Debian on Virtual Box

Install

$ sudo pacman \
    --sync \
    --needed \
    virtualbox \
    virtualbox-host-modules-arch \
    virtualbox-guest-iso

Then load the modules:

$ sudo modprobe vboxdrv
$ sudo modprobe vboxnetadp

Add two network interfaces. A NAT one, and a Host-Only one.

For Host-Only, in Virtual Box, go to File → Tools → Network Manager and create a Host-Only network. It will likely be named “vboxnet0”. On VM settings, add a NAT network and a Host-Only networking using the one just created.

Install Debian and let the installer configure the NAT interface.

Maybe also install sudo and gpasswd -a <youruser> sudo (may need to log out or restart for this to take effect).

Then, from a Debian shell:

$ sudo vim /etc/network/interfaces

Add something like this:

allow-hotplug enp0s8
iface enp0s8 inet dhcp

Then restart the networking:

$ sudo systemctl restart networking.service

From the host machine, it should now be possible to SSH into the Debian on VBox:

$ ssh deveng@192.168.56.101

Shared Folders

$ sudo apt install build-essential module-assistant
$ sudo m-a prepare

On VBox GUI, go to Devices → Insert Guest ISO CD Image (installed earlier on the Arch Linux host). Mount it and install the guest additions:

$ sudo mount /media/cdrom0

$ ls -1 /media/cdrom0
AUTORUN.INF
autorun.sh
cert
NT3x
OS2
runasroot.sh
TRANS.TBL
VBoxDarwinAdditions.pkg
VBoxDarwinAdditionsUninstall.tool
VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
VBoxSolarisAdditions.pkg
VBoxWindowsAdditions-amd64.exe
VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe
VBoxWindowsAdditions-x86.exe
windows11-bypass.regom0

$ sudo bash /media/cdrom0/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

You may need to restart.

On VBox GUI, add this as a shared folder:

vbox arch host debian guest shared folder

I’m sharing my entire $HOME directory in this example 😲.

Then, on the VM, add the share mount options to /etc/fstab

Debian VM /etc/fstab

share	/home/deveng/hostdir	vboxsf	auto,rw,uid=1000,gid=1000

On my case, both id and gid are 1000 on the host and the guest, which makes it easier to read and write to files and directories.

Finhally, run:

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo mount shared
$ ls -1 ~/hostdir

Maybe test you can create a file into the shared directory from the guest, edit and write more from the host, and vice-versa.