Create Ubuntu Shared Folder in Virtual Box

This article assumes that your are running VirtualBox on a Mac and are running Ubuntu as the guest in VirtualBox (the instructions are similar for VirtualBox running on Windows).

• Shutdown your VirtualBox Ubuntu session if it is running


• In your host operating create the folder you want to share - e.g. ubuntuShared


• From the VirtualBox control panel, click on your Ubuntu Virtual Machine


• In the right hand panel, click shared folders


• A window will open to manage shared folders. Click the add folder icon on the right hand side


• navigate to the folder you created in your host operating system and click choose


• click ok to close the navigator window


• ensure that your selected folder is highlighted in the shared folder panel and click ok


• Start your Ubuntu session and log in


• Open a Terminal session (Applications->Accessories->Terminal)


• Create a mount-point directory for your Shared Folder - e.g. sudo mkdir /media/windows-shared


• Mount your shared folder over your newly created directory - e.g. sudo mount.vboxsf ubuntuShared /media/windows-share

Now your shared folder is mounted and you can access it. Note that by doing this manually, you will need to manually mount your shared folder every time the server restarts.