Linux – Virtualbox shared folder mounting not working

I am not entirely familiar with the openSUSE distro, but your step 6 seems a bit much. Most modern linux distros can simply install the DKMS package, and then run the installer script from the .iso.

I am wondering if perhaps the guest additions aren't fully integrated - and they don't get activated early enough in the boot process to allow your entry in fstab to actually get recognized.

Update: I downloaded and installed openSUSE-11.3-GNOME-LiveCD-i686.iso, and the installer detected I was in VirtualBox and automatically started the Guest Additions. Also, once it had finished and booted to the desktop the Guest Additions were automatically started for me as well. There was nothing I needed to install - though I didn't test the auto-mounting once I was puzzled by the auto install of the additions.

Your question indicates you are using version 11.3, the instructions you copied and pasted indicate 11.2... What version of openSUSE distro are you testing? It is also the guest correct? What is your host OS? What version of VirtualBox are you running?

At least on my Win7 host with Ubuntu 10.10 guest running under VirtualBox 4.0.2, I didn't have the problems you mention. Something to be aware of though is that the shared folder is mounted with permissions set with the root account user and vboxsf group as owners.

The best thing to do is to add your normal user account to the vboxsf group. You can do that by either directly editing the /etc/group file and adding your account at the end of the group definition like so (replacing goyuix with your user account):

vboxsf:x:1001:goyuix

Or you can use the GUI: System -> Administration -> Users and Groups. Click the manage groups button, scroll pretty much to the bottom of the list and find the vboxsf group, select it and click the Properties button. You can then tick the check box for each user account you want to be part of the group.