Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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Tax Shack
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Joined: 25. Oct 2021, 04:22
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Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Post by Tax Shack »

"Insert Guest Additions from the Devices menu.
Open Windows Explorer in your guest.
Look at your CD drive in your guest.
Run VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe
Reboot after the installation."

The above was taken from an earlier (much earlier) post with the same title, but it was marked Solved. It was solved for the person who posted the problem, but it does not fix my problem (below).

Hello, I just finished setting up a Win XP VBox and I have a couple of devices that still need to be installed and I think Guest Additions will do the trick. I have clicked "Insert Guest Add" (several times) and when I look at My Computer I can see it loaded on the E: drive (my CD drive), but when I click it shows 0 bytes and Explorer doesn't show anything either, much less the autorun executable. Of course, nothing is kicking off and Guest Add isn't being installed. Any clues on how to get further with this? I've done this before on another VBox machine (Win 7) successfully. Thanks!
scottgus1
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Re: Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Post by scottgus1 »

Right-click the VM in the main Virtualbox window's VM list, choose Show in Explorer/Finder/File Manager. Zip the VM's .vbox file (not the .vbox-prev file), and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab. (Configure your host OS to show all extensions if the folder that opens does not show a .vbox file.)
Tax Shack
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Re: Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Post by Tax Shack »

Thanks, scottgus1. I think I've uploaded what you asked for. Bill
Attachments
DELLWINXP-Oracle.zip
Tax Shack Vbox
(1.32 KiB) Downloaded 12 times
scottgus1
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Re: Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Post by scottgus1 »

Well, the GAs ISO is in the VM's CD drive. 'Tis a puzzle.

Please post a screenshot of the VM's CD drive window?
fth0
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Re: Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Post by fth0 »

DELLWINXP-Oracle.vbox wrote: <AttachedDevice passthrough="false" tempeject="true" type="DVD" hotpluggable="false" port="1" device="0">
<Image uuid="{325cf0e9-ea3b-4830-bda9-8c3082a073f9}"/>
</AttachedDevice>
I'm not sure, but I could imagine that the tempeject setting plays a role. If you don't need it, reboot your host so that no VirtualBox component is running, and edit the DELLWINXP-Oracle.vbox file by hand, removing the tempeject="true".
Tax Shack
Posts: 36
Joined: 25. Oct 2021, 04:22
Primary OS: MS Windows other
VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Post by Tax Shack »

In my original post, I mentioned a file size of 0. Sorry, it was remaining size; duh.

I removed the tempeject="true" from vbox and it made no difference.

Instead of screen prints, I saw the "recording" button, so I made a movie of me showing the CD E: drive with empty CD drive, then clicked Insert Guest Add, then E: drive showed Guest Add, but again, no startup install nor ability to see anything in the E: drive (in My Computer) nor bringing up Explorer and looking in E: that way (it instead shows my Desktop items). It won't let me upload the webm. Can I get it to you another way?

Is there a way to get the Guest Add install file into the VM session another way? I suppose I can't share files without Guest Add - Catch-22??
scottgus1
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Re: Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Post by scottgus1 »

Tax Shack wrote:It won't let me upload the webm.
Try posting it on Youtube then post the link.

You could set up a host shared folder through a Bridged or Host-Only network, which would require re-enabling SMB 1 on the Windows 10 host (which was disabled due to WannaCry) then copying the contents of the GAs ISO. Or you could try a file-sharing service that is still compatible with XP. XP does not have a built-in ISO reader, so you'd have to copy the files & folders in the VM instead of the ISO itself.
Tax Shack
Posts: 36
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Re: Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Post by Tax Shack »

scottgus1, thanks for the reply. It seems you're saying there's a reason I can't read/exec anything on GA in XP because it doesn't XP support iso files, right? Well, I thought I'd copy the iso to a CD and read the CD in. I know I can read a regular CD because I loaded WinXP system disk at some point.
scottgus1
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Re: Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Post by scottgus1 »

Tax Shack wrote: It seems you're saying there's a reason I can't read/exec anything on GA in XP because it doesn't XP support iso files, right?
Not quite. When Virtualbox puts the ISO in the VM's CD drive, it appears to the OS as a real CD. The 'mounting' of the ISO happens in Virtualbox on the host. Once the GAs ISO is in the CD drive you should see the GAs files in the XP CD drive window. It is weird that you don't.

The idea of trying to pass the ISO file itself into XP, if I read correctly, wouldn't work because XP does not have native understanding of an ISO file so as to open it and run or copy the files in it.
Tax Shack wrote:I loaded WinXP system disk at some point.
Does this mean you were able to see the contents of the XP installer disc in the VM's CD drive?
Tax Shack
Posts: 36
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Re: Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Post by Tax Shack »

scottgus1 wrote: The idea of trying to pass the ISO file itself into XP, if I read correctly, wouldn't work because XP does not have native understanding of an ISO file so as to open it and run or copy the files in it.
I was reading up on this and there are third-party wares, including a virtual CD mounter, that will allow XP to read the ISO contents - if you can get the file in there.
scottgus1 wrote:Does this mean you were able to see the contents of the XP installer disc in the VM's CD drive?
Not quite :) I did see the XP installer when F12 booting the VM while I was initially trying to clean up stuff (I was following the very handy https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Migrate_Windows documentation, using disk2vhd instead of the suggested dd). So, I needed to try seeing it within XP.

So I changed Storage Optical to Host E: (IDE Primary Device 1) and Started VM. As luck would have it, XP "Found VBox CD Rom" and "Found new hardware CD-ROM drive". Now, we both know what happened. I read the contents of the XP Installer CD just fine, shut down, set Storage Optical to GA.iso (kept same IDE Prim Dev 1 - seems to me it was originally Secondary when I first started this thread?? Don't know if that made a difference.), started VM again and actually saw the contents! It did not auto-install, so I just executed the GA installer and it ran successfully. Geez.

Just so you believe me when I said I couldn't read the GA before, please see highly-produced video of me trying: https://youtu.be/fLwcPDIKH0o (The screen is truncated, so when I move the cursor up to click Device: Insert GA, you can't see it, but you do see drive E: change its name as a result of that.)

I guess that was the solution - stepping through things with you. I'm grateful for your time.
Tax Shack
Posts: 36
Joined: 25. Oct 2021, 04:22
Primary OS: MS Windows other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win10, Win7 & WinXP

Re: Insert Guest Additions Not Working

Post by Tax Shack »

One final thing I noticed. After I was successful seeing the XP install CD within the VM and changed the Optical to GuestAdd and installed it, I went back later and changed the Optical back to Host E:. The XP Install CD was still in the PC. When I got into the VM, again I could not see the contents! When I ejected and reinserted the CD, it fixed itself again. Were all my troubles caused by needing to physically mount a CD in the PC in the beginning? Who knows. Who cares?
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