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Hi, I am having some Short File Name problems with Shared Folders for VirtualBox-4.3.4.

I have some Shared Folders, and these are mapped to drive letters inside the VM. When I try and copy files into these Shared Folders inside my Windows XP VM, I get this error message: "The destination does not support long file names. Please enter a name for this." (see screen shot inside attached ZIP file). The Shared Folder in question is a directory on my Windows 7 (64 bit) host machine.

I have tried everything I can think off. Disconnecting all Shared Folders inside the VM, and deleting the Shared Folders from VirtualBox -> Devices -> Shared Folder Settings, and rebooting the XP VM 5-10 times (until it stops thinking the Shared Folders are still connected - usually takes 5-10 reboots and re-deleting the Shared Folders before XP finally realises the shared folders are gone). Then, I set-up the Shared Folders in VirtualBox -> Devices -> Shared Folder Settings and reboot the XP VM again. The shared folders are then back and mapped to drive letters, but the short file name problem still occurs. I have done this disconnecting / deleting and then re-creating / re-mapping several times now. (Dozens of reboots of the VM).

I have copied files from the shared folder and also double clicked on files in the shared folder (from within the XP VM) and these copy fine and open fine, but the problem occurs when I copy files *into* the shared folder.

I think part of the issue may be because my XP VM seems to have a hard-time "forgetting" the Shared Folders.

I have searched in Google and here on the VirtualBox forums, but I could not find anyone having the same problems, and those who had short file name problems were with much earlier versions of VirtualBox.

Any ideas / suggestions ?

Here are my details:

* HOST: HP EliteBook 8570w laptop, Windows 7 Professional (64 bit), Intel Core i7-3820QM CPU @ 2.70GHz (8 CPUs), 8 GB RAM (1600 MHz, DDR3, 2 DM), 750 GB HDD (7200 rpm), NVidia Quadro K1000M, with all Windows patches and updates installed, running Microsoft Security Essentials, Ad-Aware, and PeerBlock.

* VirtualBox installer version: VirtualBox-4.3.4-91027-Win.exe

* Guest (VM): Windows XP SP3 (32 bit) with ALL of the latest updates and patches installed, 1.5 GB RAM, 2 x CPU, with Microsoft Security Essentials, Ad-Aware, and VirtualBox v4.3.4 Guest Additions installed. This VM runs Microsoft Security Essentials and Ad-Aware.

* Guest log file, the Guest settings (VBoxManage --details) - see the attached ZIP file.

* Screen shot - see the attached ZIP file.

Hope someone can help ...

Moose

Can you give a specific example of a filename which isn't accepted?

Also, are you talking about GA shared folders or a true network share?

mpack wrote:Also, are you talking about GA shared folders or a true network share?

Hi mpack, thanks for your reply, they are VirtualBox shared folders, not true network shares.

mpack wrote:Can you give a specific example of a filename which isn't accepted?

A good example is in the screen shot inside the ZIP file attached to my first post. This shows me inside my Windows XP VM, copying "c:\My Documents\" to the E:\ drive (a VirtualBox shared folder), and the error dialog that pops up with the error message and prompting me to rename "My Documents" to "MyDocume".

Please see the screen shot inside the ZIP file attached to my first post, and you will see what I mean.

The strange thing (as I discuss above) is that I can click on the shared folder (from my Windows XP VM) and see the long file names and double click on long file names and they open up in the VM exactly as you would expect. e.g. double clikc on "E:\my doggie on the beach.jpg" and it opens up in Windows Picturer viewer and it displays the full file name correctly in the title bar.

Windows XP knows they are long file names, but something is causing it to freak out and think only short file names are allowed when writing.

Hope this helps.

Well, there seems to be some confusion over terminology, because "My Documents\*" would be a source path, not a filename. Surely you weren't trying to reproduce a whole guest folder structure inside the shared folder?

There will be protocol conventions and limitations on filename lengths, path lengths, and valid characters sets which will be independent of those on any PC participating in the network. Also "My Documents" will also have some permission issues in play. Also, the GA Shared folders is not a true network share so I'm not entirely sure what further constraints there might be.

I find it useful to be conservative when choosing names for files in shared folders, and not just when using a VM.