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Where is the configuration option for sharing clipboards (copy & paste) between the host OS and the guest OS?
Greg Mattes
Posted 2009-09-16T14:32:43.837
Reputation: 2 744
How do I enable the shared clipboard in VirtualBox?
Answers
193
With Guest Additions installed, the clipboard of your guest OS can be shared with your host OS.
Highlight the Guest VBox in the VirtualBox console, open General -> Advanced. Here you can choose between various Shared Clipboard settings: Disabled, Guest to Host, Host to Guest or Bidirectional
18
Windows 7 64-bit host, Ubuntu 12.10 64-bit guest.
I enabled clipboard and drag and drop before installing Guest Additions. After installing Guest additions clipboard and drag n drop did not work. I disabled clipboard and drag n drop, uninstalled guest additions, rebooted, reinstalled guest additions - still failed.
To fix I did this:
Uninstalled guest additions and disabled clipboard and drag and drop. Then from the terminal I used
$ apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r)
Reinstall (should be error free), reboot, enable clipboard and drag and drop. Voilà!
spryce
Posted 2009-09-16T14:32:43.837
Reputation: 379
Only solution which did the trick for me on Lubuntu. Many thanks! – Zar – 2014-09-19T17:44:30.897
Worked for me for Host Mac OSX -> Guest Ubuntu. – Vinay – 2016-02-04T20:43:02.900
Indeed, this is the solution that works for those who found this thread after already installing the guest additions and enabling the clipboard sharing. As a side note, you may also need to install dkms, and you don't need to reboot - just restart the window manager. – Valmiky Arquissandas – 2016-04-01T13:58:33.700
When you said uninstall guest additions, what guest additions do you install? Download from virtual box for the same version and run the script xxx.run, or install by using apt-get install virtualbox-xxx packages? Does that matter? – Robin Hsu – 2018-04-24T09:24:40.287
2This should be the answer! it worked for me. – Ketan – 2014-05-12T16:03:51.853
5
In VirtualBox Windows versions 5.1.8 until 5.2.6 (maybe older or future versions as well) it is accessible in two ways:
- General settings
- Active guest account window
If someone knows what other versions work as well, please add them as comments.
1st Version: General settings
Machine>Settings:
General>Advanced>Shared Clipboard
2nd Version: Active guest account window
Devices>Shared Clipboard>Desired option
Available options:
1. Shared Clipboard>Disabled
2. Shared Clipboard>Host to Guest
3. Shared Clipboard>Guest to Host
4. Shared Clipboard>Bidirectional
strpeter
Posted 2009-09-16T14:32:43.837
Reputation: 165
4
Install Guest Additions for Windows XP. That will allow you to integrate the guest operating system with the host.
Some features:
- Shared Folders - Meaning you can create folders that are accessible by both the guest and host systems.
- Accelerated Video
- Mouse Integration - You no longer need to capture the mouse. Focus follow your mouse.
- Shared Clipboard
To install the Guest Additions, refer to the User Manual, Chapter 4.
A Dwarf
Posted 2009-09-16T14:32:43.837
Reputation: 17 756
2
I had the same problem with clipboard not working on my host windows 10 , and ubuntu 16.06 guest. I tried all of the above to no avail. Finally, from the virtual box website I tried this command
If you suspect that something has gone wrong, check that your guest is set up correctly and try executing the command
sudo rcvboxadd setup
https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#idm1948
Then after a reboot of the guest machine shared clipboard copy and paste finally worked correctly
salza80
Posted 2009-09-16T14:32:43.837
Reputation: 21
Ubuntu 16.06 sounds interesting – PulseJet – 2017-02-01T12:47:46.977
Worked for me using VirtualBox on macOS 10.14.2 using Ubuntu 18.04, may ask to install gcc make perl, do that and restart. – David – 2019-01-19T15:08:07.157
2
At the Virtual Box base windows , just go to settings of your machine and in General you can change the settings.
Tzvi Gregory Kaidanov
Posted 2009-09-16T14:32:43.837
Reputation: 149
2
In order to share your Host clipboard you will need the Guest Additions installed first.
As for the options for the clipboard, Right click the Guest VM within Virtual Box, Select Settings, In the General section select the Advanced tab.
lyarwood
Posted 2009-09-16T14:32:43.837
Reputation: 1 804
3Anyone know why it forces you to install Guest Additions on the guest even if all you want to do is copy ASCII from the host to the guest? Seems weird there wouldn't be a workaround for that case, since the VM is already forwarded keypress events. You'd just need to transparently inject host-to-guest keypress events. – Parthian Shot – 2014-08-15T15:31:02.687
1
@amphibient if you are using Ubuntu, then
– Dmitry Kotov – 2015-08-14T14:08:15.533sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-dkmscan help you (I took it here - http://askubuntu.com/a/578301)This link helped me https://www.smarthomebeginner.com/install-virtualbox-guest-additions-on-ubuntu-debian/
– Hitesh Sahu – 2018-10-26T09:25:24.263Worked for me. The gcc error got thrown, but it worked. – Ini – 2018-12-05T22:45:00.253
3For anyone else who runs into this problem - I had option to enable Bidirectional clipboard with Windows8, before installing Guest Additions... but of course it wasn't working even though I selected the option. It started working normally after I went through process of installing Guest Additions. – nikib3ro – 2012-10-04T21:59:30.133
16A restart of the Guest OS was required for me after installing the
Guest Additionsand setting theShared ClipboardtoBidirectionalto work. – legends2k – 2012-10-05T02:02:41.230How about unix like operating systems? for example: FreeBSD. – pylover – 2013-01-13T21:50:21.030
12I did
Bidirectional, restarted the VM, but couldn't get it to work – amphibient – 2013-08-19T20:31:02.9632this fixed all kinds of issues (resolution. clipboard, etc) – chovy – 2013-10-25T04:51:23.190