Automatically copy files to VMs

Original forum link: https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/33876
Original poster: zaz
Created at: 2025-05-11 16:17:38
Posts count: 1
Likes count: 1

The goal of this guide is to create a folder that automatically copies files from dom0 to VMs. Why? So when you install a new template VM, you don't have to copy your Bash aliases, etc, across to it. That will all be handled automatically.

I just finished creating this, so there may be bugs. This guide is abbreviated and intended for tech-savvy users for now, but I will be available to answer any questions and will expand on it based on people's feedback.

set up user salt a. I recommend simply: mkdir -p ~/.config/srv/salt sudo ln -s /home/user/.config/srv/salt /srv/user_salt
Download copy-to-pcre.sls and copy-to-pcre.top
sudo qubesctl top.enable copy-to-pcre
In your user_salt directory, make a directory copy-to/pcre/^fedora-41-xfce$ (or whatever VM you want to copy files to)
Move the files you want to copy there e.g. if you want myscript.sh in /usr/local/bin/ on the VM, put it in copy-to/pcre/^fedora-41-xfce$/usr/local/bin/

For more documentation, see here:

https://github.com/zaz/qubes-salt-examples/tree/dev/fs/srv/user_salt/copy-to/pcre

Please let me know if you run into any issues!