[HOWTO] Setup VirtualBox Guest Addition Module, Shared Folders and Clip-board

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moel
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Distribution: Porteus-LXQT-v5.0-x86_64.iso
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[HOWTO] Setup VirtualBox Guest Addition Module, Shared Folders and Clip-board

Post#1 by moel » 06 Dec 2022, 18:39

Title: [HOWTO] Setup VirtualBox Guest Addition Module, Shared Folders and Clip-board

Note: Moved from the theme "Intermediate/Advanced User Questions" to this theme "Tutorials"

Guide covers:
- Creating a module for VirtualBox Guest Additions with Porteus tools.
- Accessing a FTP-server (mirror) for downloading Porteus software.
- Setup "Shared folder" between a Windows10 host and Porteus installed in a VirtualBox.
- Setup shared Clip-board between a Windows10 host and Porteus installed in a VirtualBox.
- Setup drag and drop between a Windows10 host and Porteus installed in a VirtualBox.

Background:
- Setup "shared folder" with the ordinary procedure on VirtualBox failed on my system.
- Several contributions in this forum indicates that several users have had the same problem.

Used abbreviations:
Vbox = VirtualBox
W10 = Windows 10 version 22H2

Software and setup used for this tutorial:
Host: Windows 10 version 22H2
Guest: Porteus-LXQT-x86_64.iso
Shared W10 folder: C:\Users\Public\Documents\porteusx

Beware: Porteus desktop is the LXqt (is also used by newer lubuntu)

Porteus is installed on a Vbox drive:
Size: 3.2GB
Partition type: msdos
The file system: ext4
Mounted in Porteus as: /mnt/sda1
Bootloader: installed (Porteus boots from the Vbox disk)

Beware: do NOT load or install the Vbox Additions "VboxGuestAdditions.iso" in Porteus

Reboot from Vbox drive in "Graphics mode"
(Beware: Porteus-LXQT-x86_64.iso must NOT be loaded in the optical drive of Vbox)

Eventually eject any "iso" from the optical disk:
1. In Vbox in "Devices/Optial Drive" use option "Eject" or "Remove" media

Enable data transfer between Porteus in Vbox and W10:
1. In Vbox: "Devices/Drag and Drop", select: "bidirectional"
2. In Vbox: "Devices/Clip board", select: "bidirectional"

Add shared folder in Vbox :
1. In Vbox "Devices/Shared Folder",
select or add path to folder in W10: "C:\Users\Public\Documents\porteusx"
2. Select Options for the shared folder:
[ ] Read only
[x] Automatic
[x] Permanent

Mirrors for download of porteus modules, see:
http://porteus.org/porteus-mirrors.html

Used mirror site for this guide:
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/dl.porteus.org/

Find IP address of mirror site with, eg. a W10 command prompt, enter:
ping mirrorservice.org

The IP-address displayed by the ping will properly be: 212.219.56.184

Opening FTP server for downloading software for Porteus
With the file manager in Porteus "Accessories/PCManFM-Qt":
1. Use "Go/Connect to Server"
2. In the popup menu "Connect to remote Server", enter
Type: FTP
Host: 212.219.56.184
Path: /sites/dl.porteus.org
(x) Anonymous login
3. When the server opens, then goto folder:
.../sites//dl.porteus.org/x86_64/Porteus-v5.0/kernel/
4. Copy the following files (modules) to the Porteus folder "guest/Downloads"
(apparently used for the building of the Vbox Guest Addition)
05-devel.xzm
06-crippled_sources-5.18.8-64bit.xzm
5. Copy the modules from "guest/Downloads" to "/sda1/mnt/porteus/optional"

Activate the modules mentioned above:
1. Navigate to folder "/sda1/mnt/porteus/optional"
2. Use "Tools/Open Tap in Root instance"
3. Enter password: toor
4. Right mouse click on a module
5. In popup menu select: "Open With/Activate..."

