I need to use the same program in both Ubuntu (host) and Win XP (guest). I am using Oracle VirtualBox for the virtual machine. I can run each program independently in bot OSs. However, changes made in them when using them is not seen in the other one. I need a single data file common to both of them. The program is Mozilla's SeaMonkey. The program shouldn't matter though. If there is a solution, it should work for most any program I choose.

Thanks!

you could manage this with the shared folders feature, however, some applications may cause corruption in such shared files if not programmed to treat them properly ( or the files aren't meant to be accessed by more than one instance at a time). I would recommend backups prior to testing it out.

There is a mechanism in Virtualbox that allows you to share a folder on the host with the guest. I see it documented in section 4.3 of my VirtualBox help file.

Or do it manually - use Samba to create a shared drive on your Linux host, and within your Windows XP, attach that shared drive.

Put your program into the shared folder and run it from either the host or the guest.

Hello and welcome to LQ.

Most windows programs need to be installed in terminal server mode. You generally need a windows server OS for that and legal copies for it. That doesn't seem to be what you are saying but if it is then you might use 2X.com server for linux.

What you seem to say is that you want to open a file in two programs. Generally you can't easily do that and save correctly. It may work however. Try sharing the folder where this data is to the VM and try to access it. Be sure to backup before you attempt.

As others have said, VBox has a "shared folders" feature that lets you access a folder (and any subfolders it may contain) from both the host and the guest. I use this feature daily, to pass information between the host and the guest, but there are a few things to watch out for. First, remember that Linux and Windows use different "end of line" conventions. Linux uses a linefeed character only, while Windows uses a CR/LF pair. Thus data written by one system MAY require conversion to be used in the other. Also, both systems cache data in buffers before writing it to disk, and if both systems are using a shared file at the same time, corruption is quite likely to happen. The only safe way to deal with this is to make sure that the file is closed in one system before writing to it from the other. That's no problem in many situations, but something to watch out for.

Hope this helps!