Part 1: Setup the C:\Shared Files folder on the root of C:

1. Choose or Create a Folder to Share:
   • Select an existing folder or create a new one where you will store the files you want to share. For instance, you could use C:\SharedFiles.

Part 2: Configuring Shared Folder access

1. Open VirtualBox and Navigate to Settings > Shared Folders
   • Open VirtualBox, right click the Virtual Appliance and enter Settings
   • From the left panel, select Shared Folders, then click Add Share

2. Add the Shared Folder from the Root of C:\ to Oracle VirtualBox:

• In the Add Share dialogue, enter the path to the C:\ drive
  
• In my case, the shared folder is c:\SharedFiles. ensure Auto-mount is ticked - do not mount this as a read only share - and click OK

Part 3: Mount the Shared Folder on Debian (Linux) to your Windows Host

1. Create a Mounting Point in Debian CLI:
   • From the Terminal, type the following command to create the mount:
     sudo mkdir /mnt/shared
     
2. Connect the Mount Point to the Local Folder on Windows
   • Mount the shared folder in your Debian system. You can create a new directory for this and create the mount file with Admin Privilleges:
     sudo mount -t vboxsf SharedFiles /mnt/shared

Part 3: Connection Test from the Debian guest to Windows Host

To test the connectoin from the Debian guest to Windows Host, we can do the following.

1. Create a file on the mount point within Debian (Linux - guest):
   • Ensure that you're in the mounted directory, so first of all: cd /mnt/shared
     
   • Create a test file in the mount point directory, type: touch test.txt
     
2. Confirm in C:\SharedFolder that Test.txt has bene created
   • Brose in File Explorer to the path above and confirm if the text file is present.

A Screenshot of test confirmation (in Linux / Debian - Thanks To Our Volunteer: Ruowei

A screenshot of the test confirmation (in Windows) - Thanks To Our Volunteer: Nirmala

Once completed. Go to Step 6. Unless you want to enable another method e.g SSH

Part 1: Accessing the Network Share from Debian VM

1. Install Required Packages:
   • Open a terminal in Debian and install the necessary packages to support network file sharing:
     
     sudo apt update sudo apt install cifs-utils
     
2. Create a Mount Point:
   • Decide where you want to mount the shared folder in your Debian system. You can create a new directory for this:
     
     sudo mkdir /mnt/sharedfiles
     
3. Mount the Network Share:
   • Use the following command to mount the network share to the mount point you created. Replace placeholders with actual values:
     
     sudo mount -t cifs //YourPCName/SharedFiles /mnt/sharedfiles -o username=your_windows_username,password=your_password,dom=your_domain
     
   • Replace YourPCName with the name of your Windows machine.
   • username, password, and dom (domain) should be replaced with your Windows credentials. If you're not on a domain, you might omit the dom parameter.
     e.g. username@domain.local // or Domain/Username
     
4. Verify the Mount:
   • Check if the folder is mounted correctly by listing the contents:
     
     ls /mnt/sharedfiles
     
5. Set Up Persistent Mounting (Optional): - you will want to have this on
   • If you want the share to be mounted automatically at boot, you can add it to the
     
     /etc/fstab file:arduino//YourPCName/SharedFiles /mnt/sharedfiles cifs username=your_windows_username,password=your_password,dom=your_domain 0 0
     
   • Make sure to replace placeholders as before. This step is optional but useful for ongoing projects.

(credit to Volunteer: 'Oluwagbemiga Taiwo' for testing this method)

Activating and Connecting to SSH on Bitnami Machines

Step 1: Activate SSH By default, SSH is disabled on Bitnami machines. To activate SSH, follow the instructions in the Bitnami documentation: https://docs.bitnami.com/virtual-machine/faq/get-started/enable-ssh/

Step 2: Choose an Authentication Method You have two options for authentication when connecting to your Bitnami machine via SSH:

Method A: Password-based Authentication (Recommended for beginners) This method is simpler and suitable for local machine deployments. Follow the instructions in the Bitnami documentation to enable password-based SSH authentication: https://docs.bitnami.com/virtual-machine/faq/get-started/enable-ssh-password/

Method B: Key-based Authentication (More secure, but complex setup) This method uses an RSA key system and is more secure. However, it involves a more complex setup process. If you prefer this method, follow the instructions in the Bitnami documentation to enable key-based SSH authentication: https://docs.bitnami.com/virtual-machine/faq/get-started/enable-ssh-keys/

Step 3: Connect to the Bitnami Machine via SSH

If you chose Method A (Password-based Authentication):

• Option 1: Use your host machine's terminal to connect to the Bitnami machine. Enter the password you use in the Debian console when prompted. Note that copy and paste functionality may not work unless you're using a Linux system, as it is enabled by default in the terminal.
• Option 2: Use an SSH client like PuTTY to connect to the Bitnami machine. This allows you to copy and paste from your host machine.

If you chose Method B (Key-based Authentication): Follow the instructions in the Bitnami documentation to connect to the server using SSH: https://docs.bitnami.com/virtual-machine/faq/get-started/connect-ssh/

Additional Notes:

• SSH is preferred by some users, especially when you have other virtual machines running that have access to the host machine. Reducing the attack surface is paramount for security.
• The key-based authentication method (Method B) has not been tested by the volunteer (Oluwagbemiga Taiwo) who provided this information.

Remember to refer to the Bitnami documentation for detailed instructions on activating and deactivating the SSH server, configuring authentication methods, and connecting to the server using SSH.

For an SFTP connection, the SSH step must be completed, and SFTP would work out of the box—at least it did for me using the password-based method since the server serves SSH and SFTP on port 22 by default. Base FTP is not connecting for me, but SFTP is allowed. This might be because the server is not listening on port 21 or possibly due to another deactivation from Bitnami's end. Documentation Link: https://docs.bitnami.com/general/apps/wordpress/administration/upload-files/(edited)