Can't create symlinks in virtualbox shared folders [closed]

Solution 1:

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.

Solution 2:

On a windows host - run the virtual machine instance as an Administrator. I found this solved the problem.

-- I tried @schisamo's suggestion first - it may be necessary to do both. Apologies I would have added this as a comment but I'm so rep-poor I can't even comment ;-)

Solution 3:

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