Vagrant error : Failed to mount folders in Linux guest

I have some issues with Vagrant shared folders, my base system is Ubuntu 13.10 desktop.

I do not understand why I have this error is something that is not right configured ? Is a NFS issue or Virtualbox Guest Additions ? I have tried with different many boxes but the same issue.

Failed to mount folders in Linux guest. This is usually because
    the "vboxsf" file system is not available. Please verify that
    the guest additions are properly installed in the guest and
    can work properly. The command attempted was:

    mount -t vboxsf -o uid=`id -u vagrant`,gid=`getent group vagrant | cut -d: -f3` /vagrant /vagrant
    mount -t vboxsf -o uid=`id -u vagrant`,gid=`id -g vagrant` /vagrant /vagrant

Here is the complete process after vagrant up :

$ vagrant up
Bringing machine 'default' up with 'virtualbox' provider...
==> default: Importing base box 'u131032'...
==> default: Matching MAC address for NAT networking...
==> default: Setting the name of the VM: vagrant_default_1396020504136_46442
==> default: Clearing any previously set forwarded ports...
==> default: Clearing any previously set network interfaces...
==> default: Preparing network interfaces based on configuration...
    default: Adapter 1: nat
    default: Adapter 2: hostonly
==> default: Forwarding ports...
    default: 22 => 2222 (adapter 1)
==> default: Running 'pre-boot' VM customizations...
==> default: Booting VM...
==> default: Waiting for machine to boot. This may take a few minutes...
    default: SSH address: 127.0.0.1:2222
    default: SSH username: vagrant
    default: SSH auth method: private key
    default: Error: Connection timeout. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: Error: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
==> default: Machine booted and ready!
GuestAdditions versions on your host (4.3.10) and guest (4.2.16) do not match.
 * Stopping VirtualBox Additions
   ...done.
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  dkms libdrm-intel1 libdrm-nouveau2 libdrm-radeon1 libfontenc1
  libgl1-mesa-dri libglapi-mesa libice6 libllvm3.3 libpciaccess0 libpixman-1-0
  libsm6 libtxc-dxtn-s2tc0 libxaw7 libxcomposite1 libxdamage1 libxfixes3
  libxfont1 libxkbfile1 libxmu6 libxpm4 libxrandr2 libxrender1 libxt6
  x11-common x11-xkb-utils xfonts-base xfonts-encodings xfonts-utils
  xserver-common xserver-xorg-core
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  virtualbox-guest-dkms* virtualbox-guest-utils* virtualbox-guest-x11*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 11.1 MB disk space will be freed.
(Reading database ... 65615 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing virtualbox-guest-dkms ...

-------- Uninstall Beginning --------
Module:  virtualbox-guest
Version: 4.2.16
Kernel:  3.11.0-18-generic (i686)
-------------------------------------

Status: Before uninstall, this module version was ACTIVE on this kernel.

vboxguest.ko:
 - Uninstallation
   - Deleting from: /lib/modules/3.11.0-18-generic/updates/dkms/
 - Original module
   - No original module was found for this module on this kernel.
   - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version.


vboxsf.ko:
 - Uninstallation
   - Deleting from: /lib/modules/3.11.0-18-generic/updates/dkms/
 - Original module
   - No original module was found for this module on this kernel.
   - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version.


vboxvideo.ko:
 - Uninstallation
   - Deleting from: /lib/modules/3.11.0-18-generic/updates/dkms/
 - Original module
   - No original module was found for this module on this kernel.
   - Use the dkms install command to reinstall any previous module version.

depmod....

DKMS: uninstall completed.

------------------------------
Deleting module version: 4.2.16
completely from the DKMS tree.
------------------------------
Done.
Removing virtualbox-guest-x11 ...
Purging configuration files for virtualbox-guest-x11 ...
Removing virtualbox-guest-utils ...
Purging configuration files for virtualbox-guest-utils ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
dkms is already the newest version.
dkms set to manually installed.
linux-headers-3.11.0-18-generic is already the newest version.
linux-headers-3.11.0-18-generic set to manually installed.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libdrm-intel1 libdrm-nouveau2 libdrm-radeon1 libfontenc1 libgl1-mesa-dri
  libglapi-mesa libice6 libllvm3.3 libpciaccess0 libpixman-1-0 libsm6
  libtxc-dxtn-s2tc0 libxaw7 libxcomposite1 libxdamage1 libxfixes3 libxfont1
  libxkbfile1 libxmu6 libxpm4 libxrandr2 libxrender1 libxt6 x11-common
  x11-xkb-utils xfonts-base xfonts-encodings xfonts-utils xserver-common
  xserver-xorg-core
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Copy iso file /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso into the box /tmp/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso
mount: block device /tmp/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso is write-protected, mounting read-only
Installing Virtualbox Guest Additions 4.3.10 - guest version is 4.2.16
Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing VirtualBox 4.3.10 Guest Additions for Linux............
VirtualBox Guest Additions installer
Copying additional installer modules ...
Installing additional modules ...
Removing existing VirtualBox DKMS kernel modules ...done.
Removing existing VirtualBox non-DKMS kernel modules ...done.
Building the VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel modules ...done.
Doing non-kernel setup of the Guest Additions ...done.
Starting the VirtualBox Guest Additions ...done.
Installing the Window System drivers
Could not find the X.Org or XFree86 Window System, skipping.
An error occurred during installation of VirtualBox Guest Additions 4.3.10. Some functionality may not work as intended.
In most cases it is OK that the "Window System drivers" installation failed.
==> default: Checking for guest additions in VM...
==> default: Setting hostname...
==> default: Configuring and enabling network interfaces...
==> default: Exporting NFS shared folders...
==> default: Preparing to edit /etc/exports. Administrator privileges will be required...
nfsd running
sudo: /usr/bin/exportfs: command not found
==> default: Mounting NFS shared folders...
==> default: Mounting shared folders...
    default: /vagrant => /home/me/Documents/Work/project/vagrant
Failed to mount folders in Linux guest. This is usually because
the "vboxsf" file system is not available. Please verify that
the guest additions are properly installed in the guest and
can work properly. The command attempted was:

