VirtualBox 6.0 Beta 2 Adds File Manager For Host/Guest File Copies, OS/2 Shared Folder

[Zoll]

I just tried the "File Manager" feature on Ubuntu 18.04, but the guest system is always disabled (16.04 guest). Anyone got that working?

[martinjh99]

Typo: "Solaris isntaller fixes"

Will shared folders finally show up as removable disks in Linux guest VMs? If so, that would be a great timesaver...that would allow any GUI interface that supports it to detect them and offer the option to mount them without needing to use the Terminal.

Yes they do - they are auto-mounted (depending on VBox Shared Folder Settings) in /media - See here - https://imgur.com/WLjG3S0

Windows 10 Host - Kubuntu Linux Guest

[doom_Oo7]

Good question, I don't understand me neither. Version 4.52 was released on November 2001, and OS/2 is dead.

oh my sweet summer child
OS/2 is still used plenty, for instance in ATMs, in medical devices (those have to be certified for 30 years generally), in flight / ship systems...

[S.Pam]

Good question, I don't understand me neither. Version 4.52 was released on November 2001, and OS/2 is dead.

We use os/2 still at work for some legacy systems like ventilation systems covering large properties ...virtualization is actually a rather welcome news

[Danniello]

There is a similar feature, but IMHO it is poorly documented, and if you use virt-manager or a recent samba in your machiche, it is a little hacky. The syntax is

qemu <other options> -net nic,model=rtl8139 -net user,smb=/home/username/shareddirname

Do you know how it is working from VM Windows guest perspective?
I mean: it is some kind of "special" host-guest connection like it is done in VirtualBox/VMware or it is standard samba connection?

I'm asking because of Windows VPN connections. Established "secure" VPN connection in VM guest is forbidding other network connections - so "standard" samba connection to \\host\share will stop working. Only "special" shares used in VirtualBox/VMware are working OK, because it is going via VirtualBox/VMware guest tools/drivers.

I would like to have such possibility in KVM/qemu/virt-manager/Boxes...

[Vistaus]

I mean who is using OS/2?

Well, ArcaOS is based on OS/2, so you could use the OS/2 binaries on ArcaOS.

[Antartica]

Do you know how it is working from VM Windows guest perspective?
I mean: it is some kind of "special" host-guest connection like it is done in VirtualBox/VMware or it is standard samba connection?

I'm asking because of Windows VPN connections. Established "secure" VPN connection in VM guest is forbidding other network connections - so "standard" samba connection to \\host\share will stop working. Only "special" shares used in VirtualBox/VMware are working OK, because it is going via VirtualBox/VMware guest tools/drivers.

I would like to have such possibility in KVM/qemu/virt-manager/Boxes...

I repeat here the qemu the command-line so that it's easier to follow the explanation:

qemu <other options> -net nic,model=rtl8139 -net user,smb=/home/username/shareddirname

The first parameter creates an additional NIC in the emulated environment.

The second parameter makes qemu to use that NIC in the following way:

1. It creates a private network using that NIC on 10.0.2.x
2. Assigns to the host in that virtual interface the IP 10.0.2.4
3. Launches a smbd on that virtual interface sharing with SMB the specified directory on the share \\10.0.2.4\qemu

To access it, you have to follow two additional steps:

4. Inside the guest, you have to configure that secondary NIC with an IP in that network (i.e. 10.0.2.1)
5. Inside the guest you have to connect to the network share \\10.0.2.4\qemu

If you use virt-manager you have to modify the configuration of the VM manually, there is no GUI for this ("virsh edit vmname")

<domain type='kvm' xmlns:qemu='http://libvirt.org/schemas/domain/qemu/1.0'> <name>vmname</name> [...] <qemu:commandline> <qemu:arg value='-net'/> <qemu:arg value='nic,model=rtl8139'/> <qemu:arg value='-net'/> <qemu:arg value='user,smb=/home/username/shareddirname'/> </qemu:commandline> </domain>
Don't have experience with windows VPNs, so I'm not sure if the fact of this being on a different NIC would allow you to use this with a VPN active in Windows.

[edwaleni]

I run OS/2 Warp 4.5.2 in Virtual Box 5.2 today. You will need to install Warpzilla (fork of Firefox) if you want current browser/certificate support. Mozilla dropped doing builds last year.

You have to be careful not to give the VM "too much" memory or you will get a BSOD. The BSOD's are funny as the hex codes are identical to Windows NT and later.

I am still amazed how well it works in so little RAM.

[ThoreauHD]

I just started using this last night. It works. VB 5.2.22 has some bug where is doesn't want to work with ubuntu 18.04 and up. I don't know what's going on with it, but I said F it and ran the beta and no more problems. Problems as in it it would take 3 minutes to hit a gui, if ever. And it never hit a GUI unless all the 2d/3d acceleration was disabled, regardless of if the tools were installed or not. In any case, version 6.0 looks alot different. I like it, even for a beta, it's doing what it's supposed to do. Got my shit running. Not much more to say. And yes, there are bug reports open for the 5.2.22 revision, but they don't seem to give a shiny crap, so.. next.

[polarathene]

Long story short, compared to VirtualBox it is a nightmare.

If you're interested, I can post (here?) more precise instructions.

Is that much different than setting up a network samba share? With Win 10 afaik, auto-discovery isn't available due to the WannaCry vulnerability so v1 protocol is disabled/blocked by default? I assume it's pretty much like having a network share setup? If not more instructions could be good sure

For Linux guests I know there is 9p as an option.