The gedit bug with Shared Folders in VirtualBox – a Workaround

The trouble with a Virtual Machine is that it’s, well, virtual. Sooner or later, you’re going to want to transfer some files back to the host.

Unfortunately, gedit seems to have a bit of a problem getting it’s head around this process. When you do try to change a file in the shared directory, gedit complains :

Could not save file path to file on shared folder
Unexpected error: Error renaming temporary file : Text file busy

All is not lost however. Yes, this does appear to be a bug, but there is a solution that will enable you to continue using your favourite Gnome editor inside Virtual land.
For this you will need :

• a local folder on the Guest OS
• a shell script
• an alias in .bashrc
• some sticky-back plastic

OK, so I made that last one up.

Installing Ubuntu in VirtualBox on a Windows 7 Host

It’s Sunday afternoon and Deb is feeling poorly…but not so poorly that she’s not offering considerable editorial input into this post. In between the sniffles and requests for lemsip etc…she’s throwing in various comments relating to various icons from the sci-fi genre. To be fair, I have borrowed her laptop as it’s the only one in the house running Windows 7.
I will attempt to minimize the in-jokes and references but I thought I’d better go on record and report the fact that I am under some duress here. Honestly, some people are soooo geeky !