How to copy & paste from Ubuntu VirtualBox guest to Windows host?

Question

I am running VirtualBox 4.1.4 on my Windows 7 laptop, running an Ubuntu 11.10 guest.

I would like to copy text from Ubuntu's terminal and paste it into a file on the Windows host. This doesn't work for some reason.

Any ideas?

Note that if you have "Locate pointer" enabled (highlights your pointer when you fit Ctrl), there is a bug in 12.04 that prevents this from working. Switch off "Locate pointer" and it will work. See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-settings-daemon/+bug/9441 — lofidevops, Sep 25 '13 at 11:49
I believe @d3vid is talking about the "Locate pointer" setting in Ubuntu, not in Windows. In Ubuntu 14.04, this setting is found under gnome-tweak-tool; see http://askubuntu.com/a/425498/159361 — LarsH, Jun 25 '14 at 19:11
Sadly stackexchange doesn't seem to allow me to post an answer since I haven't earn 10 reputation yet... So I'm posting a quick answer here: 1/ On Windows install Git Bash 2/ On virtual box, add a port forwarding on host IP ::1 and port 2222 to the guest IP and port 22 3/ Start the VM 4/ With Git Bash connect to the VM ssh user@localhost -p 2222 5/ Use the VM through Git Bash where you can copy/past everything you want — amanteaux, Oct 08 '21 at 13:10
You could use Pastebin.com if you have access to the Internet. — Agmenor, Oct 28 '11 at 04:02
Did you install the required virtual box tools?? (the ones that you should install on guest operating system to gain smooth operation / interaction between the host and the guest) — nobody, Oct 28 '11 at 04:01

nidla · Answer 1 · 2012-09-06T13:56:50.790

125

Go to VirtualMachine's Settings->General->Advanced->Shared Clipboard (Bidirectional)

Reboot your virtual machine.

for me it solved the problem (it was set on Disabled), I had some machines working some not, so i checked settings in working ones they had bidirectional clipboard. Dont know if this was upgrade issue or... just double check your shared clipboard options.

Hope this helps someone.

VirtualBox V 4.1.20

edited Sep 06 '12 at 13:56

answered Sep 06 '12 at 13:43

nidla

1,261

7

how can i paste the text from window to ubuntu server? Ctrl + Shift + V does not help – Thai Tran Apr 28 '14 at 10:25
1

@ThaiTran I don't know of a way to do this directly. A decent workaround is to ssh into your server from a terminal emulator, and then just paste into the emulator. – Jack O'Connor Nov 14 '14 at 20:05
Worked without rebooting the virtual machine (virtualbox 5.0.14). – overthink Jan 26 '16 at 20:06
1

Using Virtual Box 5.0.18 and Ubuntu 14.04, the reboot is not required. The essential step is turning on the shared clipboard. – Mike Apr 29 '16 at 16:51
1

Do the same for Drag'n'Drop too – arun Dec 30 '17 at 02:14
Thank you!!! it works!!! – Olga Pshenichnikova Apr 29 '21 at 08:25
Worked for me,.. Thanks! – Neenu Chandran Nov 09 '21 at 11:28

score 76 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

76

Start your VM then install Virtualbox Guest Addition
You can find this option under "Devices" on virtual box 4.2 or you can follow the explanations at How do I install Guest Additions in a VirtualBox VM?

