Unable to access shared folders in Virtualbox from 13.10 guest.

[Jack Fromm]

Added a shared folder in a Virtualbox Xubuntu 13.10 guest. After a restart, the folder is visible in /media/sf_xxxx but appears empty. Guest Additions are installed and user is a member of vboxsf group.
Have duplicated problem on two machines, one with a Precise host and the other host with lastest Saucy daily. Problem on both of those machines appears to be limited to the Saucy guest. Shared folders work as expected from a Raring guest.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: virtualbox 4.2.16-dfsg-3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-12.19-generic 3.11.3
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-12-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Oct 13 11:55:31 2013
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-13 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Beta amd64 (20131011)
MarkForUpload: True
SourcePackage: virtualbox
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1239384

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Ikuya Awashiro (ikuya-fruitsbasket)]

Here is the patch taken from https://www.virtualbox.org/changeset/48529/vbox/trunk/src/VBox/Additions/linux/sharedfolders/dirops.c

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

The attachment "fix-shared-folder-311.patch" seems to be a patch. If it isn't, please remove the "patch" flag from the attachment, remove the "patch" tag, and if you are a member of the ~ubuntu-reviewers, unsubscribe the team.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by ~brian-murray, for any issues please contact him.]

[Pascal A. (pascalav)]

Since I upgraded from stable 13.04 Raring to development 13.10 Saucy, one week ago, I can't access shared folders neither, but maybe this is a different bug. The shared folder is named "shared".

When all was working fine with Raring, I could "sudo ls /media/sf_shared". I couldn't as normal user (permission denied).

Now, the same command hangs and must be aborted with a Ctrl+C. For a single user log in, dmesg logs several occurences of the following, with different pSession addresses, as in "pSession(<address>)" :
---
VBoxGuest: VBoxGuestCommonGuestCapsAcquire: pSession(0xffff8800b6bcc810), OR(0x0), NOT(0xffffffff), flags(0x0)
---

Note that the 'vboxsf' group is empty, that the 'vboxadd' user belongs no group, and I touched nothing about that ;) Adding root and my user to vboxsf, plus reboot, makes no difference in behavior and logs.

Also, I'm fully using the snapshots functionality (up to 20 snapshots at some times, regularly flushing older ones), with satisfaction and no issue. But this issue may be related to this usage.

Please find the full log and context attached (bug-virtualbox-guest-dkms-1239384-comment-7.log).

[Alan Barr (alanb)]

I updated to VirtualBox 4.3 (available from their website) and reinstalled guest additions. The auto mounted folder is now working for me.

(For some reason an fstab entry to mount the same folder fails to work on boot, so I am using the auto mount now instead.)

[Pascal A. (pascalav)]

Note that a 'df -h' manages to get disk space information for the "/media/sf_<share_name>" mount point.

Any rad access still hanges (host Win7 4.2.16 with extensions, guest Ubuntu saucy kernel 3.11.0-12-generic with software-center "proprietary driver" 4.2.16, 3d supportenabled from start)

[Pascal A. (pascalav)]

Hmm, sorry: "Any 'ls' access still hangs" (can't tell why ^^)

[Alan Meyer (ameyer2)]

I have had similar problems with Xubuntu 13.10 and VirtualBox 4.2.18. An upgrade to VB 4.3.2 did not solve the problem. The shared folders appear to be present but "ls" hangs.

At one point, I saw ls eventually crash with an out of memory error. Perhaps it was in a recursive loop looking for the shared folder inside the shared folder and going on to infinity? At another point, plain ls failed, but if I invoked ls and passed a filename that I knew was in the shared folder, ls listed the name correctly.

I intended to use the virtual machine for some software development for which a shared folder was very important. So I removed the machine and created a new one using Xubuntu 13.04 and VB 4.3.2. Now everything works.

Another guy I know working on the same project as me also built a Xubuntu 13.10 system on virtualbox with the same lack of success.

[Pascal A. (pascalav)]

Waiting for this bug to be fixed, you can "dodge" the shared folder feature
easily without having to downgrade: with a LAN shared folder for example.

I did so, and it's getting a direct HDD access: very fast transfers.

