Wouldn’t be great if you have a common Desktop between your host computer and a Windows VM? This way you would not even have to transfer files between the host and virtual machines. This tutorial is under the premise that you are using XP on an Ubuntu host. However, its principles can be used for any version of Windows on any host. We’ll be using VirtualBox’s built in shared folders feature.

This method will work even if you aren’t in seamless mode. But it works even better in seamless mode because you wont be able to see your VM’s desktop, but rather, your host machine’s desktop. It wouldn’t matter anyway, because we’re going to set your Virtual Machine’s desktop folder to be the same as your host machine’s.

Create the shared folder of your host desktop

Fire up your VM, and in the Virtual Box menu, go to Devices > Shared Folders.

Devices > Shared Folders

Click the New Share button [1]. Select Other [2], and browse to your Desktop folder (/home/your_username/Desktop on a Linux host or c:\Users\your_username\Desktop on a Windows host). Under “Folder Name“, type in some unique name for this folder (i.e. Desktop). Check the “Make Permanent” option [3], and click OK [4].

Step 2: Create a Virtual Box share of your Host's desktop folder

On your VM, go to Start > Run. And type in the following:

\\vboxsvr

You should see the Share you just created of your hosts Desktop folder here. Right click on it, Map Network Drive. Pick a free drive letter to assign the folder (e.g. Z:).

Map Network Drive

Tweak UI (for Windows XP Virtual Machine)

You’ll now have to reassign the Desktop folder to the Z:. In XP you can use Tweak UI to achieve this.

Download Tweak UI for XP

Install it on your Host. Once installed, you’ll find its shortcut in the Control Panel. Using Tweak UI, navigate to My Computer > Special Folders. Select “Desktop” from the dropdown and click “Set Location”. Choose “Z:” or whatever drive you’ve mapped your Host’s desktop folder to. Click “OK”. You might need to logout and login.

Tweak UI in XP remaps Desktop Folder

Windows Vista / 7 Method

Vista and 7 provide an easier way of changing the default locations. You’ll find this tutorial tells you exactly how you’re going to remap the Desktop location or this answer on Super User. Remember to point it to the Desktop folder of your host that you’ve mapped as a drive. You might need to logout and login.

Any other tips to make Virtual Box easier? Lemme know in the comments. Peace out