Vagrant error: NFS is reporting that your exports file is invalid

I am trying to set up the Discourse development environment using these instructions. However when I run Vagrant I get the error:

NFS is reporting that your exports file is invalid. Vagrant does this check before making any changes to the file. Please correct the issues below and execute "vagrant reload":

Can't open /etc/exports

I checked, and I don't have an etc/exports folder, so I created one and ran vagrant reload. This got me:

/Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/hosts/bsd/host.rb:146:in read': Is a directory - /etc/exports (Errno::EISDIR) from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/hosts/bsd/host.rb:146:innfs_prune' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/synced_folders/nfs/synced_folder.rb:68:in cleanup' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/synced_folder_cleanup.rb:24:inblock in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/synced_folder_cleanup.rb:22:in each_key' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/synced_folder_cleanup.rb:22:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/providers/virtualbox/action/prepare_nfs_valid_ids.rb:12:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/handle_forwarded_port_collisions.rb:118:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/providers/virtualbox/action/prepare_forwarded_port_collision_params.rb:30:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/env_set.rb:19:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/provision.rb:52:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/providers/virtualbox/action/clear_forwarded_ports.rb:13:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/providers/virtualbox/action/set_name.rb:19:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/providers/virtualbox/action/clean_machine_folder.rb:17:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/providers/virtualbox/action/check_accessible.rb:18:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:95:inblock in finalize_action' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builder.rb:116:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/runner.rb:69:inblock in run' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/util/busy.rb:19:in busy' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/runner.rb:69:inrun' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/call.rb:51:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:95:in block in finalize_action' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builder.rb:116:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/runner.rb:69:in block in run' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/util/busy.rb:19:inbusy' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/runner.rb:69:in run' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/call.rb:51:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:95:inblock in finalize_action' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builder.rb:116:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/runner.rb:69:inblock in run' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/util/busy.rb:19:in busy' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/runner.rb:69:inrun' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/call.rb:51:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/config_validate.rb:25:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/providers/virtualbox/action/check_virtualbox.rb:17:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/call.rb:57:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/providers/virtualbox/action/check_virtualbox.rb:17:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/config_validate.rb:25:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:95:in block in finalize_action' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builder.rb:116:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/runner.rb:69:in block in run' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/util/busy.rb:19:inbusy' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/runner.rb:69:in run' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/call.rb:51:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/providers/virtualbox/action/check_virtualbox.rb:17:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in call' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/builder.rb:116:incall' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/runner.rb:69:in block in run' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/util/busy.rb:19:inbusy' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/action/runner.rb:69:in run' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/machine.rb:147:inaction' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/commands/reload/command.rb:37:in block in execute' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/plugin/v2/command.rb:193:inblock in with_target_vms' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/plugin/v2/command.rb:191:in each' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/plugin/v2/command.rb:191:inwith_target_vms' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/plugins/commands/reload/command.rb:36:in execute' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/cli.rb:38:inexecute' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/lib/vagrant/environment.rb:484:in cli' from /Applications/Vagrant/embedded/gems/gems/vagrant-1.4.1/bin/vagrant:127:in' from /Applications/Vagrant/bin/../embedded/gems/bin/vagrant:23:in load' from /Applications/Vagrant/bin/../embedded/gems/bin/vagrant:23:in'

I am on a Mac (OS X 10.6.8). How do I fix this? I tried searching for the original error message, and all I found was a few repositories containing the Vagrant source code that throws it.

Solution 1:

I had some previous images/boxes installed in my VirtualBox installation, so there were a few invalid entries in /etc/exports already. So I had to clean up that file and restart my Vagrant box.

NFS is reporting that your exports file is invalid. Vagrant does
this check before making any changes to the file. Please correct
the issues below and execute "vagrant reload":

Here's what I did on my host machine:

sudo rm /etc/exports
sudo touch /etc/exports

vagrant halt
vagrant up --provision

Solution 2:

I ran into this issue with Vagrant 1.4.1 and VirtualBox 4.3.6 on OS X 10.9 Mavericks (13A603). I was able to fix it with a simple command to create the missing /etc/exports file. Run this on OS X, not guest, as pointed out in comments below.

$ sudo touch /etc/exports

I was then able to successfully run vagrant up. I did run into another error where the Guest Additions weren't up to date, but I fixed that issue by installing the vagrant-vbguest plugin.

$ vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest

and then a quick vagrant reload and I was up and running!

Solution 3:

For me, this error started appearing for a working Vagrant environment.

I had renamed the directory Vagrant was running from. To fix it, I ran 'sudo vi /etc/exports' and fixed the pathname so it pointed to my current directory.