2013/11/4 Alan Meyer <email address hidden>

> I have had similar problems with Xubuntu 13.10 and VirtualBox 4.2.18.
> An upgrade to VB 4.3.2 did not solve the problem. The shared folders
> appear to be present but "ls" hangs.
>
> At one point, I saw ls eventually crash with an out of memory error.
> Perhaps it was in a recursive loop looking for the shared folder inside
> the shared folder and going on to infinity? At another point, plain ls
> failed, but if I invoked ls and passed a filename that I knew was in the
> shared folder, ls listed the name correctly.
>
> I intended to use the virtual machine for some software development for
> which a shared folder was very important. So I removed the machine and
> created a new one using Xubuntu 13.04 and VB 4.3.2. Now everything
> works.
>
> Another guy I know working on the same project as me also built a
> Xubuntu 13.10 system on virtualbox with the same lack of success.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1239384
>
> Title:
> Unable to access shared folders in Virtualbox from 13.10 guest.
>
> Status in “virtualbox” package in Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Added a shared folder in a Virtualbox Xubuntu 13.10 guest. After a
> restart, the folder is visible in /media/sf_xxxx but appears empty. Guest
> Additions are installed and user is a member of vboxsf group.
> Have duplicated problem on two machines, one with a Precise host and the
> other host with lastest Saucy daily. Problem on both of those machines
> appears to be limited to the Saucy guest. Shared folders work as expected
> from a Raring guest.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
> Package: virtualbox 4.2.16-dfsg-3
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-12.19-generic 3.11.3
> Uname: Linux 3.11.0-12-generic x86_64
> ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu1
> Architecture: amd64
> Date: Sun Oct 13 11:55:31 2013
> InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-13 (0 days ago)
> InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Beta amd64
> (20131011)
> MarkForUpload: True
> SourcePackage: virtualbox
> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/virtualbox/+bug/1239384/+subscriptions
>

[Ingo Karkat (inkarkat)]

For me, upgrading to VirtualBox 4.3.2 and upgrading the VM to its Guest Additions (I had previously used the Ubuntu virtualbox-guest-utils package, which in the latest 4.2.16-dfsg-3 still contains this bug) allows me to successfully mount *and access* my shared folders.

However, during boot, I still get the error described here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/365346/virtualbox-shared-folder-mount-from-fstab-fails-works-once-bootup-is-complete

An error occurred while mounting [...].
keys:Press S to skip mounting or M for manual recovery

[Alan Meyer (ameyer2)]

Another workable but inelegant workaround is to install dropbox on both host and guest and share a dropbox folder.

[Matteius (matteius)]

I made the mistake of deleting my 13.04 before I setup shared folders and go with 13.10 yesterday and now today I am regretting it for this very reason.

I thought being my personal home setup I should try the new Ubuntu out in a VM. Well the alternative solutions might be suitable for somethings, its not really for doing rapid Python development and run server in the VM in real time.

I have some hope that the 4.3.x VirtualBox I installed just now would remedy the problem, but right now it can't even mount the new VirtualBoxGuestAdditions.iso due to VERR_PDM_MEDIA_LOCKED.

Getting frustrated on this front.

[Matteius (matteius)]

Alright I got past that mistake and can confirm that Ingo Karkat is correct int hat upgrading to 4.3.2 fixes the shared folders problem so long as you also figure out how to update your guest additions.

For me this meant installing the new guest extensions pack and then for some reason clicking "Insert Guest Additions CD image" from the Devices menu resulted in an unmount error. This was solved by realizing the files were already in a folder called /media/matt ... not sure how it choose this location but from there I was able to build the new kernel modules and restart.

I will try to auto mount this next and report back.

[Matteius (matteius)]

I am happy to report that running VirtualBox 4.3.2 r90405 that this is now working again for me in Ubuntu 13.10. I was even able to get the auto mount on boot to work by adding the line to the rc.local file at the end.

I reference my saved bookmark for how to setup shared folders at the end is how I set the auto-mount up.
http://www.giannistsakiris.com/index.php/2008/04/09/virtualbox-access-windows-host-shared-folders-from-ubuntu-guest/

Thanks to Ingo for the good advise, because VirtualBox 4.2.x told me it was entirely up to date -- I would have never guessed there was a 4.3.x