How do i set up shared folders in virtual box (windows 7 host, Ubuntu guest)?

Question

I have windows 7 (host), virtual box, and BioLinux6 (a varient of Ubuntu) as the guest OS.

how can i set up the shared folders to be usable for read and write in both OS without having to re-mount them every time i start up.

I'm quite familiar with windows, but totally new to Linux, the virtual box documentation didn't make sense for me as a non-linux user, it was just a couple of lines of commands, which i think only mounted the shared folders until the next re-boot.

Answer 1

First, you have to install the VirtualBox Guest additions in your host system. You shouldn't be able to use shared folders without them, if you didn't do that yet.

Second, add the the shared folder as a permanent Folder.

On the guest system, add the /etc/fstab file. You will need to open it via sudo to have edit rights.

Now, add a line to the bottom of that file. If your shared folder has the name "shared", and you want to mount it to the location /home/bec/shared, add the following line (although normally folders should be mounted to /mnt/...):

shared /home/bec/shared vboxsf defaults 0 0

Now, after rebooting the machine, the mounted folder should be accessible in the /home/bec/shared folder you supplied.

Answer 2

adding that line in the file fstab worked and now I am able to share files between the guest and the host OS I would like to know what difference that line makes and what does it mean to include that and not include that.. or else if there is any reference in there