Index: /trunk/doc/manual/en_US/user_GuestAdditions.xml =================================================================== --- /trunk/doc/manual/en_US/user_GuestAdditions.xml (revision 75471) +++ /trunk/doc/manual/en_US/user_GuestAdditions.xml (revision 75472) @@ -1182,32 +1182,31 @@ - With the shared folders feature of - VirtualBox, you can access files of your host system from within - the guest system. This is similar how you would use network shares - in Windows networks, except that shared folders do not need - require networking, only the Guest Additions. Shared Folders are - supported with Windows 2000 or later, Linux, and Solaris guests. - - - - Shared folders must physically reside on the - host and are then shared with the guest, - which uses a special file system driver in the Guest Addition to - talk to the host. For Windows guests, shared folders are - implemented as a pseudo-network redirector. For Linux and Solaris - guests, the Guest Additions provide a virtual file system. + With the shared folders feature of VirtualBox, you + can access files of your host system from within the guest system. This + is similar how you would use network shares in Windows networks, except + that shared folders do not require networking, only the Guest Additions. + Shared Folders are supported with Windows 2000 or later, Linux, and + Solaris guests. (There are also experimental support for Mac OS X and + OS/2 guests shipping with VirtualBox 6.0.) + + + + Shared folders physically reside on the host and are + then shared with the guest, which uses a special file system driver in + the Guest Addition to talk to the host. For Windows guests, shared + folders are implemented as a pseudo-network redirector. For Linux and + Solaris guests, the Guest Additions provide a virtual file system. To share a host folder with a virtual machine in VirtualBox, you - must specify the path of that folder and choose for it a - share name that the guest can use to access - it. Hence, first create the shared folder on the host. Then, - within the guest, you can connect to it. + must specify the path of that folder and choose a share name + for it. This happens on the host. In the guest you then uses the name + connect to it and access the files. There are several ways in which shared folders can be set up for a - particular virtual machine: + virtual machine: @@ -1226,5 +1225,5 @@ If a VM is not currently running, you can configure shared - folders in each virtual machine's Settings dialog. + folders in the virtual machine's Settings dialog. @@ -1253,6 +1252,5 @@ - VM shares which are only available to the VM for which they - have been defined. + Permanent shares that are saved with the VM settings. @@ -1260,8 +1258,8 @@ - Transient VM shares, which can be added and removed at runtime - and do not persist after a VM has stopped. For these, add the - --transient option to the - above command line. + Transient shares that are added at runtime and disappear when the VM + is powered off. There is a checkbox for this in the GUI and + VBoxManage has a --transient option + for it. @@ -1270,10 +1268,9 @@ - Shared folders have read/write access to the files at the host - path by default. To restrict the guest to have read-only access, - create a read-only shared folder. This can either be achieved - using the GUI or by appending the parameter - --readonly when creating the - shared folder with VBoxManage. + Shared folders can either be read-write or read-only, meaning the guest + is either allowed to both read and write or just read files on the host. + There is a checkbox for read-only in the GUI, default being read-write, + and similarly a --readonly option for + VBoxManage. @@ -1439,4 +1436,21 @@ + + + In an OS/2 guest, use VBoxControl to manage shared folders: + + +VBoxControl sharedfolder use D: MyShareName +VBoxControl sharedfolder unuse D: +VBoxControl sharedfolder list + + Like for Windows guests, shared folders can also be accessed via + UNC using \\VBoxSF\, + \\VBoxSvr\ or + \\VBoxSrv\ as the server name and + the shared folder name as share. + + + @@ -1448,10 +1462,16 @@ - Starting with version 4.0, VirtualBox provides the option to - mount shared folders automatically If automatic mounting is - enabled for a specific shared folder, the Guest Additions will - automatically mount that folder as soon as a user logs in to the - guest OS. The details depend on the guest OS type, as follows: - + VirtualBox provides the option to mount shared folders + automatically. When automatic mounting is enabled for a shared + folder, the guest additions service will mount it for you. A + preferred drive letter (Windows, OS/2) or mount point directory + (Linux, Solaris) can also be specified if desired. + + + When no drive letter or mount point is given, or should it be + in use already, an alternative location will be found + + the service will search for an alternative + location depending on the guest OS: @@ -1459,76 +1479,40 @@ - Windows guests. Any - auto-mounted shared folder will receive its own drive - letter, such as E:, - depending on the free drive letters remaining in the guest. - - - - If there are no free drive letters left, auto-mounting will - fail. As a result, the number of auto-mounted shared folders - is typically limited to 22 or less with Windows guests. - - - - - - Linux guests. Auto-mounted - shared folders are mounted into the - /media directory, along - with the prefix sf_. For - example, the shared folder - myfiles would be mounted to - /media/sf_myfiles on Linux - and /mnt/sf_myfiles on - Solaris. - - - - The guest property + Windows and OS/2 guests: + Search for a free drive letter starting at + Z:. If all drive letter are + assigned, the folder will not be mounted. + + + + + + Linux and Solaris guests: + Folders are mounted under the /media + directory on Linux and /mnt on + Solaris. The folder name is normalized (no spaces, slashes, + colons) and prefixed with sf_. + Say you have a shared folder called myfiles + it will appear as /media/sf_myfiles + in a Linux guest and /mnt/sf_myfiles + in a Solaris one. + + + + The guest properties + /VirtualBox/GuestAdd/SharedFolders/MountDir and /VirtualBox/GuestAdd/SharedFolders/MountPrefix - determines the prefix that is used. Change that guest - property to a value other than - sf to use another prefix. - See . - - - - - Access to auto-mounted shared folders is only granted to - the user group vboxsf, - which is created by the VirtualBox Guest Additions - installer. Therefore, guest users have to be member of - that group to have read/write access, or to have read-only - access if the folder is not mapped writable. - - - - - To change the mount directory to something other than - /media, you can set the - guest property - /VirtualBox/GuestAdd/SharedFolders/MountDir. - - - - - - Solaris guests behave like - Linux guests, except that - /mnt is used as the default - mount directory instead of - /media. - - - + can be used override the automatic mount directory and prefix. + See . + + + - To have any changes to auto-mounted shared folders applied while - a VM is running, the guest OS needs to be rebooted. This applies - only to auto-mounted shared folders, not the ones which are - mounted manually. + Access to an automatically mounted shared folder is granted to everyone + in a Windows guest, that includes the Guest user. For Linux and Solaris + guests the access is restricted to members of the group + vboxsf and root.