Shared Folder Settings: Making File Sharing between Host and Virtual Machine More Convenient

# 1. Understanding the Significance of Shared Folder Settings

1. **What is a Shared Folder?**
- A shared folder is a method to share files between different devices. Through shared folders, file transfer between the host and virtual machines can be achieved, greatly facilitating file management and data sharing needs.

2. **Advantages of Shared Folder Settings**
- **Convenience:** Shared folder settings make file sharing between the host and virtual machines more convenient, avoiding frequent file copying and pasting operations.
- **Efficiency:** With shared folders, large numbers of files can be quickly transferred, improving work efficiency.
- **Consistency:** Ensures that files on the host and virtual machines are kept consistent, avoiding issues caused by version inconsistencies.
- **Space-saving:** Avoids the need to store files on different devices, saving storage space.
- **Security:** File sharing security can be ensured by setting access permissions.

3. **Summary**
Shared folder settings not only improve work efficiency but also prevent consistency issues caused by multiple copies. They also save storage space. By understanding the significance of shared folder settings, we can better utilize this feature to improve work efficiency and file management convenience.

# 2. Preparatory Work: Configuring the Host and Virtual Machine

Before using shared folders, some preparatory work is required, including configuring the host and virtual machine. Here are the specific steps and contents:

### 2.1 Installing Virtual Machine Software

When choosing virtual machine software, consider using some well-known virtualization software such as VMware Workstation, VirtualBox, etc. We will take VirtualBox as an example.

### 2.2 Creating a Virtual Machine and Setting Up Network Connections

The steps to create a virtual machine in VirtualBox are as follows:
1. Open the VirtualBox software, click "New" to create a new virtual machine.
2. Set the name, type, and version of the virtual machine, and click "Next".
3. Allocate memory for the virtual machine, it is recommended to set it to at least 1GB, and click "Next".
4. Create a virtual hard disk and choose the hard disk file type and storage method, click "Create".
5. Set the size of the virtual hard disk, it is recommended to set it to 20GB or more, click "Create".
6. After completing the creation of the virtual machine, select the created virtual machine in the main interface of VirtualBox, and click "Settings".
7. In the network settings, select "Attached to: NAT Network", so that the virtual machine can network with the host.

Now you can start the virtual machine and begin configuring shared folder settings. At this point, the host and virtual machine can already communicate over the network. Next, we will introduce how to set up shared folders so that file sharing between the host and virtual machine is convenient.

# 3. Setting Up Shared Folders on the Host

In this section, we will introduce how to set up shared folders on the host to achieve file sharing between the host and the virtual machine.

#### 3.1 Setting Up Shared Folders in the Host Operating System

First, some settings need to be made in the host operating system to ensure that the shared folder feature operates correctly:

- Open the host's virtual machine software (such as VirtualBox) and select the appropriate virtual machine.
- In the virtual machine settings, find the shared folder settings option.
- Add the folder to be shared and set its path to the corresponding host folder for the virtual machine.
- Set the shared folder to auto-mount, so that it will automatically connect each time the virtual machine is started.

#### 3.2 Setting Up Shared Folder Access Permissions

To ensure smooth file sharing between the host and virtual machine, it is necessary to correctly set access permissions:

1. ### Example Code for Setting Up Host Shared Folders:

# Create a shared folder named shared_folder
sudo mkdir /mnt/shared_folder

# Add the user to the shared folder group
sudo usermod -aG vboxsf <username>

# Log out and back in to apply the user group changes