Import locally defined hosts into Windows VM hosts file

hosts-to-vm.sh

#!/bin/sh
# hosts-to-vm.sh
#
# Made for use alongside the excellent ievms -
# https://github.com/xdissent/ievms
#
# Will export the local hosts (from /etc/hosts)
# to a batch script & add that batch script to a Windows VM
# The batch script will be executed to import the hosts onto the VM
# The batch file seems convoluted, until you only want to append the new hosts.
#
# REQUIREMENTS :
# VirtualBox & Guest Additions installed (v4.0 or greater) on the guest
# VirtualBox command line tools installed on the host
# Local hosts defined in /etc/hosts using 127.0.0.1 address.
# VM's setup via ievms.sh - the user listed below must be an admin on the VM.
#
# OVERVIEW :
# 1 Parse local (127.0.0.1 ONLY) hosts to a list
# 2 Create a .bat file to copy to the Windows VM disk
# 3 Loop over hosts, adding commands to batchfile.
# 4 Copy batchfile to C:\ of Administrator in the VM
# 5 Execute the batch
#
# For info on getting UAC on Windows from within batch script see
# http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/12936-how-run-batch-file-admin-2.html?s=0c0b169bcd910dc62c1adc18ef279179
#
#
# USAGE:
# Call with Virtualbox VM name, or without args to see usage.
# hosts-to-vm.sh "VM - Name" [ "VM2 - Name" "VM3 - Name" ... ]
#
# To run on all
# ./hosts-to-vm.sh  "IE6 - WinXP" "IE7 - WinXP" "IE8 - WinXP" "IE9 - Win7" "IE10 - Win7" "IE11 - Win7"
#
# CONFIG
###########################################################
# VM admin username
USERNAME='IEUser'
# VM admin user password
PASSWD='Passw0rd!'
# check delay when starting VM's
sleep_wait="5"
###########################################################

# The generated batch file
BATCHFILE="/tmp/hosts.bat"
# Source hosts file
HOSTS="/etc/hosts"

# Helpers
SCRIPT=`basename "$0"`
IP=`ifconfig | grep "inet " | grep -v 127.0.0.1 | cut -d\  -f2`


# Requires VM pass it as arg1
if [[ -z $1 ]]; then
    echo  "    NAME
        ${SCRIPT}

    USAGE
        Specify at least one Virtual Machine to use.

        Call the script as follows on the host
        ${SCRIPT} \"VM - Name\"  [ \"VM2 - Name\" \"VM3 - Name\" ... ]

        Edit this script if you want to avoid overwriting the Windows hosts file.
        See OVERWRITE comment in get_hosts function in ${SCRIPT}

        ${SCRIPT} \"VM - Name\"

        A hosts.bat is generated, copied to the VM and then run.
        The VM will launch, the Windows Console should open & disappear.
        The hosts.bat can be re-run, it will request admin priveledges via UAC
        The batch file will remain in the users home directory.

        UAC on Windows 7 - USER INTERACTION REQUIRED INSIDE THE VM.
        Manually agree to run the hosts.bat file with admin privileges on Windows 7 VM's.

        The new hosts file in Windows uses the hosts IP address,
        127.0.0.1 would resolve to the VM, not the host OS.
        Ensure the guest has a static IP on the primary interface or
        re-run this script to overwrite the hosts file.
        "
    exit 0
fi


# Get local hostnames on the host machine
# batch file requires header to disable echo,
# request admin priveldges on via UAC
function get_hosts() {
    HOSTLIST=`awk '/localhost/ || /broadcasthost/ || /^#/ {next}; /127.0.0.1/  {print $2}' "${HOSTS}"`
    # Setup batch file
    touch "${BATCHFILE}"
    #### Will OVERWRITE hosts file on VM unless you remove the echo. >NUL 2>%hostspath%
    cat > "${BATCHFILE}" <<"BATCHHEADER"
@echo off
net session >NUL 2>&1|| powershell Start-Process '%0' -Verb RunAs&& exit /b|| exit /b
set hostspath=%windir%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
echo. >NUL 2>%hostspath%
BATCHHEADER
    # for each host add a line to create it in our batchfile...
    # echo local-IP-addr host.name >> %hostspath%
    for host in "${HOSTLIST}" ; do
        echo "echo ${IP} ${host} >> %hostspath%" >> "${BATCHFILE}"
    done
    # Add the script closure to the batch file
    cat >> "${BATCHFILE}" << 'CLOSURE'
exit
CLOSURE
}