Check the modules are activated in Porteus:
1. Open: "System Tools/Porteus System Info"
2. When prompted, then enter password: toor
3. In popup menu "..Porteus system info..", select: "Porteus" and then "Modules"
4. The following modules are shown as activated in my system:
000-kernel.xzm
001-core.xzm
002-xorg.xzm
002-xtra.xzm
003-lxqt.xzm
05-devel.xzm
06-crippled_sources-5.18.8.64bit.xzm

Building the Vbox Guest Addition Module in Porteus:
1. Open: "System Tools/Vbox builder"
2. When prompted, then enter password: toor
3. In popup menu "Update Vbox Builder" check
(x) Vbox Guest Additions (to be built and used inside the VM)
Press OK
4. In popup menu "vboxguest":
[x] I want to download the Vbox guest addons ISO
5. A popup window "Progress window" is shown. Beware: it takes several minuts!
6. The Vbox Guest Addition Module will be saved to: /tmp/vbox-guest-7.0.4-porteus-v5.0-x86_64-1prt.xzm
7. With root-rights, copy the file to: /mnt/sda1/porteus/modules/
8. After rebooting the Vbox Guest Addition will be activated automatically.

After rebooting Porteus in "Graphics mode" the following should now be possible:
1. The screen resolution of Portues in Vbox must be resizable.
2. The clip-board must be shared between Porteus and W10
3. Data Drag-and-drop from W10 to Vbox are copied to "/tmp/VirtualBox Dropped Files"
4. Data Drag-and-drop from Vbox to W10 is apparently not possible. (?? any ideas/knowhow)
5. A shared folder must appear in the Porteus:
- Open Porteus file manager: "Accessories/PCManFM-Qt"
- The following folder must be available: "/media/sf_porteusx"
- "sf_porteusx" must be shown as mounted in the list of the listed devices in the file manager
Beware: properly only the "root" can open the shared folder: "sf_porteusx"

Use Porteus Terminal to give "guest" access to the shared folder with the following commands:
1. Enter: su
2. Enter Password: toor
3. Enter: usermod -aG vboxsf guest
4. Enter: chown -R guest:users /media/
5. Reboot Porteus in "Graphics mode"

Dear Porteuser
Hopefully it worked for you!
Any feedback and additions will be appreciated.

Dear Developer team
Is it possible to ease the setup of "Vbox Guest Additions" and the shared features?

Kind regards
moel
Last edited by moel on 30 Dec 2022, 19:49, edited 1 time in total.

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Rava
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[HOWTO] Setup VirtualBox Guest Addition Module, Shared Folders and Clip-board

Post#2 by Rava » 24 Dec 2022, 14:16

moel wrote:
06 Dec 2022, 18:39
4. The following modules are shown as activated in my system:
000-kernel.xzm
001-core.xzm
002-xtra.xzm
003-lxqt.xzm
05-devl.xzm
06-crippled_sources-5.18.8.64bit.xzm
I am sure you meant "05-devel.xzm", and you do not have a 002-xorg.xzm module activated in your system? You sure only have a 002-xtra.xzm?

Added in 3 minutes 15 seconds:
My core modules 00[0123]-* are these:
000-kernel.xzm
001-core.xzm
002-xorg.xzm
002-xtra.xzm
003-xfce-4.16-20220925.xzm
(I renamed my 003-xfce.xzm since there is also a 003-xfce-4.12 and now even a 003-xfce-4.18 version available)
Cheers!
Yours Rava

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moel
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Joined: 04 Dec 2022, 17:24
Distribution: Porteus-LXQT-v5.0-x86_64.iso
Location: Switzerland

[HOWTO] Setup VirtualBox Guest Addition Module, Shared Folders and Clip-board

Post#3 by moel » 30 Dec 2022, 19:46

Thank you Rava for the feedback!

You are right!
002-xorg.xzm was missing and
05-devel.xzm was misspelled as 05-devl.xzm

On my system, with lxqt desktop, the modules displayed as activated must be:
000-kernel.xzm
001-core.xzm
002-xorg.xzm
002-xtra.xzm
003-lxqt.xzm
05-devel.xzm
06-crippled_sources-5.18.8.64bit.xzm

The errors will be corrected in the original "HowTo" above

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