VirtualBox symbolic links

10 June 2020

Well, turns out having symbolic links on a VirtualBox shared folder is quite the challenge to accomplish. At least in Windows. This might seem harmless at first, but wait till you need make npm install

Depending on your operating system – the steps might vary.

If you use Linux – that’s just a simple command

VBoxManage setextradata {VM_NAME} VBoxInternal2/SharedFoldersEnableSymlinksCreate/{SHARE_NAME} 1

You need to execute it for every virtual machine and every shared folder.

On Windows though – it’s a bit more tricky.
First – you need to enable your user to make Symbolic links:
Win+R, “secpol.msc”, then navigate to Local Policies -> User Rights Assignment
Then find “Create Symbolic Links” and add your user to it. After that – logout and login, so this can be enabled.
After this step – repeat the above command:

BoxManage setextradata {VM_NAME} VBoxInternal2/SharedFoldersEnableSymlinksCreate/{SHARE_NAME} 1