Starting in 3.9.0, we’ve added support for sharing host directories as inside of the VM.

This is not currently supported on Intel.

High level

  • Supports multiple VMs mounting the same folder from host
  • Supports anka mount + anka unmount
  • Supports anka modify {vm} mount + anka modify delete mount so that you automatically mount the same location no matter what host is running the VM Template.
  • Survives VM reboots

Command line reference

> anka mount --help
usage: mount vmid [host_path[:guest_folder_name]]

   Mounts a host path to a running VM

arguments:
  vmid                     VM name or UUID
  host_path[:guest_folder_name]
                           Mount host_path and an optional guest_folder_name (which defaults to host_path folder name if not provided)

> anka unmount --help
usage: unmount [options] vmid [mount_ref...]

   Unmounts a host path from a running VM

arguments:
  vmid                     VM name or UUID
  mount_ref                Mount reference: fsid, guest_folder_name, or host_path to unmount

options:
  -a,--all                 Unmount all host paths from a running VM

> anka modify 26.4.1-arm64 mount --help
usage: mount host_path[:guest_folder_name]...

   Add a host path to the VM's mounts

arguments:
  host_path[:guest_folder_name]
                           Add host_path and an optional guest_folder_name (which defaults to host_path folder name) to template config

> anka modify 26.4.1-arm64 delete mount --help
usage: mount [options] [mount_ref...]

   Remove host folder mount(s) from template config

arguments:
  mount_ref                Mount reference: host_path, guest_folder_name, or host_path[:guest_folder_name]

options:
  -a,--all                 Delete all mount definitions

> anka show 26.4.1-arm64 mount --help

Examples

The folders you mount are all available under /Volumes/My Shared Files in the VM. This is not something we can change and is enforced by Apple.
❯ anka run test bash -c "ls -alht /Volumes/"
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   128B May  4 08:59 .
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel     1B May  4 08:59 Macintosh HD -> /
drwxr-xr-x  22 root  wheel   704B Apr  6 01:10 ..
drwxr-xr-x   1 anka  staff     0B Dec 31  1969 My Shared Files

❯ anka run test bash -c "ls -alht /Volumes/My\ Shared\ Files/"
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  4 root  wheel   128B May  4 08:59 ..
drwxr-xr-x  1 anka  staff     0B Dec 31  1969 .

❯ anka mount test ~/
/Volumes/My Shared Files/nathanpierce

❯ anka run test bash -c "ls -alht /Volumes/My\ Shared\ Files/"
total 16
drwxr-xr-x@ 245 anka  staff   7.7K May  4  2026 nathanpierce
drwxr-xr-x    4 root  wheel   128B May  4 08:59 ..
drwxr-xr-x    1 anka  staff     0B Dec 31  1969 .

❯ echo "hello" > ~/testfile1

❯ cat ~/testfile1
hello

❯ anka run test bash -c "cat /Volumes/My\ Shared\ Files/nathanpierce/testfile1"
hello

You can see what folders are mounted with:

❯ anka mount test
+------+---------------------+-------------------+---------------------------------------+
| fsid | host_path           | guest_folder_name | guest_path                            |
+------+---------------------+-------------------+---------------------------------------+
| 1    | /Users/nathanpierce | nathanpierce      | /Volumes/My Shared Files/nathanpierce |
+------+---------------------+-------------------+---------------------------------------+

❯ anka show test mount
+---------------------+---------------------------------------+
| host_path           | guest_path                            |
+---------------------+---------------------------------------+
| /Users/nathanpierce | /Volumes/My Shared Files/nathanpierce |
+---------------------+---------------------------------------+

You can disable the automounting of the volume that holds the folders in the VM globally in the host by changing anka config mount_prestart_automount_device to 0:

❯ anka config | grep automount
| mount_prestart_automount_device | 1