Share Host Internet Virtualbox
This is the fourth article on VirtualBox management. Today, I'm going to teach you everything you need to knowof VirtualBox networking and sharing.I'm going to show you three different methods of configuring your virtual machines and three different waysof sharing data between the host machine and the virtual machine. After mastering this tutorial, you will knowall there is to know about using VirtualBox with fun and confidence. Follow me.IntroductionFor more details, you should read the following articles.
They will provide you with the necessary backgroundto following today's material with ease and pleasure:Likewise, you should read the first three installments of this series:Now, let us begin.VirtualBox network optionsFor any of your installed virtual machines, click on Settings Network. Here the fun begins. This is thedefault view. Any virtual machine can have up to four network adapters. You can enable them selectively as yousee fit.
Most people will require just one.Adapter Type defines the virtualized hardware that VirtualBox will expose to your virtual machine. If you havea problem with one of the Adapter types, you can try another. PCnet-FAST III is the default selection.You also have PCnet-FAST II for older machines and three types of Intel PRO/1000 cards, including two Serverversions, which should be useful for people running VirtualBox in a production environment. For home users, thechoice is rather transparent.The most interesting part is Attached to: section.
This category defines how yournetwork adapter will interface with existing physical hardware. Different setups will result in markedlydifferent results.Network typesWe have four options here: NAT (default), Bridged, Internal network, and Host Only. Of course, Not attached isalso a type, but not one we can really use, per se.Network Address Translation (NAT)NAT means the virtual machines will have private IP addresses that are notroutable from outside.Example: Your host is 192.168.1.1. The VirtualBox NAT device will be marked as10.0.2.1. Therefore, the virtual machines will be given any address in the 10.0.2.x range. Sharing in VirtualBoxNow that we understand networking options, let's try some sharing. There are two ways you can share your datain VirtualBox, either by direct network access, using IP addresses, or by using the Shared Folders feature.Personally, I prefer the network solution, because this is how things work in the real world.
You send requeststo other machines via the network. If they have sharing services, like NFS or Samba listening and if you'reproperly authenticated, you'll be given the list of shares and allowed to exchange files with thisserver. Another way of sharing is by FTP or SSH, again, using the classic network channels.Shared Folders is a feature where you create a folder on your host and then mount it inside your virtualmachines.
It works for all network setups and uses an internal VirtualBox sharing server to allow guest accessto the shared data.Sharing via networkEarlier, we mentioned that sharing via network is only possible for Bridged and Host-only network. Let's seetwo examples. The first step is to allow sharing in the guest machine.Then, you access the virtual machine via its IP address.On Windows:On Windows, use Start Run XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX and replace the triplets ofXs with the actual IP of the virtual machine.On Linux:Type smb://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX in the address bar of the file manager.
Smb:// stands for the Samba network protocol. The triplets of Xs stand for the IP address ofour guest machine.With Bridged networking, it looks like this:With Host-only, it looks like this:Ignore the title Windows shares.
Samba is usually used to share with Windows hosts. NFS is more typically usedfor Linux machines. Samba is preferred, because it works with both. For more about Samba sharing, please take alook at tutorial.Shared FoldersP.S. All of the above is identical for Windows and Linux guests, by the way. To this end, I decided to take thelast set of screenshots demonstrating Shared Folders on a Windows machine.Now, Shared Folders are quite simple to setup.
Your first step is to configure a folder on your host that youwish to share. For any virtual machine, open the Settings menu and go to Shared Folders.In the right pane, you will have a list of all shared folders on the machine. You can add and remove them asyou see fit.
The little icons to the right are used for that purpose.Folder Path:This is the actual, physical path that you wish to share. On Windows, the folderpath will be something like C:shared. On Linux, it will look something like /home/roger/shared.Folder Name:This is the name of the share that your guests will see.
Please use names without spaces, something likeShared-folder or Banana. This name can be identical to the actual folder you're sharing, but it does not haveto be.
Host Only Network Virtualbox
But please note, this is not a path! It's a symbolic name for virtual machines to use, as they do notsee your physical hardware.Once you've created the path, boot you virtual machine.On Windows:If your virtual machine is a Windows host, you can access the network share either via the command line orusing the Tools Map Network Drive option in the Explorer menu.On the command line, you need to use the net use command.net use vboxsvrshare-namenet use is the command for mounting network drives. Is the drive that will be assigned the share inside yourvirtual machine. It can be any free letter, like E:, G:, X:, etc.vboxsvrshare-name is the path to the share. Vboxsvr is the VirtualBoxsharing server. Share-name is the actual folder name from earlier.
So if you called your share Rambo, then thepath reads vboxsvrRambo.The command then looks like:net use h: vboxsvrRamboVia the Tools menu in the Explorer, it looks like this:You can check Reconnect at logon, so you don't have to repeat this task every time you power on the virtualmachine. Once you click Finish, you will have a new drive under your My Computer. Opening this new drive letterwill take you into the Shared folder.On Linux:This is done by a simple command in a terminal windows:mount -t vboxsf share mountpointvboxsf is the pseudo-filesystem type used to mount the Shared Folder.
It's anabstract translation layer for the virtual sharing service used by VirtualBox.share is the name of the folder from earlier. Remember, the name and not thepath! For example, if our share is called Banana then share = Banana.mountpoint is any directory in your Linux tree where you wish to mount theShared folder to.
Virtualbox Share Files With Host
For example, /home/roger/shares-go-here.Thus, our command looks like:mount -t vboxsf Banana /home/roger/shares-go-hereAnd then, everything that is inside the shared folder on your host will be visible inside the virtual machineby going to the above path.To automate the task, you can add the mount option to the /etc/fstab menu. Again, for more details on how to dothis, please refer to my tutorial.BTW, notice the help in the Settings menu, explaining how to achieve this!And that's all.ConclusionNow, you know everything you need to know about VirtualBox network & sharing. Windows, Linux, bridged,host-only, NAT, sharing via network, sharing via Shared Folders, you name it, you have it all. I hope you haveenjoyed this tutorial.Stay tuned for more good stuff.Cheers.