Troubleshoot VirtualBox Linux Ubuntu guest access from Windows host
2013-09
I'm running VirtualBox on a Windows 7 Host, with an Ubuntu Linux guest OS.
I'm trying to set up Samba on Linux to access a folder (/home/user) from the Windows host as a share - which I believe SHOULD be possible, but having trouble getting it to work. I am aware of the Share Folder option of VirtualBox but I specifically need to get this done using Samba.
I installed Samba (apt-get install samba sambafs
) and set up /etc/smbd.conf
with a share
[usershare]
path = /home/user
read only = no
browseable = yes
Not worried about securing it by user just yet - want to get it working first.
I set up two network adapters in VirtualBox - one NAT so I can get to the Internet for apt-get and stuff, one Host-Only hoping that will let me access the Ubuntu guest from the host only. (Hence the lack of immediate concern over user-level security.)
Now, I can see an IP for the Host-only network in Windows, and tried to access it in the Windows Explorer - a blank window comes up and I don't see anything. The IP looks like 169.254.127.xxx. If I put in \\169.254.127.xxx\usershare
it hangs for a while and fails.
How do I troubleshoot this?
Is this likely a networking config problem or a Samba problem?
OK, I think I figured it out.
There were a few gaps in my understanding:
Samba setup
- I realized that Samba users require their own authentication are not necessarily the same as UNIX usernames/passwords. So I created account with
smbpasswd
. - I then confirmed that Samba setup was correct by mounting locally within the VM using
smbmount
, e.g.,smbmount //localhost/share /mnt/test -o user=testuser,pass=password
Virtualbox setup
- I ended up wtih two NIC's on my VM - eth0 is default NAT adapter, then new eth1 is host-only
- In the VM, I gave eth1 a static IP address on the same subnet as the host-only network in VirtualBox File>Preferences>Network menu. The key I was missing is that the VM needs a DIFFERENT IP address than the host-only adapter on the host side. So the host-only adapter in VirtualBox is on 192.168.100.1, the static IP for Ubuntu guest is 192.168.100.2 (for example).
- Finally, once this was set up, I could see the Samba share under
\\192.168.100.2\share\
I am trying to synchronize my music between my desktop (Ubuntu 9.10) and my laptop (VirtualBox: Windows 7 host & Ubuntu 9.10 guest) I use Unison to perform the actual sync, which itself is not the problem. I am ultimately trying to get my Windows 7 host to be able to access the music files so I can sync my iPod Touch.
What I need to figure out is how I can that to work. I would prefer to actually perform the sync to my Ubuntu Guest, mostly because of the filename allowed character differences between Windows and Linux.
Is there a way to access the files on my Linux Guest from the Windows Host?
- Can I mount the VDI in Windows when VirtualBox is off?
- Can I have Windows Host access the Linux Guest filesystem while VirtualBox is running?
This forum post explains how to mount the disk with the machine switched off, but you will need to have it formatted with a Windows friendly filesystem...
I would use Samba to do a network share for access while the system is running, see this page in for how to do it in Ubuntu. You could also use the "shared folders" thing in Virtualbox.