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How can I prevent VirtualBox from changing the permissions on the .vbox File?

rated 0 times [ 0] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 2771 / 2 Years ago, sat, october 15, 2022, 11:28:34

I'm currently running Ubuntu 13.04, and I've got a Windows 8 VirtualBox VM installed. I put the VM's folder in a shared folder (/home/sharedHome/) that has read and write permissions assigned to the vboxusers group. This allows me to launch the VM from my account and my wife can launch it from hers.

The only problem is that when you launch the VM from either account, the permissions get changed so that only that user has read and write privileges on the .vbox file. After this happens, the other account can't launch the VM unless I go in and change the permissions again.

Does anyone know how to prevent VirtualBox from changing the permissions? Is there a better way to share a VM between users?

Thanks!

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answered 2 Years ago ciousuntru · Accepted Answer

I had the same requirements (VM shared between two users) and the same problem (.vbox file with rw permission only to the last user of the VM).

To workaround this issue I created a vbox file for each user in the same folder (lets call them, for instance, xp_user1.vbox and xp_user2.vbox).

This would be the procedure:

(user1) Create the VM. The VM, its snapshots and the .vbox file have to be stored in a directory that can be accessed by both users (File|Preferences, Machine|Configuration).

(user2) Create the .vbox copy:

cp xp_user1.vbox xp_user2.vbox

(user2) Create the shared VM

Select the Machine|Add... menu item, navigate to the xp_user2.vbox location, and select that file.

In File|Preferences, set the default machine path to the .vbox location

Considerations:

If a snapshot is taken, the .vbox copy has to be updated

If one user restores a snapshot, the previous active one looses rw permissions for the other user. Assuming both users belong to the same group:
```
chmod 0660 snapshot
```

I tried to store the .vbox files at different directories but it did not work (location issues).