[SOLVED] acessing ubuntu filesystem from within vitrualbox and vise -versa

[tjwoosta]

so i have virtualbox installed and all setup with windows xp pro

how can i acess my Ubuntu filesystem from within the guest OS (windows xp)?

and how can i access files from the guest OS in Ubuntu?

[boblemur]

im not sure, this is kind of the point of a virtual machine however what you can do, is share the folder u want accessible, and then map it inside windows. make sure u keep urself secure though because it is shared within the network. keep a password on it.

share the folder in ubuntu

then go into windows and "map network drive" its under tools i believe from memory

hope this helps

[MasterNetra]

Well you can't access Ubuntu from within a Virtual Machine but with Virtual Box i think it can allow you to setup a shared folder that both can access but i wouldn't know how to go about it.

[jimmy the saint]

you need to install the VirtuabBox guest additions. This does a lot of things, including allowing you to map a network folder from within the XP guest to a folder in your linux filesystem. Do a google search for virtualbox shared folder.

[tjwoosta]

ok i have the guest additions already installed


i went into the virtual XP and shared the floders i wanted to share


i can access the shared files with another windows machine but not with ubuntu

in ubunutu i can go to "Places-Network" then i can see "Windows Network" but if i click on it, it comes up empty

also i cannot acess shared files from my other windows computer on ubuntu either

so basically what do i have to do to make Ubuntu see the shared files on the windows network?

[jimmy the saint]

you are going about this backwards. You don't want to share the xp guest file. You want to go into the XP guest, and from there, map a network drive. This means that you are telling the XP guest to look on a network for a folder that it will treat as network storage.

Visualize the guest and host as different machines. The file that you want to share will be on the Ubuntu machine. You want to be able to also access it from the windows machine. You will create it on the Ubuntu machine just like any other file. You have to tell the windows machine (the guest) to access it over the (imaginary) network. So, from within the Windows machine (guest) you must tell it to map that file to a network drive.

You will be sharing a file that exists on the Ubuntu box, not the guest machine. When it is set up, it will simply appear to be a network drive on the windows (guest) machine.

I wish I could find the tutorial that I used, but I just cant find it.

[Therion]

Well you were given the opportunity to set up shared folders during the install, but you can still map a new folder as a network drive.

So, to attach the Ubuntu shared folder to your Windows guest, open Windows Explorer and look for it under “My Networking Places/Entire Network/VirtualBox Shared Folders.

By right-clicking on a shared folder and selecting “Map network drive” from the menu that pops up, you can assign a drive letter to that shared folder.

Voila!

[drs305]

I just did this yesterday. Installed Guest Additions in VB. Then in Devices, Shared Folders I pointed it to my ubuntu folders. In Ubuntu, went to the folder I wanted to share and right clicked and ticked the share options. The next time I opened XP in VirtualBox, I went to Explorer, opened My Network, and it showed the folder I had marked to share in Ubuntu. When I clicked on it, it asked me my Ubuntu username and password, after which I had full access.

[jimmy the saint]

The problem with that method is that, for many, there is a huge lag. It is a well documented bug that, last I checked, has not been addressed. By mapping the file as a network drive, rather than a network place, the performance hit is solved

[tjwoosta]

man im so confused...



ok this is what i jsut did right now


in the virtualbox settings i went to shared folders and chose a folder to share
(/home/tj/desktop/shared-virtual)

then i started the virtual windows XP and went to Network Places

i clicked add new network place

then i clicked browse, and i found one that said "virtualbox shared folders", and inside this was the file i chose to share earlier


so now i can acess the shared folder from both ubuntu and the virtual xp

the problem is that it is incredibly laggy

The problem with that method is that, for many, there is a huge lag. It is a well documented bug that, last I checked, has not been addressed. By mapping the file as a network drive, rather than a network place, the performance hit is solved

how do i do that?