Using shared folders with Windows 7 in VirtualBox on Ubuntu Karmic

VirtualBox allows you to specify “shared folders,” which are folders located on your host that your virtual machine can see. This is different from having a folder shared over the network: anyone on your network can see network shares, but only your VirtualBox instance can see vbox shared folders.

The problem with Windows 7 on VirtualBox is that even if you specify shared folders, there’s no obvious way to access them from the virtual machine. They don’t show up in Network Places.

To access shared folders, you have to type in the following in your address bar: \\vboxsvr\shared_folder_name

Don’t use your host’s name instead of vboxsvr; you have to say vboxsvr. shared_folder_name is the name of the folder you shared in VirtualBox.

To make your folder easier to access, you can map that shortcut to a network drive in your virtual machine.