Copy and Paste not working although the Shared Clipboard is set to be Bidirectional

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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Docfxit
Posts: 129
Joined: 23. May 2014, 12:35
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP Pro, Win7, Win10

Copy and Paste not working although the Shared Clipboard is set to be Bidirectional

Post by Docfxit »

I would like to get the Clipboard working between my Host Windows 10 and my guest Windows 10
I have VBoxGuestAdditions_7.0.6.iso installed
I have Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.6a-155176.vbox-extpack installed
I have Clipboard set to Bidirectional

What else do I need to get the clipboard working?
Win10_64bit-2023-03-28-13-55-11.zip
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Copy and Paste not working although the Shared Clipboard is set to be Bidirectional

Post by scottgus1 »

The attached log does not show the Guest Additions starting. Are you sure you installed them? The GAs installer has to be manually run after "Insert Guest Additions CD Image" is commanded.

Also, your Windows 10 VM will run better on two processors, and maybe another GB of RAM, if you can spare it.
Docfxit
Posts: 129
Joined: 23. May 2014, 12:35
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP Pro, Win7, Win10

Re: Copy and Paste not working although the Shared Clipboard is set to be Bidirectional

Post by Docfxit »

I have added a second processor and another gig of ram.
When the guest was shut down I ran in a bat file:

Code: Select all

C:\Programs\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso /with_autologon /with_vboxmmr
At the moment I can't boot the OS. I'm having a problem getting the boot partition configured.
How can I finish getting the VBoxGuestAdditions.iso installed correctly?
When I select Devices, The Upgrade Guest Additions is greyed out.

How can I tell if this is an EFI partition or an MBR partition?
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Copy and Paste not working although the Shared Clipboard is set to be Bidirectional

Post by scottgus1 »

Docfxit wrote:When the guest was shut down I ran in a bat file:

Code: Select all

C:\Programs\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso /with_autologon /with_vboxmmr
I'm not certain what this is supposed to do. Where did you get this command line? Please see Section 4 in the manual about installing Guest Additions in the VM, or the "guest".

The GAs ISO is a CD image. It's a data file for a virtual CD player app. It's like .jpg's and .png's for Paint, or .docx's for Word. It's not an executable file in and of itself. Running the above command is like running:

drive:\path\to\some.png /with_autologon /with_vboxmmr

At best, nothing would happen, since the starting file is not an executable. At worst, Windows would query by the extension what default app works with that file type, launch the app, and run the specified arguments on the file's data.

The "at worst" scenario on your command line would have loaded the GAs ISO into the host's virtual CD drive and installed the GAs on the host OS, which is not good at all. Guest additions go in the Guest, not the Host. (Otherwise they'd be called Host Additions. :lol: )

The VM needs to be running to install GAs in the VM. Use "Insert Guest Additions CD Image", from the VM window's Decices menu, to load the GAs ISO into the VM's CD drive. Then open the VM's CD drive and run the GAs installer from there, inside the VM.
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