[SOLVED] Trying to run a physical CD-ROM on a mac host for a Windows guest

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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saramos64
Posts: 18
Joined: 7. Sep 2020, 22:22

[SOLVED] Trying to run a physical CD-ROM on a mac host for a Windows guest

Post by saramos64 »

I have an old CD-ROM I used to play as a kid and I want to try and run it again. I've tried making an ISO copy but VM doesn't recognize it as a correct ISO version.
How can I get my Windows XP guest to recognize a physical CD drive (that I add via the USB-C port on my mac host) when I insert the actual CD-ROM?

I'm trying to do it this way because the game CD is for both mac and windows, so I suspect that making an ISO copy is from the mac version so my windows guest doesn't recognize the .app (old app) program instead of .exe
Last edited by saramos64 on 4. Jan 2022, 03:22, edited 1 time in total.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Trying to run a physical CD-ROM on a mac host for a Windows guest

Post by scottgus1 »

ISOs of game CDs sometimes don't work, due to copy protection in the game CD.

You could point the VM's Optical drive at the host CD drive, and then enable the Passthrough option. If that doesn't work, try passing the CD drive itself into the VM using USB basics and troubleshooting
saramos64
Posts: 18
Joined: 7. Sep 2020, 22:22

Re: Trying to run a physical CD-ROM on a mac host for a Windows guest

Post by saramos64 »

THANK YOU!!! This absolutely worked.
So I plugged in the external CD/DVD-ROM drive, and instead of trying to load the software as storage I went on VirtualBox into "Setting > Ports" and added the DVD drive usb connection as a shared port. That was it, then I started the VM and inserted the CD-ROM and it loaded perfectly and runs.
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