VBoxManage sharedfolder

Add and remove shared folders.

Synopsis

VBoxManage sharedfolder add < uuid | vmname > <--name=name> <--hostpath=hostpath> [--readonly] [--transient] [--automount] [--auto-mount-point=path]

VBoxManage sharedfolder remove < uuid | vmname > <--name=name> [--transient]

Description

Shared folders enable you to share data between the host system and guests. To use shared folders, you must first install the Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions software on the guest OS.

The shared folder is associated with a share name and the full path name of the folder or directory on the host system. The share name is a unique name within the namespace of the host OS.

Add a Shared Folder

VBoxManage sharedfolder add < uuid | vmname > <--name=name> <--hostpath=hostpath> [--readonly] [--transient] [--automount] [--auto-mount-point=path]

The VBoxManage sharedfolder add command creates a shared folder. The folder you specify is on the host computer. When configured, the contents of the folder on the host system can be shared with the guest OS.

uuid|vmname

Specifies the name or UUID of the guest VM that shares a folder with the host system.

--name=name

Specifies the name of the share, which is a unique name within the namespace of the host OS.

--hostpath=hostpath

Specifies the absolute path of the folder or directory on the host OS to share with the guest OS.

--readonly

Specifies that the share has only read-only access to files at the host path.

By default, shared folders have read-write access to the files at the host path. However on Linux distributions, shared folders are mounted with 770 file permissions with the root user and the vboxsf group. By using this option, the file permissions become 700.

--transient

Specifies that the share is transient, which means that it can be added and removed at runtime and does not persist after the VM stops.

--automount

Specifies that the share is automatically mounted.

--auto-mount-point=path

Specifies the mount point of the share. This guest OS specific.

For Windows and OS/2 guest this must be an unused drive letter. If left blank (or if the drive letter is already in use), the last unused drive letter is used instead (i.e. searching from Z: thru A:).

For Linux, Solaris and other unix guest, it must be an absolute path like /mnt/mysharedfolder. If left empty the default location is /media/sf_sharename.

Remove a Shared Folder

VBoxManage sharedfolder remove < uuid | vmname > <--name=name> [--transient]

The VBoxManage sharedfolder remove command removes a shared folder.

uuid|vmname: Specifies the name or UUID of the guest VM that shares a folder with the host system.
--name=name: Specifies the name of the share to remove.
--transient: Specifies that the share is transient, which means that it can be added and removed at runtime and does not persist after the VM stops.

Examples

The following command creates a shared folder called o7share for the ol7 VM. The share is mounted automatically when the VM is started.

$ VBoxManage sharedfolder add ol7 --name ol7share --hostpath "/home/user/ol7share" --automount

The following command removes the shared folder called o7share for the ol7 VM.

$ VBoxManage sharedfolder remove ol7 --name ol7share