Vagrant doesn't honor config.vm.synced_folder set to disabled and sets up an rsync folder with a CentOS 7 guest using VirtualBox

[tjanez]

Versions of installed components (the system is Fedora 20):

vagrant-1.7.4-1.x86_64
VirtualBox-4.3.28-1.fc20.x86_64

Steps to reproduce the problem:

1. Add the official CentOS 7 box to Vagrant:

   vagrant box add --provider=virtualbox centos/7
   

2. Use the following Vagrantfile:

   # -*- mode: ruby -*-
   # vi: set ft=ruby :
   
   VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"
   
   Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
     config.vm.box = "centos/7"
     # Prevent Vagrant from mounting the default /vagrant synced folder
     config.vm.synced_folder '.', '/vagrant', disabled: true
   end

3. Start the machine:

   vagrant up
   

Expected Results:

Vagrant disables syncing the current folder.

Actual Results:

Even though syncing the current folder is disabled, Vagrant installs rsync on the guest machine and rsyncs the contents of the current folder. Here is the output:

Bringing machine 'default' up with 'virtualbox' provider...
==> default: Importing base box 'centos/7'...
==> default: Matching MAC address for NAT networking...
==> default: Checking if box 'centos/7' is up to date...
==> default: Setting the name of the VM: VagrantCentOSrsyncproblem_default_1439812291174_20087
==> default: Fixed port collision for 22 => 2222. Now on port 2201.
==> default: Clearing any previously set network interfaces...
==> default: Preparing network interfaces based on configuration...
    default: Adapter 1: nat
==> default: Forwarding ports...
    default: 22 => 2201 (adapter 1)
==> default: Booting VM...
==> default: Waiting for machine to boot. This may take a few minutes...
    default: SSH address: 127.0.0.1:2201
    default: SSH username: vagrant
    default: SSH auth method: private key
    default: Warning: Connection timeout. Retrying...
    default: Warning: Remote connection disconnect. Retrying...
    default: 
    default: Vagrant insecure key detected. Vagrant will automatically replace
    default: this with a newly generated keypair for better security.
    default: 
    default: Inserting generated public key within guest...
    default: Removing insecure key from the guest if it's present...
    default: Key inserted! Disconnecting and reconnecting using new SSH key...
==> default: Machine booted and ready!
==> default: Checking for guest additions in VM...
    default: No guest additions were detected on the base box for this VM! Guest
    default: additions are required for forwarded ports, shared folders, host only
    default: networking, and more. If SSH fails on this machine, please install
    default: the guest additions and repackage the box to continue.
    default: 
    default: This is not an error message; everything may continue to work properly,
    default: in which case you may ignore this message.
==> default: Installing rsync to the VM...
==> default: Rsyncing folder: /home/tadej/Temp/Vagrant CentOS rsync problem/ => /home/vagrant/sync

[wshallum]

Is this not caused by the target path being different? The CentOS 7 box's Vagrantfile specifies:

config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/home/vagrant/sync", type: "rsync"

In my Vagrantfile, using

config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/home/vagrant/sync", disabled: true

works for me. It no longer tries to install rsync or sync the directory. Of course, there is still the question of why they create an image that uses rsync by default and then not include rsync in the image...

[mrwiora]

with the specification of the right destination folder this works for me too.

[darkn3rd]

Is this the new default in 1.7.4 where /vagrant is disabled now? It is no longer mounting the current working directory as /vagrant. Instead I get this rsync folder.

==> devbox: Rsyncing folder: /vagrants/centos7/ => /home/vagrant/sync

[exstral]

This rsync shared folder is set in the Vagrantfile contained in the "centos/7" box.

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.base_mac = "<hash>"
  config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/home/vagrant/sync", type: "rsync"
end

I guess that for some reason the creators of the official box thought it prudent that everyone use rsync without giving us a hint or description on how to properly disable it. Thankfully I found this issue :)

[mitchellh]

I also can't reproduce this. I'm going to mark as not a bug.

[vikas027]

I also faced this today on a CentOS 7 box.

In CentOS 7, this works

config.vm.synced_folder '.', '/home/vagrant/sync', disabled: true

and this does't

config.vm.synced_folder '.', '/vagrant', disabled: true

[gdanielson]

I'm experiencing this too.(just starting to use vagrant so I might've done something wrong)
Running on OS X Vagrant 1.8.1 and VirtualBox 5.0.18
A new centos/7 attempts to rsync by default from . to guest ~/sync

vagrant init centos/7; vagrant up --provider virtualbox
---8<---
==> default: Rsyncing folder: /Users/gdanielson/ => /home/vagrant/sync

This is the Vagrantfile it created

    Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
      config.vm.box = "centos/7"
    end

If I destroy and update the Vagrantfile to

    Vagrant.configure(2) do |config|
      config.vm.box = "centos/7"
      config.vm.synced_folder '.', '/home/vagrant/sync', disabled: true
    end

the rsync doesn't fire up.
Where is that rsync being triggered from? I guess there is some other config somewhere controlling this?

[vikas027]

@gdanielson I did not quite understand your issue. Do you want rsync to be enabled or disabled ?
If you want to disable it, just see my previous comment. If you want to enable it (which it is by default), then you can do something like this

config.vm.synced_folder '../../', '/vagrant', type: 'rsync', rsync__exclude: '.git/', owner: 'root', group: 'root'

[gdanielson]

I wanted to disable rsync. I didn't think that something like rsync replication would be enabled by default so I assumed it was an error.

[automaticgiant]

i have this problem with debian/jessie64, and i can't install rsync before configuring the proxy settings in apt. (well, to be clear, my problem is that i don't have a synced folder but it wants to install rsync anyway.) ah. and when i changed config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/home/vagrant/sync", disabled: true to listing /vagrant, i suspect it lined up with the default setting for debian/jessie64 and disabled it and doesn't need to install rsync now.
so it's a box "problem".

[vhosakot]

When I did vagrant up with the box centos/7 (virtualbox, 1703.01), ==> default: Rsyncing folder: /root/ => /vagrant was stuck for me too, and adding
config.vm.synced_folder '.', '/vagrant', disabled: true
in Vagrantfile resolved the issue for me and rsync did not happen.

[ghost]

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