How to access Guest (Linux) Filesystem from Host (Windows) in VirtualBox

Question

I am trying to synchronize my music between my desktop (Ubuntu 9.10) and my laptop (VirtualBox: Windows 7 host & Ubuntu 9.10 guest) I use Unison to perform the actual sync, which itself is not the problem. I am ultimately trying to get my Windows 7 host to be able to access the music files so I can sync my iPod Touch.

What I need to figure out is how I can that to work. I would prefer to actually perform the sync to my Ubuntu Guest, mostly because of the filename allowed character differences between Windows and Linux.

Is there a way to access the files on my Linux Guest from the Windows Host?

• Can I mount the VDI in Windows when VirtualBox is off?
• Can I have Windows Host access the Linux Guest filesystem while VirtualBox is running?

Answer 1

This forum post explains how to mount the disk with the machine switched off, but you will need to have it formatted with a Windows friendly filesystem...

I would use Samba to do a network share for access while the system is running, see this page in for how to do it in Ubuntu. You could also use the "shared folders" thing in Virtualbox.

Answer 2

Personally I have had lots of issues with Samba. If the amount of data fits, I would load up Dropbox or a similar service within Linux and the Windows Machine.

To Review your options if VBox guest is:

Samba (essentially share the folder on your network) Difficulty (hard, but only way if the music collection is larger than 20-30GB)

https://askubuntu.com/questions/281466/samba-how-can-i-access-a-share-on-a-virtualbox-guest-in-nat-mode

DropBox / Box / GDocs folder

if VBox is not running:

I think this depends on how the HD was made. Neal's tip may help there.