VBoxControl guestproperty set fails with error VERR_PERMISSION_DENIED

[jimf]

The VBoxControl commands below have run fine on numerous previous versions of VirtualBox no longer work on VirtualBox 5.2.8 in the specified guest/host

These commands are being run as root in the guest and fail as shown below:

[root@localhost sva.ledgerU]# VBoxControl --nologo guestproperty set /VirtualBox/GuestAdd/SharedFolders/MountPrefix

VBoxControl: error: Failed to store the property value, error VERR_PERMISSION_DENIED

[root@localhost sva.ledgerU]# VBoxControl --nologo guestproperty set /VirtualBox/GuestAdd/SharedFolders/MountDir "/mnt/hgfs"

VBoxControl: error: Failed to store the property value, error VERR_PERMISSION_DENIED

[jimf]

That first command above that fails should be:

VBoxControl --nologo guestproperty set /VirtualBox/GuestAdd/SharedFolders/MountPrefix ''

setting the prefix to the empty string. Wiki formatting ate the quotes.

[pentagonik]

This is intentional as we did some fixes in that area. Please change that parameter from the host side using VBoxManage instead.

[jimf]

Setting things from the host side is not a viable option for us. The management script that is doing this is part of a virtual appliance that is shipped to end users. Asking end users on the various platforms to run an external command will not work for us. Please reopen. This has worked the way it is for us for several years.

[sfX]

Same issue .. I really need to do this from within the VM ..

Anything I can do ?

Any workaround ?

That's really a deal breaker for my environment ..

[Socratis]

My 2¢? I see some really serious security implications if the guest can manipulate and change things on the host from the guest side. And I don't mean your scripts, I mean the scripts that you might not know that they're running (think rogue software).

I could be wrong, but 1) I wouldn't keep my hopes high, 2) I would try to find a way to make it work from the host-side. Start the head scratching... :)