VirtualBox Ubuntu shared folder is empty I have a Ubuntu virtual machine (Virtual Box) hosted on my MBP w/ Mountain Lion.  OSX 10.8.6, VirtualBox 4.2.16, Ubuntu 12.4 LTS (32 bit)
PROBLEM
The shared folder(s) as seen in Ubuntu is/are empty.

Diary of searching for an answer on interwebs (No joy so far)
Share folder in VirtualBox Host=Mac OS, Guest=Debian  - No joy. The answer is for manual mounting. Auto mounting explicitly puts/mounts the shared folder in /media directory. Besides I tried it and got &quot;no such file or directory&quot; - but then I may not be understanding exactly where I'm creating this; no terminal guru, I.
Next ...
Set the shared folder via VirtualBox | Devices | shared folders menu. The dialog box indicates &quot;full&quot; access and &quot;auto-mount&quot;. Then launched the VM. The shared folder is created, but empty. BTW, the folders are created in /media directory per the VB documentation.
After launching the VM, in Ubuntu, using VB | Devices menu, created a new shared folder. Restart Ubuntu, folder is created but empty.
Next ...
Tried the above, creating &quot;machine folder&quot; and/or &quot;transient folder&quot; - same result as above.
Next ...
Tried the above referencing folders on both drives on my MBP. Same result.
Next ...
Tried adding my logged-in user to the vboxsf group in Ubuntu. useradd -g vboxsf someUser Ubuntu responded:  useradd: user 'someUser' already exists
Found my answer

Assumption: "VirtualShare" is the shared folder name set up via Devices | shared folders ... menu

sudo mkdir /mnt/MyShare
sudo mount -t vboxsf VirtualShare /mnt/MyShare


AH! Now I can see the files in /mnt/MyShare/VirtualShare/


the mounting :( does not survive a restart/reboot


This answer is bewildering because the VirtualBox documentation explicitly states that auto mounting is done in /media directory. And indeed, the shared folder is created - but its empty.

Further, I did/do not understand the significance of /mnt directory. That looked arbitrary to me, but apparently not. ../MyShare piece of it is; use any name you wish.

Now if I could only delete all those folders I created during experimentation. And to think I used to be an absolute wiz on the CP/M command line! (that sure dates me!!)