Guest additions are a great way to add users and applications to Windows and Linux VMs without having to install any software. Guest additions can be used in combination with the VMware Tools installer, which is available from the VMware website. To add a guest addition to a Windows or Linux VM, first create a new virtual machine and name it after the operating system you want to use it on. For example, if you want to use Ubuntu on a Windows VM, you would create a new VM named Ubuntu and name it after the Ubuntu operating system. Next, open the VMware Tools installer and follow the prompts to install the Guest Additions. After installation is complete, your VM should now include Guest Additions as part of its contents. To use Guest Additions in your VM, open its properties and select “Add Guest”. This will bring up a dialog box that allows you to choose which applications will be added as guests. Once you have chosen an application for inclusion in your guest addition, click “Add” and wait for the process to finish. Once added, your application will be available in your VM’s " Guests " section under " Applications “.

Note:  For this article we are using version 3.0.2 on a Windows 7 (32-bit) guest OS.

Install Guest Additions for Windows

Guest Additions installs on the guest system and includes device drivers and system applications that optimize performance of the machine.  Launch the guest OS in VirtualBox and click on Devices and Install Guest Additions.

The AutoPlay window opens on the guest OS and click on the Run VBox Windows Additions executable.

Click yes when the UAC screen comes up.

Now simply follow through the installation wizard.

During the installation wizard you can choose the Direct3D acceleration if you would like it.  Remember this is going to take up more of your Host OS’s resources and is still experimental possibly making the guest unstable.

When the installation starts you will need to allow the Sun display adapters to be installed.

After everything has completed a reboot is required.

Install Guest Additions for Ubuntu

Note:  For this section we are using version 3.0.2 on Ubuntu 8.10 (32-bit) version.

If you have Ubuntu running in a virtual machine installing the Guest Additions is easy as well.  With the Ubuntu virtual machine running click on Devices and Install Guest Additions.

This will mount the ISO and show an icon on the desktop and give you the following message box where you just click Run.

Enter in your admin password and click OK.

Next you will see the installation taking place and when done you’ll prompted to click on Enter.

A Reboot of the guest OS is required to complete the installation.

Command Line Installation

If the above process doesn’t work or you want to use the command line to install Guest Additions then first open up a Terminal session.

Now type in the following commands.

ls

sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run

Again a restart of Ubuntu is required from the GUI or type in “sudo reboot” (without quotes) in the command line.

 

There are a lot of cool features included with the Guest Additions such as clipboard and folder sharing, better video support, and mouse pointer integration which lets you navigate in the guest OS without having it capture the pointer. 

Related VirtualBox articles:

Try Out a New Operating System the Easy Way with VirtualBox

Use VirtualBox to Test Linux on Your Windows PC