Using VirtualBox Shared Folders With Ubuntu 12.04

VirtualBox includes an easy to user shared folder option in the settings. It allows anyone to add a folder from the host computer and share it with the guest. All that is required is for the guest OS, in this case Ubuntu to have the Guest Additions installed. This can be done using the Devices > Install Guest Additions… menu options.

Any shared folders will appear in Ubuntu Precise Pangolin in /media diretory. The Folder Name option will be the name of the mount point prefixed with sf_.

On the guest Ubuntu side the permissions are very restrictive. It only allows root and a new group called vboxsf to access the mount point. For the user to access the shared folder, add the user to the group vboxsf:
sudo usermod -aG vboxsf [username]
where [username] should be replaced with the actual username. For example adding the user danny to the vboxsf group:
sudo usermod -aG vboxsf danny

After running the above it is necessary to log off and log back in for the changes to take place.

Setup Ubuntu Server on VirtualBox to use as a primary dev environment

About Danny

I.T software professional always studying and applying the knowledge gained and one way of doing this is to blog. Danny also has participates in a part time project called Energy@Home [http://code.google.com/p/energyathome/] for monitoring energy usage on a premise. Dedicated to I.T since studying pure Information Technology since the age of 16, Danny Tsang working in the field that he has aimed for since leaving school. View all posts by Danny → This entry was posted in Virtualization and tagged Linux, server, Sudo, Ubuntu, usermod, virtualbox. Bookmark the permalink.

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