# function taken from ievms
# Pause execution until guest control is available for a virtual machine
wait_for_guestcontrol() {
    while true ; do
        echo "Waiting for ${1} to be available for guestcontrol..."
        sleep "${sleep_wait}"
        VBoxManage showvminfo "${1}" | grep 'Additions run level:' | grep -q "3" && return 0 || true
    done
}

# Is it a virtual machine in VirtualBox?
is_vm() {
    VBoxManage showvminfo "${1}" >/dev/null 2>&1
    if [[ "$?" -ne "0" ]]; then
        return 1
    fi
}


get_hosts


# Quote to allow for spaces in arguments
for VM in "$@" ; do

    # sanity check
    is_vm "${VM}"
    if [[ "$?" -eq "0" ]]; then

        STATE=`VBoxManage showvminfo "${VM}" | awk '/State/ {print $2}'`
        if [[ "${STATE}" != 'running' ]]; then
            echo "The virtual machine ${VM} is not running ... starting it"
            VBoxManage startvm  "${VM}"
        fi

        wait_for_guestcontrol "${VM}"
        # Import the batch to the VM
        # Using windows back slashes fails
        # Copying into user directory
        # Win 7 has different path, check os version
        echo  "Copying ${BATCHFILE} to ${VM}"
        WIN_OS_VER=$(VBoxManage showvminfo --machinereadable "${VM}" | grep "ostype=" | cut -d '=' -f2 | sed 's/\"//g' )
        #echo "${WIN_OS_VER}"
        if [[ ${WIN_OS_VER} == "Windows 7 (32 bit)" ]]; then
            VBoxManage guestcontrol "${VM}" cp   "${BATCHFILE}" "C:/Users/IEUser/hosts.bat" --username "${USERNAME}" --password "${PASSWD}" --verbose
            VBoxManage guestcontrol "${VM}" exec "C:/Users/IEUser/hosts.bat" --username "${USERNAME}" --password "${PASSWD}" --verbose
            echo "Check for UAC popup in taskbar in ${VM}"
        fi
        if [[ ${WIN_OS_VER} == "Windows XP (32 bit)" ]]; then
            VBoxManage guestcontrol "${VM}" cp   "${BATCHFILE}" "C:/Documents and Settings/IEUser/hosts.bat" --username "${USERNAME}" --password "${PASSWD}" --verbose
            VBoxManage guestcontrol "${VM}" exec "C:/Documents and Settings/IEUser/hosts.bat" --username "${USERNAME}" --password "${PASSWD}" --verbose
        fi

    else
        echo "ERROR ${VM} is not a virtual machine in VirtualBox... skipping."
    fi

done

# Cleanup local copy
rm "${BATCHFILE}"

exit 0

Per link in http://stackoverflow.com/a/17094284/406725

ievms by default creates VM's titled: IE7 - WinXP

To account for passing in arguments with spaces ( VM names ) change:

# line 79:
for VM in $@
# to:
for VM in "$@"

Or you can copy my fork ( change + comments ): https://gist.github.com/chaffeqa/8922736/revisions

Does this still work? The Administrator/Password1 combo doesn't let me log in. Using IEUser/Passw0rd! does let me log in but nothing appears to happen when I try to exec the bat file:

VBoxManage guestcontrol "IE9 - Win7" exec  "/Documents and Settings/IEUser/Desktop/hosts.bat"    --username IEUser --password Passw0rd\!  --verbose
Opening guest session as user 'IEUser' ...
Waiting for guest session to start ...
Guest session (ID 2) has been started
Starting guest process ...
[2588 - Session 2]
Guest session detached

Inspecting the Windows hosts file shows it hasn't been updated.

Thanks chaffeqa, I have probably botched the merge, but it should be there now.

airblade, this should work now.
The Windows 7 VM's needed to request admin level access & that was failing along with the new user & password.

Apologies for being slow to resolve this - if you know how I can get notifications from github comments that would be great :)

@drewreece It works now – fantastic!

Not sure how to get notifications from comments; I assumed they happened automatically.

Great, thanks for the input.

I expect the notifications are off because gists don't support them or maybe I have a cheapskate free account :)