Does VirtualBox allow sharing between a host and guest in practice

drag and dropnetwork-sharesvirtualboxwindows

I'm having a heck of a time sharing data between a host and its guests in VirtualBox. The host is Windows 8.1, x64 (fully patched). Virtual Box is 4.3.30 r96997 (fully patched).

The guests are listed below. Each has its respective Guest Additions installed, and each has bidirectional sharing for Clipboard and Drag/Drop. In addition, each has a Shared Folder configured that is auto-mounted.

  • Linux 14.04, x64 (fully patched)
  • Windows 7, x64 (fully patched)

In the guests I have tried, neither Drag/Drop nor Shared Folders actually work. Below, I am attempting to access the Shared Folder on the Windows 7 guest. According to VirtualBox's tooltips for Shared Folders, I can access the shared folder via \\vboxsvr\share:

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It's embarrassing how much time I have wasted on Drag/Drop and Shared Folders.

Does VirtualBox allow sharing between a host and guest in practice? Am I wasting my time trying to get these features to work?

Best Answer

Have you tried using "Bridged Networking" network card settings for the guest operating system?. "Bridged Networking" option provides sharing the network interface between the host and guest operating system.

Ensure, you have configured Network adapter settings as "Bridged Networking" and try accessing the shared network path.

Also, ensure the local windows firewall is not blocking your network connection. Do ping check from guest OS to host and ensure it is responding. To isolate the issue, disable the Firewall for a moment and check the shared path accessible.

Hope this helps.

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