Virtualbox is GREAT! ... but

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
Post Reply
The Silver Fox
Posts: 3
Joined: 1. Apr 2015, 23:59

Virtualbox is GREAT! ... but

Post by The Silver Fox »

Kudos to the developers, a superb product. I've been using VMware for years and just began testing Virtualbox. I'm quite impressed, the performance is nothing short of phenomenal on a Windows host. Virtualbox provides everything I'm looking for in a VM with one exception. The inability to EASILY copy files from a Linux VM to a Windows host. Easily is the keyword here. For my purposes this function needs to be as simple as it is in native Windows. I realize there are solutions/workarounds to this but for these to be even considered they'd have to be simple mouse clicks, no command line input or modification of initialization files could be involved. I'll revisit Virtualbox from time to time to see if this problem has been resolved. Meanwhile I'm forced to continue with VMware. I'll close this with a repeat of the opening statement ... Kudos to the developers for a superb product.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Virtualbox is GREAT! ... but

Post by mpack »

The Silver Fox wrote:For my purposes this function needs to be as simple as it is in native Windows.
Uh... the solution is exactly the same as in native Windows. A shared folder.

I mean, if your Windows and Linux PCs were physically separate, how would you copy files then?

I assume what you really want is something which does not exist on native Windows, i.e. drag and drop across PC desktops. In which case you might want to check out the new beta.
The Silver Fox
Posts: 3
Joined: 1. Apr 2015, 23:59

Re: Virtualbox is GREAT! ... but

Post by The Silver Fox »

Thanks for your response.

It isn't that simple. my users can see their normal network shares but they can neither copy/paste nor drag 'n' drop to/from them as they can in VMware or native Windows.

It even states in the user guide (I should've read that first) that this functionality isn't yet fully working.

As I said in my original post, I'm very impressed with Virtualbox and look forward to replacing VMware with it at some future date.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20945
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Virtualbox is GREAT! ... but

Post by scottgus1 »

Copy & paste in a regular shared folder does work in Virtualbox, I run several guests and it works all the time. It also works in Virtualbox's Guest-Addition-implemented no-network-necessary shared folders. If you're having problems, maybe a log file for the guest you're having issues with, zipped, after you've tried the copy & paste, and the guest is fully shut down, would help. Maybe you have a setting set wrong.

Drag-n-drop is, however, experimental and not fully implemented now. But it is getting implemented more in version 5, which is in beta. See viewtopic.php?f=1&t=66905
Post Reply