virtualbox.org

In order to create a floppy disk image that you can attach to the guest VM you need to do the following...

1. Make sure that the USB drive has been correctly detected by the Windows 10 Host. If it hasn't been allocated a drive letter check in Windows Device Manager (accessed from the Windows Control Panel) that it has been detected and that any necessary device drivers have been installed.

2. Run RawWrite on the host system and go to the "Read" tab. Set the "Floppy Drive" drop down to the drive letter given to the floppy drive in step 1, specify the image file name and click the "Read" button.

3. Attach the file created in step 2 to the virtual machine and it should appear in the guest.

As an alternative (untried and potentially incorrect), you may be able to capture the USB floppy drive using the USB device filters on the USB configuration page for the Windows XP guest definition within VirtualBox in which case it might appear directly within the guest.

-Andy.

Hi Andy,
this was a very instructive and let me say a very competent instruction! Compliment!
So I followed it and generated a file with the name "iomega imgfile" on the common folder (1.440 kB).
My last question: Should I rename it with the extension ".raw" in order to use it in the guest system?

Thank you very much for your extensive contribution and hopefully to your anwer to my last question.
I will answer to this Forum if I succeeded to establish a virtual diskette drive.
Leni

The VirtualBox manager in v5.2.6 lists .img, .ima, .dsk, .flp and .vfd as permissible extensions for the image file. I have always used .img.

-Andy.

Hi Andy,
I´m sorry but I´ve got one more problem with attaching the img file to the guest.
As I wrote, I was able to create a floppy img file according to your advices and stored it in the common folder with the name "iomega imgfile.img.
Now I opened the "Virtual Media Manager". Here I see three tabs, namely "Hard drives", "Optical disks" and "Floppy disk". With the first two tabs all is ok, but when I click on "Floppy disk" I supposed to be able to enter the information required. But all is greyed out and I´m not able to to enter any information.

So in the VirtualBox Manager I went to the configuration settings. Clicking on the tab "mass storage" I see an entry "controller: Floppy". Clicking on it I see the attributes "Name: Floppy", "Type: 182078" and "use I/O cache". But all is greyed out again and I´m not able to activate the tab "create now floppy". Even not able to delete this floppy.
So something is going wrong, but I don´t know what!! If you have some idea please help me.
PS: My VirtualBox version is 5.2.4.
Leni

Select the floppy controller. Click on the "+" icon. Choose existing disk. Point it to your floppy image.

If it's greyed out, shut down the VM. You don't change hardware on your computer while your computer is running, do you?

Even if the VM is not running, in the VirtualBox manager using "configuration">"mass storage">Controller: Floppy", all the tabs are greyed out. The icon of the virtual machine shows "saved". If I move the mouse over the VM icon I get the message "Windows XP saved, session not blocked (or not locked - depending on my translation from german: nicht gesperrt)"
May be this is the reason for the greying out?
When I go to the Virtual Media Manager on the tab "floppy disc" all the tabs to supply information for the floppy are greyed out as well.
Leni

I said the VM need to be shut down, not saved. Restore the VM and shut it down. From within the VM.

OK, after having understood the difference between "save" and "shut down" (thank you for insisting on it), I succeeded to install the floppy drive in the VM ( I were thinking so).
In the virtual box manager I made the following entries:
Name: iomega imgfile.img
Tab attributes: Type: write through
Location: I put the location of my image file in the common folder
Tab informations: connected to: not connected
UUID: ..........
When I go to the configuration settings>mass storage under the tab "Controller: Floppy", I see
" Host Drive A". Clicking on it:
Attributes: DiskDrive1
Information: Host Drive connected to Windows XP.
If I´m going to the guest (in Windows Explorer) I can´t see any drive (A or DiskDrive1). So returning to the host system, clicking on drive A, I get the message: "Insert a disk". I did so and got the content of this Floppy Disk. If this was a diskette with some images, I choose "open with" and "Photo Gallery" indeed I can see all the images in Gallery and can store them wherever I want (in the host system)! But whenever I want to load a (.exe) file I have to save it in the common folder (from the host system) and then I´m able to open it in the guest system and may execute the program.
So it works, but it seems to me a little bit strange as behaviour, since I do not see any Floppy drive in the guest system.
Please comment if I made something wrong, or if all is ok like this.
Leni