Understanding mount command for shared file on Linux guest

[llewellyn]

I am running PClos full monty and installed Virtual Box.
on virtualbox i installed two guest systems
windows XP running perfectly and acces to shared files  working perfectly.
The shared file is Home/lal/ MyFiles on the pclos host and I can move any other folders, I want to share, into this MyFiles folder,  reading writting copy paste all work nicely.

second guest is Suse Linux 11 with KDE 3.5
when setting up the shared files for The linux guest it tells me I have to mount the shared files with command  "mount -t vboxsf share mount-point"
I open a consol  in the suse linux guest but cannot seem to get the mount command right.
 "mount -t vboxsf " is clear enough but what do I actually put in the rest of this command line ?
do I include the word Share in the command ?
 Is the mount-point      /home/lal/MyFiles.
Sorry for stupid question but every thing I try entering in this command causes the system to give me screeds of explanatory help with all the options, non of which I can actually enter to get success.
I would like an icon somewhere in the guest file system that  i can access using Dolphin.
YES I ACTUALLY MANAGED to install DOLPHIN into the SUSE 11 guest would you believe. I borrowed it out of PCLOS kde.

[agmg]

Nothing helpful, just some questions: why do you use something so old such as Suse Linux 11? Is it still supported? Could this be the root of your problems?

[llewellyn]

I am delighted that VirtualBox lets me run my old Suse linux.
I do so specifically for the kde3.5 desktop which has an excellent version of Kontact with a mailsystem and adressbook and other facilities that all work perfectly NO BUGS
Kontact on my FullMonty PCLOS is a disaster and everytime they do update it fixes one bug to replace it with many others..The adress book just does not work and they cannot fix it.

You will find that there are thousands of users out there that like the KDE 3.5 system. It was the ultimate in a stable working personal information system. I do not see the need for maintenance or update of something that works. I will run Suse 11 KE3.5 on Vbox and use it as I did before.
File share will enable me to move any stuff that arrives as attachments to emails intto my host .

[llewellyn]

answer to second question
No the nature of the guest is not the problem its my lack of understanding of command line that is.
Please would you instruct me on this command line to mount the shared file for u linux guest.

[agmg]

I haven't used VirtualBox for a while but if I recall correctly:

share = the name of your shared file
mount-point = the path to your shared folder

So the command should be something like this: mount -t vboxsf MyFiles /home/lal/MyFiles

Try that for starters...

[TerryN]

When you create (or edit) the shared folder in the VirtualBox GUI there is a tick-box which says Auto-mount.  This will take care of it for you. The other points to be aware of are that you must have Guest Additions installed in the guest for it to work and also that the guest user must be a member of the vboxsf group to get correct permissions.

Terry

[menotu]

I don't know whether Suse has a Control Centre similar to PCLinuxOS PCC (Configure Your Computer) but  when I'm running a PCLinuxOS guest I open the PCC and go to Manage Users on System and then drill down and select vboxsf[/b

[GermanTux]

The command is this:

mount -t vboxsf 'share-name' <mount point> -- Make sure to put the share name in single quotes. 

I definitely sympathize with you on the lack of stability/functionality with the new Kontact.  It has been a disaster since they moved the back end to Akonadi. 

[llewellyn]

Thank  you GermanTux
I did su to root user in a consol
did the command mount -t  vboxsf ´MyFiles´  /home/lal/MyFiles
got   mount: mount point /home/lal/MyFiles  does not exist
I checked all the uppercase lower case things and all correct.
The settings must be correct in the host because MyFiles is working beautifully in the  windows XP guest.
If the Suse guest is not recognizing vboxsf then It indicates to me that Guest Additions is not in stalled although I thought it was. So I set about reading the Virtualbox manual and from that got myself into a big problem.It said do updates and even with Suse 11 being so old the installation program Yast (which is almost as good as our Senaptic) found lots to update including the Kernel.
But when I tried to reboot the updated  Suse it does not boot I get

> GRUB
above this is  a message saying  limited Bash command are available  press Tab
now I suppose the boot loader was not fixed to take account of the change in the Kenel but I am in big trouble now because I have no idea to use the available commands to manually bring the guest Suse  up so that I can get access to the boot loader and fix it.
If I step back one snapshot I can boot but then all the updates are no longer available
It is a cleft stick situation. All any of you clever people can do to help me out of misery is to confirm that my thoughts on the cause are correct. I do not know enough to work out what else could cause Grub to stop.
I in the meantime am going to have to read up on just how bash gets the system up and then try and do it step by step manually .


pressing tab gets a display of commands

[kjpetrie]

Well, giving support for a distro I've never used is difficult, but I suppose if it's several years old you probably won't get much help from the Suse forum either!

What you need to do is boot your VM from a working linux - was the installation image a 'livecd'? If so that will do, otherwise a pclos livecd image should suffice. Get to a root terminal and enter fdisk -l to find out the file name of your Suse / partition and make a note.

Next, create a mount point with mkdir -p /mnt/mountpoint.

Then mount the disk there with mount /dev/sdxn /mnt/mountpoint. (where /dev/sdxn is the file name you noted earlier.

List the contents to make sure it's the right partition - ls /mnt/mountpoint and then ls -l /mnt/mountpoint/boot. Post the result.

Also, (assuming it's GRUB legacy and not customised in some way) post the results of less /mnt/mountpoint/boot/grub/menu.lst.

Then, I hope, we'll be able to see what you need to do.

[rick0612]

Hi,

I've done this multiple times. Although it is with a Windows host and Linux guest, the steps are the same.

To access a host share:
  1. Ensure guest additions are installed on the guest.
  2. Create a folder in host to share (do not need to share on network)
  3. In Vbox GUI -> Shared folders, create share for guest (this will be the folder in the previous step (Click automount and remember the name for later))
  4. In guest's home folder, create mount point i.e. /home/user/UniqueName (You can do this in Dolphin, Konqueror, whatever)
  5. As root, put this line in guest's /etc/rc.local (This will make the mount permanent)
      mount -t vboxsf -o rw,uid=500,gid=500 hostfolder /home/user/UniqueName
      NOTE: hostfolder is only the name you gave the folder in step 3 not the path; Vbox takes care of the path
  6. Reboot guest


Hope this helps

Rick.

[llewellyn]

special thanks to KJPETRI and RICK0612
I was naughty and messed up the suse guest badly so now i start again. I will come back to your input above after a few days.