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Thread: 2 minor problems overcome - VBox

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    Senior Member IcSilk's Avatar
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    2 minor problems overcome - VBox

    I promised Hybrid I would post the solution to a VBox issue I was having here.
    At the time I had 2 problems that run logically enough, back-to-back.

    Both were concerning the Ubuntu OS I run off of Oracle VBox with a Win 7 host. I can't exactly remember which one my problem was concerning so I'll address both.
    Im really new to both virtual computing and *nix, so these problems are really elementary; but to someone just getting into either, or both, this could save them alot of time and frustration.

    First was the installation of VBox Guest Additions.
    Now I dumb out alot and get myself into some iffy situations because I just get into an explore mode an totally neglect analyze mode
    The research I did in the hours I spent on this problem showed me that many newbies make a major logical error.
    DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE .ISO TO YOUR HOST.

    It sounds so obvious but alot of people do it. Some even try to install it on their host. I didn't go this far, but I did download the Guest Additions .iso to my host (just like the original Ubuntu .iso) expecting to install it on VB from my Win 7 OS.
    I used the GUI to download it, and since Im new to *nix went to CLI to install it. I don't recall exactly the isssue, but I used many different command formats - ones I constructed logically from what I already knew, and ones I got from other sites online. I kept getting a missing file or directory error.
    I know some hardcore *nixers will want to hang me for it, but I reverted to the GUI filesystem to install it. Right from the FF Downloads window. The virtual cd icon was on my desktop and shared clipboard was up and running. lol
    As far as *nix CLI is concerned I cheated let myself down and disgraced the team etc etc. My defense is that I did spend alot of time on it and "just wanted it to work, already!"

    The second problem was mounting shared folders between host and box.
    First, if you've assigned a shared path previous to installing Guest Additions you've wasted time. Delete the assignment and redefine it.
    When you do so check the 'Auto Mount' option.
    I messed with this a bit before I thought about things for a second and decided that it may be because I had assigned the shared path prior to getting Guest Additions running right.

    'Auto Mount' should have created a directory with 'sf_' prefix (sf = shared folder) in /media.

    Even though I 'Auto Mounted' I got messing around with it in the CLI. I was just experimenting thinking that if 'Auto Mount' took care of everything that needed doing then I would just get 'Already Mounted' messages in CLI. you won't, you'll get 'Error' messages.

    I don't have exact recall of every step I took while dealing with this, and I have no idea why I couldn't install Guest Additions from CLI. I copied many codes from many different sources, used my own learned logic in proofreading my typing and debugging the codes. I finally off-the-cuff-like gave it a try through GUI. It worked. Everything was up and running.
    Its not a puzzle I've forgotten but ones whos conclusion I know will come with better familiarity, So I made note of it and put it on the back-burner. I thought it might have something to do with Xserver or lack of; I don't yet have enough knowledge of it to know if thats feasible.
    Its a solution that will show in time, Im confident ..

    I hope this helped someone/s getting alittle farther ahead. I know its not anything ground-breaking, but hopefully someone will get something from it.

    The next puzzle Im going to tackle is re-piping the assigned host share path to a different default vdirectory on VBox. But thats to wait until tomorrow. When I figure it out I'll write about it, by that time I'll at least know the term that refers to 're-piping the assigned host share path to a different default vdirectory on VBox' more simply


    Blessings
    F
    Last edited by IcSilk; September 17th, 2011 at 09:46 PM.
    "In most gardens they make the beds too soft - so that the flowers are always asleep" - Tiger Lily

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