Hi
after breaking virtualbox by kernel 5.8, I decided to give kvm a try to see whether it suits my need or not. I could convert my windows 7 .vdi to qcow2 and setup windows 7 guest. Although performance is not on par with virtualbox but it’s not bad. I have some problems with this virtualization method that I will ask in separate threads. A major problem is sharing my ntfs partitions between windows and opensuse. I could add those partitions using instructions in this page to windows with write access. However this write access is not dynamic, ie if I create folder in shared partition in windows I can see it after refreshing thunar in opensuse. But the opposite direction doesn’t work. I can’t see created file and folders using host in the guest until I restart the guest. Is there a way to force guest to sync changes in drives which are created by host?
I wouldn’t recommend the method you’re referencing without careful preparation and understanding what you’re doing.
It appears to mount a file system directly without any virtualization layer, some virtualization refer to this as “raw” or “direct physical” access.
The danger is if two or more operating systems access the same file and one or both executes a write, then there is a substantial risk of file corruption.
So, if you do this there are some cardinal rules…
Never share a filesystem (directory, partition, disk, etc) that includes the operating system files.
Never share an application or application data which is constantly changing.
Only share a file system that is commonly described as a “Data Disk” because it’s pure data files and nothing else.
The @OP failed mounting a shared filesystem as recommended there but wasn’t able to provide enough information to know why.
In the end, he created a regular network share but implemented the SPICE protocol. IMO that’s a less used method that should also work if needed.
Try following the recommended method first, and if you’re also unable to make it work then you can try what the @WP in the thread did.
Thank you very much.
Regarding sharing raw derives thank you for the hints. Is it possible to have dynamic sync between guest and host using this method?
Also I tried your recommended method from the wiki and I confirm the @OP which is doesn’t work in windows guest. I tried all the options and nothing appears as network drive in windows explorer. By the way, I couldn’t figure out how to create network share with SPICE protocol since the @OP didn’t provide detailed information. Do you know how can I use that method?
As for deploying a share using the SPICE protocol, I’ll have to look that up sometime…
As I described in that thread, I’m aware of that option but have generally used alternatives and not had to use that method.