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<topic xml:lang="en-us" id="sf_mount_auto">
               <title>Automatic Mounting</title>
               
               <body>
                  <p>
        <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> provides the option to mount shared folders
        automatically. When automatic mounting is enabled for a shared
        folder, the Guest Additions service will mount it for you
        automatically. For Windows or OS/2, a preferred drive letter can
        also be specified. For Linux or Oracle Solaris, a mount point
        directory can also be specified.
      </p>
                  <p>
        If a drive letter or mount point is not specified, or is in use
        already, an alternative location is found by the Guest Additions
        service. The service searches for an alternative location
        depending on the guest OS, as follows:
      </p>
                  <ul>
                     <li>
                        <p>
                           <b outputclass="bold">Windows and OS/2 guests.</b>
            Search for a free drive letter, starting at
            <filepath>Z:</filepath>. If all drive letters are assigned,
            the folder is not mounted.
          </p>
                     </li>
                     <li>
                        <p>
                           <b outputclass="bold">Linux and Oracle Solaris
            guests.</b> Folders are mounted under the
            <filepath>/media</filepath> directory. The folder name is
            normalized (no spaces, slashes or colons) and is prefixed
            with <filepath>sf_</filepath>.
          </p>
                        <p>
            For example, if you have a shared folder called
            <filepath>myfiles</filepath>, it will appear as
            <filepath>/media/sf_myfiles</filepath> in the guest.
          </p>
                        <p>
            The guest properties
            <codeph>/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/SharedFolders/MountDir</codeph>
            and the more generic
            <codeph>/VirtualBox/GuestAdd/SharedFolders/MountPrefix</codeph>
            can be used to override the automatic mount directory and
            prefix. See <xref href="guestadd-guestprops.dita#guestadd-guestprops"/>.
          </p>
                     </li>
                  </ul>
                  <p>
        Access to an automatically mounted shared folder is granted to
        everyone in a Windows guest, including the guest user. For Linux
        and Oracle Solaris guests, access is restricted to members of
        the group <codeph>vboxsf</codeph> and the
        <codeph>root</codeph> user.
      </p>
               </body>
               
            </topic>
