I moved the output folder to a local folder inside the VM. That seems to solve the problem. Only issue now is that when I run a build the Build Settings right beneath "Build directory" say: "The Makefile is for a different project. The build will be overwritten"
This is only for the active build. When I change from debug to release, the message disappears in debug and appears in release and vice versa.
It won't go away when I specify a full absolute path to somewhere in the local file system.
It's bit strange, because Debug and Release builds are compiled into different folders without problem. Nothing is overwritten.