Bug #12724

Virtualbox shared folders are not automatically mounted in Tails 3.0

Added by goupille 2017-06-15 18:32:49 . Updated 2017-12-07 13:10:51 .

Status:
Confirmed
Priority:
Low
Assignee:
Category:
Virtualization
Target version:
Start date:
2017-06-15
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Feature Branch:
Type of work:
Research
Blueprint:

Starter:
Affected tool:
Deliverable for:

Description

a user reported that since upgrading to tails 3.0, it wasn’t possible to mount shared folders with virtualbox. the issue didn’t occur in 3.0~rc1.
this user was affected by Bug #12357 since a few releases, but shared folders worked at that time, so it doesn’t seems related.


Subtasks


History

#1 Updated by intrigeri 2017-06-18 09:33:34

  • QA Check set to Info Needed

Thanks!

I expect you’ll try to reproduce it.

We also need the exact version of the host OS and of VirtualBox.

#2 Updated by dshanks 2017-06-20 17:01:40

I have also seen this issue.

Host OS: Window 10 Pro version 1607 OS build 14393.1358
VirtualBox: Version 5.1.22 r115126 (Qt5.6.2) with Guest Additions installed and up to date
Tails: Linux amnesia 4.9.0-0.bpo.2-686 #1 SMP Debian 4.9.13-1~bpo8+1 (2017-02-27) i686 GNU/Linux

#3 Updated by dshanks 2017-06-20 17:48:56

Please disregard my previous report. The reported version of Tails is incorrect and came from a Tails 2.12 virtual machine.

The correct versions are:
Host OS: Window 10 Pro version 1607 OS build 14393.1358
VirtualBox: Version 5.1.22 r115126 (Qt5.6.2) with Guest Additions installed and up to date
Tails (via uname -a): Linux amnesia 4.9.0-3-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.9.30-1 (2017-06-04) x86_64 GNU/Linux

#4 Updated by intrigeri 2017-06-23 12:01:40

  • Subject changed from Virtualbox shared folders doesn't work in tails 3.0 to Virtualbox shared folders don't work in Tails 3.0
  • Category set to Virtualization
  • Status changed from New to Confirmed

goupille & anyone affected, please:

  • Clarify what “[not] possible to mount shared folders with virtualbox” means: what exactly did you try, and what happens?
  • File a bug report with WhisperBack after having tried to mount a shared folder, referencing this ticket, so our help desk forwards it to me.

Thanks!

#5 Updated by intrigeri 2017-06-28 17:02:36

  • Priority changed from Normal to Low
  • Target version set to Tails_3.2

At the help desk / foundations team today, we deemed this as low-priority because we support VirtualBox on a best effort basis and it was reported by only 2 people, but we would still want to try & fix it if it’s easy and not too time-consuming. goupille, please reassign to anonym for once you’ve provided the requested info.

#6 Updated by dshanks 2017-07-11 20:30:40

To clarify:

I used VirtualBox’s Shared Folders interface to create a permanent, full access, automounted shared folder in the Tails virtual machine. Once the virtual machine is running, I expected the shared folder to be mounted in the /media directory. That’s where it was mounted in Tails 2.x. When I look at mtab (by running the mount command without any parameters) I don’t see the shared folder mounted anywhere.

Workaround:

It is possible to manually mount the shared folder. To do so you must set up the admin password at start time, manually create the mount point in /media, and manually mount the shared folder (sudo mount -t vboxfs [-O options] ShareName MountPoint). The VirtualBox documentation says this should happen automatically at login time (https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#sf_mount_auto), and it did in Tails 2.x (and, apparently, Tails 3 Beta). But it doesn’t work in Tails 3.0 or 3.0.1.

#7 Updated by intrigeri 2017-07-17 15:51:57

  • Subject changed from Virtualbox shared folders don't work in Tails 3.0 to Virtualbox shared folders are not automatically mounted in Tails 3.0

#8 Updated by dshanks 2017-07-18 21:24:58

VirtualBox version update:

This problem persists with the latest version of VirtualBox (Version 5.1.24 r117012)

Virtual machine OS version variations:

When setting up a virtual machine in VirtualBox, you specify which OS and version of OS you’re going to be running. In Tails 2.x I always used “Other Linux” for the OS version. Automount worked properly in 2.12 regardless of whether a 32 bit or 64 bit virtual machine was used.

In Tails 3.0 & 3.0.1 I have tried 64 bit OS versions “Other Linux,” “Ubuntu,” and “Debian.” Automount fails to work with all OS versions tried.

Host OS version update:

I have confirmed that the bug remains when the Host OS is Windows 10 Pro Version 1703 Build 15063.483

#9 Updated by intrigeri 2017-07-23 10:26:58

#10 Updated by intrigeri 2017-07-23 10:29:21

@dshanks: can you please report a bug with WhisperBack (after reproducing this bug) and ask our help desk to forward it to me?

@goupille: ping about forwarding me bug reports, as requested a month ago?

#11 Updated by intrigeri 2017-07-23 10:35:10

Also:

  • Please paste the output of systemctl status virtualbox-guest-utils.service and journalctl -u virtualbox-guest-utils.service.
  • Please try to reproduce with another guest, e.g. Debian Stretch or sid, or another non-Debian GNU/Linux guest.

#12 Updated by intrigeri 2017-09-15 18:43:01

intrigeri wrote:
> * Please paste the output of systemctl status virtualbox-guest-utils.service and journalctl -u virtualbox-guest-utils.service.

I’ve received this + debugging logs on August 3 but this got buried in my DebConf email backlog. Anyway, the logs pretend everything is fine. I see no failure regarding VirtualBox.

Another bug report was sent with Tails 3.1 running in VirtualBox 5.1.26 on Ubuntu 16.04. Again, the logs show that the vboxsf module is loaded and I see no VirtualBox-related error.

> * Please try to reproduce with another guest, e.g. Debian Stretch or sid, or another non-Debian GNU/Linux guest.

Ping? On August 19 you emailed me giving me some context about when you tested this, but you didn’t mention what the outcome was so I don’t know what to do with that info.

#13 Updated by anonym 2017-09-28 18:29:39

  • Target version changed from Tails_3.2 to Tails_3.3

#14 Updated by intrigeri 2017-10-01 09:49:12

#15 Updated by intrigeri 2017-10-01 09:49:18

  • blocked by deleted (Feature #13234: Core work 2017Q3: Foundations Team)

#16 Updated by anonym 2017-11-15 11:30:54

  • Target version changed from Tails_3.3 to Tails_3.5

#17 Updated by goupille 2017-11-16 14:08:02

a user reported that it still doesn’t work with tails 3.3.

#18 Updated by soulplane11 2017-11-16 23:42:48

I am not able to use virtualbox shared folders in Tails. I am a different user than the one groupille is referring to.

I expected when I mounted the folders that they would be in /mnt or somewhere so I searched the whole tree using find but don’t see them. I also tried automount. I’m using tails-amd64-3.3.iso.

I think the problem described here is similar: https://tor.stackexchange.com/questions/15020/tails-3-0-guest-os-in-virtualbox-has-no-copypaste-between-guest-and-host-oses-a

Copy and paste I only tried guest-to-host but it worked.

#19 Updated by goupille 2017-11-17 16:46:41

  • Assignee changed from goupille to anonym
  • QA Check deleted (Info Needed)

#20 Updated by intrigeri 2017-12-07 13:10:51

  • Assignee deleted (anonym)
  • Target version deleted (Tails_3.5)

#21 Updated by intrigeri 2017-12-07 13:11:00

  • blocked by deleted (Feature #13244: Core work 2017Q4: Foundations Team)