mount -t vboxsf -o uid=`id -u vagrant`,gid=`getent group vagrant | cut -d: -f3` /vagrant /vagrant
mount -t vboxsf -o uid=`id -u vagrant`,gid=`id -g vagrant` /vagrant /vagrant

My Vagrantfile configuration is :

# -*- mode: ruby -*-
# vi: set ft=ruby :

# Vagrantfile API/syntax version. Don't touch unless you know what you're doing!
VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"

personalization = File.expand_path("../Personalization", __FILE__)
load personalization

Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
  config.vm.box = $base_box
  config.vm.box_url = $base_box_url

  config.vm.hostname = $vhost + ".dev"

  config.hostsupdater.aliases = ["api." + $vhost + ".dev", "mysql." + $vhost + ".dev"]
  config.hostsupdater.remove_on_suspend = true

  # set auto_update to ture to check the correct 
  # additions version when booting the machine
  config.vbguest.auto_update = true
  config.vbguest.auto_reboot = true

  config.vm.network :private_network, ip: $ip

  config.vm.synced_folder "../", "/srv/www/vhosts/" + $vhost + ".dev", type: "nfs"

  config.vm.provider :virtualbox do |v|
    v.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--memory", 2048]
    v.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--cpus", "1"]
    v.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--cpuexecutioncap", "100"]
    v.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--ioapic", "off"]
    v.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--natdnshostresolver1", "on"]
  end

  config.vm.provision "shell" do |s|
    s.path = "vagrant-bootstrap.sh"
    s.args = $vhost + " " + $mysql_password + " " + $application_database
  end
end

The Personalization file is :

# Name of the vhost to create
$vhost = "project"

# Use the Ubunut 32bit or 64bit
$base_box_url = "http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/vagrant/saucy/current/saucy-server-cloudimg-i386-vagrant-disk1.box"

# VM IP
$ip = "192.168.7.7"

# Base box name
$base_box = "u131032"

# MySQL
$mysql_password = "admin"
$application_database = "project"

The following plugins are enabled in Vagrant:

$ vagrant plugin list
vagrant-hostsupdater (0.0.11)
vagrant-login (1.0.1, system)
vagrant-share (1.0.1, system)
vagrant-vbguest (0.10.0)

Solution 1:

The plugin vagrant-vbguest solved my problem:

$ vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest

Output:

$ vagrant reload
==> default: Attempting graceful shutdown of VM...
...
==> default: Machine booted and ready!
GuestAdditions 4.3.12 running --- OK.
==> default: Checking for guest additions in VM...
==> default: Configuring and enabling network interfaces...
==> default: Exporting NFS shared folders...
==> default: Preparing to edit /etc/exports. Administrator privileges will be required...
==> default: Mounting NFS shared folders...
==> default: VM already provisioned. Run `vagrant provision` or use `--provision` to force it

Just make sure you are running the latest version of VirtualBox

Solution 2:

I found this issue addressed here vagrant issues. Two ways to do it:

1. Run this on guest (i.e. after you ssh into vbox via vagrant ssh )

   sudo ln -s /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-4.3.10/lib/VBoxGuestAdditions /usr/lib/VBoxGuestAdditions
   

   Then run vagrant reload to correctly mount the folders.

2. As @klang pointed out, update the VBoxGuestAdditions.iso file on your mac:

   wget https://www.virtualbox.org/download/testcase/VBoxGuestAdditions_4.3.11-93070.iso‌​
   sudo cp VBoxGuestAdditions_4.3.11-93070.iso /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso
   

UPDATE (16may2014)

Since the iso is no longer available, you can use the 4.3.12 one (http://dlc.sun.com.edgesuite.net/virtualbox/4.3.12/VBoxGuestAdditions_4.3.12.iso)

note : the binary vbox4.3.12 for os X is not available at this time

Solution 3:

I arrived at this page whilst looking for the same error message. For me the cause was different: I had ran a yum update on the system that installed a new kernel. The guest additions where out of date so it couldn't load them.

I rebuilt them with

sudo /etc/init.d/vboxadd setup 

And a vagrant reload later my guest was up and running again.

I'm just adding it here in case someone else gets here the same way I did.

Edit (Per KCD's comment):
It is possible that you get an error saying:

The headers for the current running kernel were not found

This can be resolved by installing kernel-devel (yum install kernel-devel)

Solution 4:

Fix Step by step:

If you not have vbguest plugin, install it:

$ vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest

Run Vagrant

It is show a error.

$ vagrant up

Login on VM

$ vagrant ssh

Fix!

In the guest (VM logged).

$ sudo ln -s /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-4.3.10/lib/VBoxGuestAdditions /usr/lib/VBoxGuestAdditions

Back on the host, reload Vagrant

$ vagrant reload