Mounting VirtualBox shared folders on Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver)

Mounting VirtualBox shared folders on Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver).md

Mounting VirtualBox shared folders on Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver)

This guide will walk you through the steps on how to setup a VirtualBox shared folder inside your Ubuntu Server guest.

Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you are using the following setup:

• Oracle VM VirtualBox version 6.0.10 with Extension Pack installed
• Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 as the host OS
• A fresh install of Ubuntu Server 18.04.2 LTS as the guest OS

You could still make this guide work with other setups (possibly with some modifications to the commands and whatnot). But if you want to do it the way I did then please feel free to use my setup above.

Initial Steps

• Open VirtualBox

  

• Right-click your VM, then click Settings

  

• Go to Shared Folders section

  

• Add a new shared folder

  

• On Add Share prompt, select the Folder Path in your host that you want to be accessible inside your VM. Type shared for the Folder Name. Make sure that Read-only and Auto-mount are unchecked and Mount point is blank. Then click OK.

  

• Start your VM

  

• Once your VM is up and running, go to Devices -> Insert Guest Additions CD image

  

• Use the following command to mount the CD

  sudo mkdir /media/cdrom
  sudo mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
  

• Install dependencies for VirtualBox guest additions

  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install -y build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`
  

• Run the installation script for the guest additions. Wait until the installation completes.

  sudo /media/cdrom/./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
  

• Reboot VM

  sudo shutdown -r now
  

• Create shared directory in your home

  mkdir ~/shared
  

• Mount the shared folder from the host to your ~/shared directory

  sudo mount -t vboxsf shared ~/shared
  

• The host folder should now be accessible inside the VM.

  cd ~/shared
  

Make the mount folder persistent

This directory mount we just made is temporary and it will disappear on next reboot. To make this permanent, we'll set it so that it will mount our ~/shared directory on system startup

• Edit fstab file in /etc directory

  sudo nano /etc/fstab
  

• Add the following line to fstab (separated by tabs). Make sure to replace <username> with your username. Save the file.

  shared	/home/<username>/shared	vboxsf	defaults	0	0
  

• Edit modules

  sudo nano /etc/modules
  

• Add the following line to /etc/modules and save

  vboxsf
  

• Reboot the VM and log-in again

  sudo shutdown -r now
  

• Go to your home directory and check to see if the directory is highlighted in green.

  

If it is then congratulations! You successfully linked the directory within your VM with your host folder.

Bonus: Using shared folders as Apache root directory

How to point apache's web directory to our folder in the host.

• Remove apache's old html directory (WARNING! Backup your data if necessary)

  sudo rm -rf /var/www/html	
  

• Add a symbolic link in its place

  sudo ln -s ~/shared /var/www/html
  

Note: This setup works fine with Windows hosts. But if you are using Linux or Mac as the host then you may have to set appropriate file permissions on your host directory with chmod in order to make it work.

Still not working?

If you've followed the steps above and it still doesn't work, please let me know by posting a comment below. Please use the following format and be sure to be as detailed as possible so that I can have enough information to help you out.

VirtualBox version: <insert VirtualBox version here>
Host: <OS name> <version>
Guest: <OS name> <version>
Description: <detailed description of the problem>

Do note that I'm mostly a Windows user and I'm not that well versed with Linux but I will do my best to help you out.

VirtualBox version: 6.1.8r137981
Host: Microsoft Windows 10 Home 10.0.18363 N/A Build 18363
Guest: Ubuntu Server (64-bit) 18.04
Description: This is the second instance of this error. I followed the documentation exactly in this article except I did not manually mount and install the guest additions CD, so that is my guess for the source of the issue. The VM boots in emergency mode, stating that /sbin/mount.vboxsf: mounting failed with the error: No such device. The shared folder is not being located. I was not doing much of anything other than LAMP setup. Taking a further look at the last couple of comments.

@robfr77 for me using win 10 and also Ubuntu Server (64-bit) 18.04.4, i follow the instruction but always tick the Auto-mount and make permanent folder option but mount point is blank (never care to use this).

You need to define "manually mount" because doing this is manual:
apt install virtualbox-guest-additions-iso

and this also manual:
if you download vbox usually it is included in C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso so you can mount in vbox settings -> storage ->IDE

but that only mounting as inserting cd to pc not mounting cd to mount point (mount the filesystem read/write to proceed) maybe this can be clear:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/22743/how-do-i-install-guest-additions-in-a-virtualbox-vm

you still have to do

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt
cd /mnt
./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

other than that i don't know how to install guest additions (there is extracting the iso, but never done that), after mount you can install ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
and after following all instruction (from estorgio article and also tick the folder option) and is completed you can manually unmount the .iso from vbox setting or from terminal

I did install:
VirtualBox 6.1.12
VirtualBox 6.1.12 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
ubuntu-20.04.1-desktop-amd64

Mounting shared folder is really a breeze.

I follow the step above:

• Add Share: choose the folder in windows, and assign folder name "shared" as mentioned.

• Start VM

• Go to Devices | Insert Guest Additions CD image

• Click Run when it asks to install VBox_GA_6.1.12

• Once finish, just restart VM

After ubuntu is back:

• Open terminal
• mkdir ~/shared
• sudo mount -t vboxsf shared ~/shared

That's all !

Thanks @estorgio

Thank you Kabayan! Malupit! @estorgio

works like a charm! in my Virtualbox 6.1 + Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS

Thanks @estorgio @asampadeh, it is very easy now, I'm on VB 6.1.8 and Ubuntu 20.04.1, and didn't got a VB extension pack installed, did the similar steps as @asampadeh mentioned, it just creates a shared mount folder and does the job, also check the option of "make it permanent" when creating the shared folder first.

