VirtualBox shared Folder Settings tutorial

VirtualBox is a free open source virtual machine, it is easy to use, sometimes in the VirtualBox to do experiments, need to access the computer in the virtual machine files on the host, do not know how to set up, the Internet is said to be for the lower version of the VirtualBox, what "data space" ..., But I use VirtualBox there is no "data space", only honest look at the virtualbox of the documentation, by the way see a few concepts

Shared folders

You can access files on the host from the virtual machine by using the VirtualBox Shared Folders feature, which requires the installation of the enhanced Feature pack, and the following installation tutorials.

To configure a shared folder, you need two steps:

Step One: Specify the folder on the virtual machine to be shared on the host (that is, create the shared folder)

Step two: Mount in the virtual machine to access content in the shared folder (mapped network drive)

Step One: Specify the folder on the virtual machine to be shared on the host (Create the shared folder)

(1) for a running virtual machine

Click "Devices" – "Shared Folders" (or right-click the folder icon in the lower-right corner of the virtual machine status bar and select "Shared Folders")

Open the settings (Shared Folders) dialog box

(2) for a virtual machine that is not running (a virtual machine that is normally shut down, a virtual machine that cannot be "fast hibernate," a fast-dormant virtual machine cannot specify a shared folder

Right-click on the virtual machine and select "Set"

Open the Settings dialog box and select Shared Folders

For running virtual machines and closed virtual machines, you can see that the types of shared folders that you can create are different:

L for running virtual machines – Shared folders that can create fixed and temporary allocations

L for closed virtual machines-only fixed-allocation shared folders can be created

A fixed-allocated shared folder exists permanently for the virtual machine that defines the shared folder;

Temporarily allocated shared folders are added/removed during virtual runtime, and virtual institutions disappear after closing

Create a fixed-allocation shared folder (the same procedure for creating a temporarily allocated shared folder)

Click "Add shared Folder"

Specify the shared folder path (the path to the folder on the host)

Click "Other" to select the Host folder to share with the virtual machine

Click OK when the selection is complete

If you are not satisfied with the default shared folder name, you can modify the shared folder name

Step two: Mount in the virtual machine to access content in the shared folder (mapped network drive)

There are two ways of mounting:

L Automatic Mount

L Manual Mount

Manually mount a little more trouble, first look at the manual mount it

My virtual machine is installed with Windows 7, and I'll take Windows 7 as an example to illustrate

To enable network discovery and file and printer Sharing for Windows 7 first

Click "Start" – "Control Panel"

Click "Change advanced sharing Settings"

Select "Enable Network Discovery" in "Network Discovery";

In File and printer sharing, select Enable file and Printer Sharing

Using the net USE command

Open a Command Prompt window and enter net use X:vboxsvrsharename

X: Is the letter to use

ShareName is the shared folder name that was set when the shared folder was added

Note: To replace x: and sharename with the corresponding name, I simply did not replace sharename with the shared folder name I added ... Sweat

Open the virtual machine computer to see the shared folder so that you can access the specified host folder from the virtual machine

Using the graphical interface

Open computer on the virtual machine

Click "Map Network Drive"

Select a drive letter

Click "Browse" to select a shared folder

Click OK and you can see the shared folder in the virtual machine computer, so you can access the specified host folder.

Manual mount is a bit of a hassle, VirtualBox provides an "automatic mount" feature to simplify the procedure.

When you add a shared folder, simply select Auto mount, start or restart the virtual machine, and you can see the shared folder and access it in the virtual machine

A temporarily allocated shared folder can optionally be mounted manually or mounted automatically.

Summarize:

VirtualBox's shared folders implement the ability to access host folders from a virtual machine.

As you can see from the above, VirtualBox's "shared folder" is actually creating a virtual VBOXSVR server that will be added as a shared folder on the virtual server vboxsvr and then accessed through a "mapped network drive" on the virtual machine.

Attached: VirtualBox expansion Pack Installation Tutorial

The VirtualBox expansion pack (file name Oracle_vm_virtualbox_extension_pack-4.1.16-78094.vbox-extpack) is used to extend the VirtualBox feature, providing the following additional features:

L Support USB 2.0 devices

L VirtualBox Remote Desktop Protocol (VRDP)

L Intel PXE Boot ROM

Installation

Double-click the downloaded Oracle_vm_virtualbox_extension_pack-4.1.16-78094.vbox-extpack,virtualbox Manager boot to complete the expansion pack installation

View

Start VirtualBox Manager and click "Manage"-"Global Settings"

You can view the currently installed expansion pack in the Extensions tab, and you can add/Remove expansion packs

VirtualBox Enhanced Feature Pack

After installing the operating system on the virtual machine, if you want to optimize the operating system performance and availability of the virtual machine, you need to install the Enhanced Feature Pack, which includes device drivers and system applications. The VirtualBox enhancements package is a CD-ROM image file (file name Vboxguestadditions.iso) located in the VirtualBox installation directory.

The enhanced Feature Pack provides the following features:

L Share Files

L Share Clipboard contents

L Seamless windows – enables smooth movement of the mouse between virtual machines and hosts

L Login automatically

Installation

To install the VirtualBox Enhancements Pack, start the virtual machine first.

The steps to install the Enhanced Feature Pack in the VirtualBox documentation are:

Click on "Devices" – Install enhancements, load the Enhanced Feature Pack ISO file into the virtual machine and start the installation automatically

However, using this method on my virtual machine does not load the Enhanced Feature Pack ISO file, do not want to understand!

So I'm using the following method

Click "Devices" – "Assign optical Drives"-"Select a virtual disc" to open the "Select Virtual Disc" dialog box

Locate the VirtualBox installation directory, select Vboxguestadditions.iso, and click "Open"

The AutoPlay dialog box appears and click Run VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe to install the enhancements. (If the AutoPlay dialog box does not appear, you can open the virtual CD drive in computer, find VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe, double-click to install)

Select the components to install (Direct3D is experimental, I do not have a choice)

Reboot the virtual machine to activate the enhancements when the installation is complete.

Update

Installing a new version of the enhanced Feature pack again updates the virtual machine enhancements.