I have what I believe to be the correct (and same) versions of the Extension Pack and Guest Additions (VBoxGuestAdditions_6.0.24.iso) installed for VMs running Windows 7 and 10 on the same platform and from the same Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager. The log for the VM list both packages.
00:00:01.438842 SUP: Opened VBoxEhciR0.r0 (/usr/lib/virtualbox/ExtensionPacks/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack/linux.amd64/VBoxEhciR0.r0) at 0xXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
00:00:01.029422 Installed Extension Packs:
00:00:01.029441 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack (Version: 6.0.24 r139119; VRDE Module: VBoxVRDP)
For several years now, I have had no difficulty accessing the shared folders (drives) on the host in the Windows 7 VM. After declaring them in settings (with the VM off), they just appear.
I just got a Windows 10 VM running but I am unable to see the host folders in Windows Explorer. I have tried a number things, including re-installing Guest Additions and verifying the presence of Guest Additions, but the folders do not appear. Setting the mount point to the letter Z did not help. I am able to connect to a USB drive plugged into the host.
I have read (and re-read) VirtualBox manual section 4.3. Shared Folders and section 4.3.1. Manual Mounting as it applies to Windows, and I have searched on this forum and elsewhere but have not found a solution.
Whenever posting about Virtualbox in these Forums, the installation source has to be described… Besides downloading Virtualbox from the Oracle website, openSUSE provides its own branded, pre-compiled Virtualbox from openSUSE repositories so that Users don’t have to compile it.
Although Virtualbox from openSUSE is usually either the same or very nearly the same as the version from Oracle, it’s not always so and there can be differences. This is also why you have to describe how Guest Additions are installed in openSUSE Guests… although not often it makes a difference, you should always describe whether the Guest Additions were installed from openSUSE packages or from a Guest Additions ISO mounted on a VirtualCDROM.
You should also describe how you’re accessing Shared Folders in a Windows Guest.
Ordinarily, after defining the Shared Folders on the HostOS, you would access the Shared Folder as a Network location (although technically access is not done by using an external network socket).
In the Windows 7 guest, the shares are accessed via \Vboxsvr and appear in the directory listing as network drives,"e.g., “D (\VBoxSvr) (Z: ).”
Pinging \Vboxsvr in the Windows 10 guest produces an error - path not found. Perhaps something needs to be opened, but I have not determined what that is.
Maybe you should update to 15.2 as it will be support for a while longer as 15.1 soon will be unsupported.
VirtualBox 6.0 was left in the dust for 6.1. I stay with OpenSUSE versions as they seem to have fewer problems than VirtualBox generic release.
For 15.2 - 6.1.16 is the Virtualbox version I use and everything works fine for XP, and Windows 10 (32bit and 64bit) as well as 13 different Linux flavors.
First, a couple of observations…
If you’re really on LEAP 15.1, you should know it’s supported for only a few more days. I highly recommend you make plans to upgrade to LEAP 15.2 before things really start breaking and you are forced to do things before you’re ready.
As of today, all versions of Virtualbox running on LEAP 15.1 are considered unsupported, even if LEAP 15.1 has a few more days before it also is EOL.
The version of virtualbox you’re running is out of date even on LEAP 15.1, you should have upgraded to 6.14.x or later (current release is actually 6.16) a long time ago. At this time, I wouldn’t recommend upgrading virtualbox before first upgrading your LEAP 15.1.
As for your problem which may or may not be related to running an obsolete version of Virtualbox…
After you enable your shared directory on your HostOS (openSUSE in this case),
Next step is to verify it’s visible in your Windows 10 Guest “Network Places” similar to how you see them in a Win7 Guest.
If you don’t see it, you weren’t successful setting up your Shared Folder and unless something has changed shouldn’t automatically be assigned a drive letter.
It’s only after you can see the shared folder in the Windows Guest Network Places, you can then map the location to a drive letter.
I determined the cause of the missing shares. Although the guest additions ISO was mounted, the additions were not installed. In Windows 10 Explorer, I navigated to the CD drive with the additions and then right clicked VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe, selecting run as administrator. The Windows installation wizard then installed the additions. The VM then rebooted and the desktop re-appeared after a very long interval. To see the share, I needed to re-boot again and then the share appeared. Again, it was simply a matter of installing the guest additions, not just mounting the CD.
For reasons I don’t understand, VirtualBox VMs no longer automatically pulls down the guest additions ISO (in my case). Nor in this case did Windows 10 self-execute the install process.