VirtualBox: Windows 7 inside Windows 7: cannot mount shared folder: system error code 53

Question

I have imported a Windows 7 virtual machine into Oracle VirtualBox 5.0.6 running on Windows 7. I have installed guest additions and logged in as Administrator. I have created a automount shared folder called downloads pointing to C:\Users\JDoe\Downloads. When I issue the following command:

net use x: \\vboxsrv\downloads

I get system error 53 and the mounting process fails.

Why am I getting this error and how can I mount my shared folder?

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As suggested below I have also tried using the IP address in place of vboxsrv as follows:

net use x: \\192.168.1.80\downloads

or

net use x: \\192.168.56.1\downloads

In both cases I am asked for a username and password, and I have no idea where to get these from. As the only username and password I have is the Windows 7 Administrator username and password, I have tried these, but get system error 86 when I try these and the error message says that the specified network password is invalid.

How should I proceed?

Answer 1

OK, the answer was pretty straightforward. From VirtualBox, I thought it was enough to click on Menu | Devices | Insert Guest Additions CD Image..., and I had seen the hardware LED blink on my computer when I did this so I thought once the LED stopped blinking the installation was over.

Instead, what I needed to do is go to Computer | CD Unit (D:) VirtualBox Guest Additions and click on this virtual drive and run the VBoxGuestAdditions.exe executable found therein and then reboot the Windows 7 guest machine.

Once this was done I was able to mount the shared folder without any problem with a simple:

net use x: \\vboxsrv\downloads

Best Regards.