How To Share Files In Virtualbox.VirtualBox is software to virtualize, that is, to create a free virtual machine on a Windows operating system, where we can run applications or operating systems that we don’t want to link to our original equipment. So, you can use another operating system within the one your computer has installed so that in this second software you can make configurations independently.
This application is often used for requests like installing applications from unknown or dangerous sources, so you don’t want some virus to infect your operating system and you have to format it; rather, you install it in a virtual machine and it does not affect your computer.
How To Share Files In Virtualbox;5 Methods You Must Know.
Index( )
- How to share files to virtual machine with your Windows computer?
- Create a shared folder
- How to access virtual machine shared folders from your PC?
- From the virtual machine manager
- With the file explorer
How to share files to virtual machine with your Windows computer?.
Start by downloading and installing VirtualBox on your computer, also download the ISO image of the operating system you want to install on the virtual machine. Now, with the program installed, what you have to do is start creating your machine. To do this, click on the ‘New’ button on the blue icon.
Continue by configuring the new virtual machine with its name, operating system, amount of RAM, virtual hard drive, and amount of storage; press create and the new virtual machine will appear in the list in the left column of the main interface of the program.
Select the machine to boot from and proceed to install the operating system that you previously downloaded to an ISO image. When you have your new ‘Windows’ working properly, it’s time to start taking advantage of it, so you can start by exchanging data from one machine to another, or install another operating system such as Linux.
The easiest way to achieve this is by dragging and dropping files, but for this you need to configure and install plug-ins that allow this action. So, on the guest machine you must install “Guest Additions” and within the configuration you must select “Advanced> general options> drag and drop”, where you must select in which direction the file transfer will be carried out; bidirectionally (in both directions) or from one direction to the other.
Create a shared folder
With the above process, you can move files the fastest, but only a small amount, and a host folder cannot be written to by a guest; so in this way you will have to create a shared folder to solve this problem. Now, to perform this procedure you must open VirtualBox and start your virtual machine.
Then choose ‘Devices>Install Guest Additions’ option, after that go to your computer’s file explorer and find ‘My Computer> CD Drive (D):VirtualBox Guest Additions ‘, open the drive and install it in your computer. Then, go to ‘Devices> Shared folders> Shared folders> + symbol’, a dialog box will appear where you will specify the path of the folder you want to share.
Now, in case you don’t want the folder to be deleted after the virtual machine reboot , then take advantage and check the ‘Make permanent’ option and confirm everything before exiting. Now you have your shared folder created!
How to access virtual machine shared folders from your PC?
Once you have created the folders that you want to share from your host machine to your guest virtual machine , you can view its contents on the different operating systems installed on your computer and share or drag information from one machine to another. To do this, see the following options.
From the virtual machine manager.
You may want to enter a shared folder, but it will not let you overwrite or delete it because you are not the administrator user, for this you must grant the necessary permissions and assign the owner for both users, the host and the guest.
To do this, go to the folder path and click on it with the right mouse button, there look for the option ‘Properties> Security> Advanced Options, once there a pop-up window will open showing who is the owner of the folder, therefore the one with the permissions on it.
Then, you must assign a new owner, to do this, click on ‘Change owner ‘ at the top and select the option ‘Search now’, select your account and accept. Go back and in the tab where the list of owners appears, the name of your machine should appear; then select it and click apply and accept. Done, you can now access the folder!
With the file explorer
To access the shared folder from your virtual machine, start by opening a ‘File Explorer’ window, then in the left pane of the window click on ‘Network’, there, the different connected devices will be displayed and one with the name of the pseudo-network ” VBOXSRV” where the content of the folder you shared will be available, double click on the folder to access its content.
In conclusion, using VirtualBox is a great help tool, especially to use programs that need another operating system; For example, if you have a Mac and you need the Windows operating system to perform an action, then with VirtualBox you can install Windows as a guest on a Mac that works as a host.
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