Windows XP Guest can't detect a CD in the CD drive

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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caprese
Posts: 1
Joined: 8. May 2019, 11:42

Windows XP Guest can't detect a CD in the CD drive

Post by caprese »

Hi everyone, I hope i'm posting this at the right place, to be honest I'm not extremely good with computers so I didn't understand all the terms used and had a little trouble setting up a Virtual Machine.

Basically I created a Windows XP Virtual Machine to replay an old PC game I loved but it uses the SafeDisc system that is now automatically blocked on Windows 10 computers and the game is too unknown to have a NoCD fix so this was kind of a desperate attempt on my part to replay that game.

I added a drive in my Virtual Machine, that reads the host CD drive on my computer, which is the E: drive (D: is a backup hard drive). So in the guest Windows I have an empty D: CD Drive + the E: CD Drive that recognised the CD I put in my laptop and I managed to successfully install the game, but when I try to launch it, it says that there's no CD inserted in the computer. I asked somewhere on the internet and someone said it might be because the CD needs to be in the D: CD Drive, but I was unable to find clear instructions on how to change drive letters in VirtualBox, that's why I'm asking here.

I hope I managed to state my problem clearly and thanks in advance if anyone has an answer :)
Rootman
Posts: 251
Joined: 1. Oct 2012, 18:29

Re: Windows XP Guest can't detect a CD in the CD drive

Post by Rootman »

This is not a Virtualbox issue, it's a Windows issue.

It's been a while since I've been in XP, I believe this is right. RIGHT click the MY COMPUTER icon on the desktop, choose MANAGE, the go to DISK MANAGEMENT. RIGHT click the CD ROM and choose CHANGE DRIVE LETTER AND PATHS. Switch your CD ROM to the drive letter you need. If that drive letter already HAS a drive then it can't pick that drive letter. You need to move the drive that's already D: and move it to another letter first, then change the CD ROM to D:.

That being said, optical drive letters are pretty agnostic, it should work no matter what the drive letter. I think you're up against some other issue. I have alway schanged the drive letter of my optical drives, physical or virtual and never any issue with an app locked into a certain drive letter.
Last edited by Rootman on 8. May 2019, 17:48, edited 1 time in total.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Windows XP Guest can't detect a CD in the CD drive

Post by mpack »

The guest virtual CD drive D: will only map to the host CD/DVD drive E: if you configured that mapping in the VM settings. To see if you've created that mapping we need to see a VM log.

With the VM fully shut down, right click and "Show Log" in the GUI, save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip, and attach the zip here.
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