Creating a Virtual Environment in Ubuntu's Shared Folder Using VirtualBox

Introduction:

Ubuntu is a popular Linux distribution that can be run on various platforms, including Windows using VirtualBox. However, when trying to create a virtual environment (virtualenv) in Ubuntu's shared folder from the host machine, you may encounter some issues. In this article, we will explore how to overcome these problems and successfully set up a virtual environment in the shared folder.

Problem with Creating Symbolic Links:

When trying to create symbolic links in a VirtualBox shared folder, you may receive an error message stating that it is disabled. This is because creating symbolic links in a shared folder is not allowed by default. As a result, you cannot create a virtualenv in a shared folder from the host machine.

Solution:

To resolve this issue, you need to restart your VM and ensure that you have write access to the shared folder. You can do this by replacing the username with your actual Ubuntu username after shutting down the VM and closing VirtualBox Manager on your Windows host. Once restarted, you should be able to create symbolic links in the shared folder.

Accessing the Shared Folder:

When running Ubuntu as a virtual machine guest (Ubuntu 14.04LTS on Windows 10 host using Oracle VirtualBox), you need to use the following command in shell to access the shared folder:

ln -s /mnt/hgfs/sharedfolder/ /path/to/new/folder

Replace 'username' with your actual Ubuntu username and '/path/to/new/folder' with the desired path for your virtualenv.

Creating a virtual environment in Ubuntu's shared folder using VirtualBox can be challenging, but it is not impossible. By understanding the problem with creating symbolic links and following the solution outlined above, you should be able to set up a successful virtual environment in the shared folder.

Ubuntu mac virtualbox shared folder