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I created a virtualbox for ubuntu guest and my host is windows 8.1. Do I need to be carefull with virus passing from the ubuntu virtualbox to the real hard drive on windows?

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    Your question is poorly worded. There are no known viruses that would do this directly. Of course if you transferred an infected file yes it could. In addition viruses are not the only form for malware. Last, there are any number of potential exploits of the virtualbox program itself, including the virtualbox kernel module and the drivers.
    – Panther
    Oct 12, 2014 at 19:35
  • Also note that Ubuntu and other Linux OSs are really unlikely to get a virus, especially compared to windows. Do I need to have antivirus software installed on Ubuntu?
    – Wilf
    Oct 12, 2014 at 19:45

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If you are not copying between them then no... Most of the viruses will not run on linux/ubuntu therefore will not infect the host OS.

A better thing to do is to install calmav on ubuntu and have a good antivirus on windows.

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  • This is more a comment then an answer.
    – Panther
    Oct 12, 2014 at 20:35
  • Can not write comments yet :(
    – AdigaJo
    Oct 13, 2014 at 5:44
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The probability is extremly low. The Linux guest will not (be able to) run a virus designed for Windows. Thus it can't infect anything. There might be a vulnerability that affects Virtualbox that might be used to infect the host system. Can't be ruled out, but I have never heard of the like. And since this would have a very limited audience, it's not likely that anyone would code such a thing.

But: If you use shared folders to copy files back and forth between host and guest or share the clipboard, you might quite easily bring some malware onto your system, though, in a way that it would be accessible from the windows side, too. You might be unfortunate enough to run it then, while working in windows. So be sure to wear an uptodate virus scanner nevertheless. And just for good measure, installing clamav (an Open Source virus scanner running on Linux, used mostly for finding Windows viruses in data stored on a Linux system) in the guest won't hurt.

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  • This is more a comment then an answer.
    – Panther
    Oct 12, 2014 at 20:35
  • Right. Unfortunately I can't write any comments yet. Looking forward to any real answer to this question...
    – Hinz
    Oct 12, 2014 at 21:47
  • There is no "real answer". There are a number of potential user cases and a number of potential vulnerabilities. In addition security is a broad topic. We have no idea what the OP is using in terms of risk and assets.
    – Panther
    Oct 12, 2014 at 23:31
  • Also right. Anyway, AdigaJo's and my "answers" probably sum it up for the average home user (no guarantees, use a virus scanner and be careful copying). There are environments and cases, of course, in which this is not enough by far. So, if the OP does this in a high-risk environment they should probably contact the admin in charge of security.
    – Hinz
    Oct 14, 2014 at 7:18

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