W7 Guest I find my shared data folder under the //vboxsf Network share, and then I've mapped that to an Explorer Drive letter (i.e., E:), but I don't know how to set up any other type of share connection between the guest and host.

Thanks for any clarification.

recobb wrote:My assumption is that this is some sort of W7 protection issue. A lot of file protection options (right clicking in Explorer) are not available for files in the shared folder (giving the reason that it is a network drive), yet it seems to be applying protection policies to some files (although, not necessarily consistently), and I can't find where the settings are.

Your assumption is correct. I had 0 problems running with a similar setup with Mac OS X host, Win XP guest. My shared folder and portable apps all ran fine. When I upgraded to Windows 7 guest, I started having this problem.

BUT: When I opened the host shared folder over the network (through the router), and mapped it to a drive letter, I could set Windows 7 network settings to allow file execution across an intranet. Then Windows 7 could run the apps. The only problem came if the host was unreachable (away from a router.)

With the latest VBox, I can run small portable apps through the VBox shared folder. However, when I run installation executables from the VBox share, the system responds with a "file not available" error. More protection, I think.

I wish I could lighten the network security from guest to host.

A VBox share is a poor mans share solution, it works but thats all, only perfect for moving files around. For the rest stick to real sharing systems.

OK, I got the network sharing setup, and turned off the vboxsf sharing. Seems pretty obvious now that I've tried it.

But, still the same problem. I've gone through and set permissions to Full Control by Everyone on the shared folder, but I still get an error message from the portable PIM app that the database file is not valid. It has no problem when I copy the same file to the C: drive, but copying it back again gives the same error.

Still learning my way around W7 - anyone know of some other permissions/controls I should be setting?

A share has Share access rights and ntfs(partition) access rights, are both set properly?