Can't create symlinks in virtualbox shared folders

Question

A few days ago I found I can no longer create symlinks from Ubuntu in any directories that are shared with the OS X host.

ln: creating symbolic link `foo': Read-only file system

I'm able to create symlinks in non-shared folders and on OS X directly. I've also tried running disk repair, but no errors were found.

Setup:

mig5 · Answer 1 · 2012-01-04 23:35:46Z

up vote 4 down vote

This appears to be a bug in VirtualBox 4.1.8. Some people report that downgrading to 4.1.6 resolves the issue. See https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/10085

answered Jan 4 at 23:35

feedback

Community · Answer 2 · 2012-05-21 12:25:39Z

Another workaround is to run the following command on your host:

VBoxManage setextradata VM_NAME VBoxInternal2/SharedFoldersEnableSymlinksCreate/SHARE_NAME 1

Or on Windows

VBoxManage.exe setextradata VM_NAME VBoxInternal2/SharedFoldersEnableSymlinksCreate/SHARE_NAME 1

where VM_NAME is the name of your virtual machine (e.g Ubuntu) and SHARE_NAME the name of your shared directory (without the "sf_" prefix).

This will re-enable the previous symlink friendly behavior.

Note: On Windows, always restart the Virtual Machine AND VirtualBox GUI.

@Chris, VBoxManage is located in the Program Files directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe). That said, I have not been able to get the solution to work for me yet when hosting on windows (details at virtualbox.org/ticket/10085#comment:16).

2 Answers