VirtualBox: How To Access Host Port From Guest

originally posted on my site

I'm always working on a Mac machine, but sometimes I need to debug an issue that only affects windows machines and more specifically IE. For that, I usually use VirtualBox with a free VM from Microsoft for debugging.

I never remember what to do to access a server running on my Mac from my Windows VM. So I'm writing this, for me. And I guess for you too!

Port Forwarding

• Shutdown your VM
• Open settings for the VM and select network
• make Sure the Attached to dropdown is set to NAT
• expand Advanced
• Click Port Forwarding
• Add a new rule. In my case, I want to forward port 4502 on my guest to port 4502 on my host. leave the IP fields empty

Finding Your Host Local IP

Now you need to find the host (Mac) local IP that is assigned to you by your router, this typically starts with 192

you can find this in MacOs by following this SO answer point #3

basically run the one of the following commands to get your local IP:

• ipconfig getifaddr en0 if connected via a wireless connection.
• ipconfig getifaddr en1 if connected via ethernet.
• ipconfig getifaddr en3 if connected via a Thunderbolt-to-ethernet adaptor.

Accessing Server Running on Your Host From Your Guest

now that you have the IP, you can use it to access the forwarded port from your guest VM.

In my case, the IP of the host turned out to be 192.168.10.20 so, in my windows VM I can access the URL: http://192.168.10.20:4502!