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Community

1

answered Oct 28 '11 at 04:33

soekarmana

987

4

We have a how to for installing guest additions here on AU – Takkat Oct 28 '11 at 07:08
This CD image is not available anymore. – 71GA Sep 16 '12 at 18:55
30

also you need to enable the shared clipboard under Devices menu on the VM's toolbar. Devices > Shared Clipboard > [Host To Guest | Guest To Host | Bidirectional] – SGT Grumpy Pants Dec 16 '13 at 16:51
Do the same for Drag'n'Drop too – arun Dec 30 '17 at 02:14

score 15 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 29 '24 at 06:59

15

I had to do four steps:

Install Virtual Box extension pack in host
- https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.0.20/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.20.vbox-extpack
Activate shared clipboard in menu
- https://askubuntu.com/a/438204/245048
Install Virtual Box guest extensions in ubuntu guest
- sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-dkms virtualbox-guest-utils virtualbox-guest-x11
Reboot virtual machine

edited Aug 29 '24 at 06:59

paragpallav

3

answered May 21 '15 at 19:16

jan

253

That's what worked for me from ubuntu host to ubuntu guest, thanks ! – valkalon Oct 23 '16 at 10:42
step 3 was missing and worked for me – Apr 07 '17 at 09:01
2

Step #3 lead to boot jam on Ubuntu 17.10, where was previously installed guest additions via sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-additions-iso – Dee Dec 02 '17 at 19:26
yeah, It's worked but there is a step #4 - reboot VM. – Marcos Mar 11 '19 at 21:45
1

@Dee sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-additions-iso some how fixed my issue, thank you – Jason Liu Mar 10 '20 at 20:57
@Jason Liu, surprised it still works the same... 3 years old comment. Possible the response steps needs update. – Dee Apr 25 '20 at 08:09
Didn't work on Windows11 host and ubuntu guest, the only thing that worked for me is this other answer https://askubuntu.com/a/1246171/1137246 – yash Apr 25 '25 at 14:07

Chris Moschini · Answer 4 · 2025-02-01T15:23:36.660

4

In VirtualBox 4.x:

Start the Ubuntu instance, then in the VirtualBox menu at the top of the running instance window, Machine > Settings..., Advanced tab, change Clipboard Sharing to Bidirectional. It's set to Disabled by default.

edited Feb 01 '25 at 15:23

answered Mar 23 '14 at 18:46

Chris Moschini

163

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 16 '14 at 10:19

1

The summary of "Main OS and Virtual OS Integration":

Install Vbox Guest Additions
Enable Shared Clipboard
Enable Drag'n'Drop
Enable Shared Folder (optional)

answered Jan 16 '14 at 10:19

Santosa Sandy

836

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 01 '15 at 11:35

I marked some text from firefox and tried to paste it into a terminal and it didn't work. I had guest additions installed, and also enabled bidirectional copy and paste and it still didn't work, but now I found the reason.

Apparently when I marked the text in firefox, additional information is also stored like the font and style. The terminal can not interpret this, so it doesn't seem to accept it. I pasted the text into a plain text editor (notepad++ in my case) then selected the text again and copied it. Now when I pasted it into the terminal it worked.

So this can also be a reason why copy&paste doesn't work, even if everything is correctly setup.

Using VirtualBox 4.3.12 with Ubuntu 14.04 x64 as the guest.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 16 '20 at 14:42

0

For VMWare 15, I had to pause / shutdown the machine and go to VM -> Settings -> Options tab -> Guest Isolation

From there you can check / uncheck Enable copy and paste

answered Jun 16 '20 at 14:42

Danny

431

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 22 '17 at 09:33

0

in recent virtual box follow these instructions :

answered Oct 22 '17 at 09:33

Badr Bellaj

131
3

score -1 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 30 '18 at 20:17

-1

For some reason I was not able to copy from my WindowsXP VM in VirtualBox to Ubuntu. However, I solved the problem by enabling a shared folder.

You can do that by going to Devices > Shared Folders > Shared Folder Settings in the alt menu on the VM window. After you set up a folder in the host, you can access it inside the VM in My Network Places:

answered Aug 30 '18 at 20:17

Arthur Colombini Gusmão

435

Tried all of the above nothing seem to work cut-n-paste, scrolling. I am using Win10 host, ubuntu 18.04 guest, VBox 6.1.1 – Sam-T Dec 14 '19 at 16:28

How to copy & paste from Ubuntu VirtualBox guest to Windows host?

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