In my case the shared folder is mounted as root. I had modify:

Mount the shared folder from the host to your ~/shared directory

sudo mount -t vboxsf shared ~/shared

by:
sudo mount -t vboxsf shared ~/shared -o uid=1000,gid=1001
(Credits to https://askubuntu.com/a/978965)

Thank you.

@estorgio
Guest: Ubuntu-Server 20.04.2 LTS
Description: folders is still need to mount after reboot even after editing /etc/fstab and /etc/modules

thorough and super helpful!

Guest: Ubuntu Server 20.04.2 LTS
VirtualBox version: 6.1.22

• Install VBox guest extensions as described
• Create a shared folder as:
  • ReadOnly: Unchecked
  • Automount: Checked
  • mount path: filled (don't leave it blank)
  • Make permanent: Checked

Reboot machine. There is no need to mount path or touch /etc/fstab & /etc/modules directories

@estorgio
Guest: Ubuntu-Server 20.04.2 LTS
Description: folders is still need to mount after reboot even after editing /etc/fstab and /etc/modules

I had the same issue when I realized that I'm not writing the actual pass
do not write /home/<username>/shared and write the actual pass with the username if under home
those worked:
/home/ubuntu/shared
/mnt/shared

"unable to locate package linux-headers-uname-r"

If you have an error when running:
"sudo apt-get install -y build-essential linux-headers-uname -r"

Do this instead:
"sudo apt-get install -y build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)"

VirtualBox version: 6.1.22 r144080 (Qt5.6.2)
Host: Windows 10 Enterprise 1909
Guest: ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Description:
followed all the steps, it is working in other ubuntu versions, but not with the one i have
I am getting error in the mount step itself....
on running this command: sudo mount -t vboxsf ShareVM ~/Desktop/ShareVM
getting error: /sbin/mount.vboxsf: mounting failed with the error: Invalid argument
any idea what to do?

VirtualBox version: Version 6.1.26 r145957 (Qt5.6.2)
Host: Windows 10 Version 21H1 (OS Build 19043.1165)
Guest: ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Description:
I succeeded mounting "shared" folder like in the description, but then I wanted to mount another folder.
I followed the same steps, but I receive a message:
/sbin/mount.vboxsf: shared folder '/home/fibernet/UHE01-RX' was not found (check VM settings / spelling)

This is the configuration in the VirtualBox Settings:

And this is how the directories are shown on the Ubuntu machine

Then what am I missing out? Can't I share another folder of my choice?

EDIT: I want to note that the persistent solution worked, after reboot I had it all shared, only the local commands created issues.

@tomsasson-fibernet
Hi, I've faced the same issue.

VirtualBox: 6.1.28 r147628 (Qt5.6.2)
Host: Windows 10 Home 10.0.19042
Guest: Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.4.0-89-generic x86_64)

/sbin/mount.vboxsf: shared folder '/home/user/some-folder' was not found (check VM settings / spelling)

This answer helped me.

It works !!! @estorgio
Thanks for saving my day.

This guide saved me! No kidding. Been trying to get it to work for HOURS.

My only remark is the following portion did not work in my 20.04 LTS Ubuntu VM.

sudo mkdir /media/cdrom sudo mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom

It mentioned that it would not allow the disk to be written to the directory as it was read only.

This wasn't a real issue as adding the guest additions CD prompted the system to request to run it automatically.

Ive installed the extensions and Im using virtualbox 6

when i try: sudo mount -t vboxsf vboxshare~/vboxshare

i see message: "mount: /root/vboxshare: mount point does not exist"

if i manually created /root/vboxshare and rerun the mount command i see:

"mount: /root/vboxshare: mount(2) system call failed: No such file or directory"

I actually need the opposite of this!

Host: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (CLI only, no GUI available) running VirtualBox 6.1.34
VM: Windows 10 Pro

Anyone have any pointers to where I can find a walkthrough for this?

@wb6vpm : what exactly you mean by this word ?

I actually need the opposite of this!

what do you need exactly ?

@wb6vpm : if you mean reverse direction sharing then you should see this answer https://superuser.com/a/243768/1050329

this guide seems to be broken. Black screen after this instruction:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential linux-headers-uname -r

The black screen persists also after reboot. Now I need to recover the whole VM from another device

Working perfectly on Ubuntu Server 22.10.

Thank you so much for sharing!

Consider adding (In guest OS) user to group with:
sudo adduser your-user vboxsf
See link
In my case I don't have to mount manually as work as expected.

Thanks, adding a comment to confirm its working with Ubuntu Server 22.04 and VirtualBox 7.0.10

I want connect from Ubuntu22.04 host to Windows10 guest.
How to connect ?
do U No?

And if you want e.g. copy a file from host: Windows10 to guest: Ubuntu-server — u can use scp (over ssh) in PowerShell:
scp C:\Users\user\shared\archive.tar.gz user@localhost:~/anyFolder

Thanks so much.

Hi While trying to make use of this document, I had trouble executing this command "sudo apt-get install -y build-essential linux-headers-uname -r" thus used "sudo apt-get install -y build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)". worked well.

Also, While installation scripts of the guest editions instead of using this cmd "sudo /media/cdrom ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run" use "cd /media/cdrom && sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run" helped in getting job done.

thanks, this way still working on Ubuntu Server 24.04.1 LTS