VirtualBox Guest Additions

Questions about the installation of FreeBSD
mechanic
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 12:54 pm

VirtualBox Guest Additions

Post by mechanic »

Is the older procedure for installing Guest Additions still relevant? This involves installing the virtualbox-ose-additions package/port, then adding a couple of lines to /etc/rc.conf

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vboxguest_enable="YES"
vboxservice_enable="YES"
I ask because with this new install of GhostBSD 10.3 from a fresh .iso file, into VirtualBox running on Windows 10, the virtual machine window behaves just as it would with GA installed (switching between full screen and windowed desktop for instance). My aim here is to enable file sharing with a Windows share, but I can't get this to work for some reason, although others have reported it possible using a line like:

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# mount_smbfs -I 192.168.56.1 //<NETBIOS NAME>/<SHARENAME> <MOUNT POINT>
Any advice?
ASX
Posts: 988
Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm

Re: VirtualBox Guest Additions

Post by ASX »

Hi,

Yes, using shared folders require that guest additions are installed in the guest OS.
https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04. ... redfolders

~~~

Vbox support in FreeBSD (and therefore in GhostBSD) is lacking, FreeBSD is not an officially supported platform, I myself have been an avid Vbox user in Linux, but not anymore on GhostBSD.
mechanic
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 12:54 pm

Re: VirtualBox Guest Additions

Post by mechanic »

Well I installed the virtualbox-ose-additions port - which incidentally included a LOT of extra download including the full kernel - which apparently lead to a more stable system than installing the package did. BUT still no joy in getting the share working with the Windows host - has anyone succeeded with this (using the mount line referred to above or similar) and could they share any more detail?
ASX
Posts: 988
Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm

Re: VirtualBox Guest Additions

Post by ASX »

mechanic wrote:Well I installed the virtualbox-ose-additions port - which incidentally included a LOT of extra download including the full kernel
I cannot make sense of what you wrote. There is no way a new kernel can be installed as part of a package install or a port install.

Anyway, for your info:
packages, as shipped in a default GhostBSD install, are fetched from "quarterly" repository. (as opposed to "latest" repository).

"ports", as obtained from "portsnap fetch extract" refer to the "head" branch of ports repository, which can be considered (nearly) in sync with "latest" repository.

It is strongly advised to not mix "ports" and "packages", this is especially true when they are out of sync, like in the case of pkgs quarterly repo vs. head branch of ports.

~~~

Is networking working properly between host and guest ?
can you ping the host from the guest ?
can you ping the guest from the host ?
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adripillo12
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2013 7:04 am

Re: VirtualBox Guest Additions

Post by adripillo12 »

ASX wrote:
mechanic wrote:Well I installed the virtualbox-ose-additions port - which incidentally included a LOT of extra download including the full kernel
It is strongly advised to not mix "ports" and "packages", this is especially true when they are out of sync, like in the case of pkgs quarterly repo vs. head branch of ports.
This it is very important, as he is saying. I destroyed versions of differents BSDs by doing this. If you go packages I recommend you to stay with it, do not mix.
mechanic
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 12:54 pm

Re: VirtualBox Guest Additions

Post by mechanic »

ASX wrote:
mechanic wrote:Well I installed the virtualbox-ose-additions port - which incidentally included a LOT of extra download including the full kernel
I cannot make sense of what you wrote. There is no way a new kernel can be installed as part of a package install or a port install.
Difficult to be brief and clear. When I ran 'make' in the port directory, it stopped pretty quickly with the instruction to download the kernel source into some src directory. After all that during the 'make' operation several dependencies were also installed. Hope that's now clear enough.
Anyway, for your info:
packages, as shipped in a default GhostBSD install, are fetched from "quarterly" repository. (as opposed to "latest" repository).

"ports", as obtained from "portsnap fetch extract" refer to the "head" branch of ports repository, which can be considered (nearly) in sync with "latest" repository.

It is strongly advised to not mix "ports" and "packages", this is especially true when they are out of sync, like in the case of pkgs quarterly repo vs. head branch of ports.

~~~

Is networking working properly between host and guest ?
can you ping the host from the guest ?
can you ping the guest from the host ?
OK, I tried again with just packages (actually just the one on top of the basic 10.3 install) but with no luck. Networking doesn't seem to be working, no shares appear in the Windows Network tab/folder in the file manager. smb services don't appear to be installed? I'll try pinging host/guest later when I have some free time.
ASX
Posts: 988
Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm

Re: VirtualBox Guest Additions

Post by ASX »

mechanic wrote: Difficult to be brief and clear. When I ran 'make' in the port directory, it stopped pretty quickly with the instruction to download the kernel source into some src directory. After all that during the 'make' operation several dependencies were also installed. Hope that's now clear enough.
Yes, that make sense, building virtualbox-ose-additions require kernel sources, because it make use of some kernel data structure. (and kernel sources are an optional component of FreeBSD/GhostBSD os).
But that doesn't touch the installed/running kernel. ;)
mechanic
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 12:54 pm

Re: VirtualBox Guest Additions

Post by mechanic »

Today the same problem. I can ping both the guest (G-BSD) from the Windows machine and windows from the Guest system. The response to the mount_smb command is "unable to open connection: syserror = operation timed out"
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adripillo12
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2013 7:04 am

Re: VirtualBox Guest Additions

Post by adripillo12 »

mechanic wrote:Today the same problem. I can ping both the guest (G-BSD) from the Windows machine and windows from the Guest system. The response to the mount_smb command is "unable to open connection: syserror = operation timed out"
Could you please put the full command line that you are using?
mechanic
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Dec 13, 2015 12:54 pm

Re: VirtualBox Guest Additions

Post by mechanic »

adripillo12 wrote:
Could you please put the full command line that you are using?
Sure:

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# mount_smbfs -I 192.168.56.1  //user@RASPBERRY/sharing /mnt/shares
plus the obvious variations like changing the case of the netbios name, leaving out the username, missing out or providing the password on demand...
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