VirtualBox: How can i share the host Ubuntu machine desktop to guest Windows machine

Question

I installed VirtualBox on my physical machine:

• Linux Ubuntu 10.04

• Oracle VirtualBox 4.0.8

In VirtualBox I hosted Windows XP SP3

Question:

How can I share the host Ubuntu machine desktop to guest Windows machine.

Answer 1

Do the following:

First you will need to add yourself (Your Ubuntu user) to the vboxusers.

1. Go to System -> Administration -> Users and Groups
2. Select Manage Groups
3. Look for vboxusers and double click on it
4. Select yourself form the list since you will be unselected if it is the first time.
5. It may be needed to Relog/Reboot for the changes to take effect.

Now you have to setup the Windows Guest.

1. Install your Windows Guest. In my case is Windows XP SP3
2. Create a folder in your Ubuntu home directory (Lets call it ShareMe)
3. Open Virtualbox and go to your WinXP VirtualBox Settings. Go to the option that says Shared Folder and click on the little Blue Folder with the Plus sign and select the Folder you want from your home directory (The ShareMe Folder in my case) and then put the name of the folder.
4. Now run WinXP VirtualBox and install Guest Addition (Load the Guest Addition CD).
5. Reboot the WinXP Virtualbox after installing Guest Addition and it should automatically load the Shared Folder. If it does not then do this in the Windows Terminal: net use x: \\vboxsvr\SharedMe

Now you have a User in the vboxusers and you have also shared your folder.

Answer 2

What do you mean by "share a host"? To share a folder from the host filesystem?

If so, do this:

• Open VirtualBox, select the Virtual Machine, click SETTINGS

• Select "Shared Folders", then "Add Shared Folder"

• Choose path (in host) and mount name (in guest).

• You can also check "Read Only" if you want.

In the guest, you can access that folder in Windows Explorer -> Network Places -> All Network -> VirtualBox shared folers -> \Vboxsvr".

Additionally, you could right-click the folder and select "Mount network drive" to assign it a letter (permantenly or not)

Last but not least, this feaure requires Guest aditions to be installed in the virtual machine