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I followed the steps but still can't drag and drop files to Virtualbox guest OS. I went to Settings, General, Advanced, clicked Bidirectional on both Shared Clipboard and Drag N Drop and i still can't drag or copy anything to the guest OS(Win7). Am i missing something?

Bulwersator
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Capitalism Prevails
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    drag'n'drop support feature requires the installation of VirtualBox Guest Additions. Make sure you don't install the Guest Additions package available in the official Ubuntu repository ("virtualbox-guest-additions") and instead, install the Guest Additions from the VirtualBox menu (Devices > Install Guest Additions). – Nim Aug 17 '13 at 03:09
  • I just tried it and I have linux on the guest and host and I draged the folder out the guest to the hosts folder and the folder disappeared from the guest and didn't appear in the host folder so where is the folder..?? – Spanner Jun 14 '14 at 10:27

4 Answers4

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EDIT

Now drag and drop is no more experimental in Virtualbox. To make it working, follow the official instructions:

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/DnDDebug

Original Post

Drag and Drop works only for Linux guests (guest: OS on the virtual machine)

Changelog for VirtualBox 4.2.0:

Added experimental support for Drag'n'drop from the host to Linux guests. Support for more guests and for guest-to-host is planned.

As guitar42697 said, you have to set a shared folder.

Marco Sulla
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I know this is an old question and it's asking about doing the reverse (host is Linux, guest is Windows) but I hope this will help others like myself set up drag'n'drop where the host is Windows and guest is Linux.

In the VirtualBox window with the VM, click Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD image...

Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD image...

It will appear as a mounted CD in the Linux host OS. Follow the steps to install it, then reboot the VM.

Then enable Drag'n'Drop with Devices > Drag'n'Drop > Bidirectional

Devices > Drag'n'Drop > Bidirectional
(you can also choose another option if you don't want bidirectional drag'n'drop)

You may also want to enable Shared Clipboards with Devices > Shared Clipboard > Bidirectional.

Keavon
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I believe you must set up a shared folder, so you can drag things from ubuntu, into the folder, and it will appear in Windows 7, and vice versa. as far as I know, you cannot directly drag and drop items into virtualbox

guitar42697
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I have a Ubuntu 12.04 guest running under Windows 7, and it happens to me quite a bit, that a shared folder will "suddenly" be "empty" (and/or unaccessible) when viewed from the guest (/media/sf_vmShare). I believe this happens when Ubuntu updates itself, sometimes. The solution is to re-install the Guest Additions, as per the instruction already posted and reboot the guest.

NGRhodes
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Martin
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  • It worked for me after re-installing Guest Additions to enable Drag N Drop from Windows 10 (Guest) to Ubuntu 20.04 (Host) – NikSp Jun 28 '22 at 10:34