W2K OS CD on External Disk Drive not installing in VirtualBox

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paisanoGlen
Posts: 3
Joined: 13. Mar 2017, 22:25

W2K OS CD on External Disk Drive not installing in VirtualBox

Post by paisanoGlen »

Firstly, I hope this is the proper Forum area in which to post.

Today, after having installed VirtualBox on a Win10 machine a week ago (3/10), I discovered the Win10 laptop has no DVD/CD drive. So, after having purchased a USB-connecting DVD/CD drive, I inserted the Windows 2000 install disk (#1) and began the process of Creating a Virtual Machine within VirtualBox.

Selecting the "E:" drive (as the "Host Drive E:" in the "Select start-up disk" window), a "FATAL: no bootable medium found" error message shows at the top of the window..

I'm thinking the fact that the drive on which the Windows 2000 OS is sitting, being an external drive connected to the laptop via USB, is the problem.

Please offer your help. (note: if it's not obvious from the terminology I've used in describing this situation, today is the first day I've worked with trying to install a virtual OS in VirtualBox) ... please be gentle. :-)

Thank you for any/all help you can offer.

Glen
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: W2K OS CD on External Disk Drive not installing in VirtualBox

Post by socratis »

Well, I don't have an external USB drive, but I do have something "similar" (a virtual drive whenever an ISO is mounted). VirtualBox thinks that that's "Host drive O:" and it works fine. So, I'm assuming that it would be the same with the external USB one.

What concerns me the most is, do you know that this is a Win2K bootable CD? Have you tried it? Because the error is unmistakable; if VirtualBox says you can't boot from that CD/DVD, then it's not bootable.

Another way to try is to create an ISO out of your CD and use that to boot your VM. It's going to be much faster as well...
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
paisanoGlen
Posts: 3
Joined: 13. Mar 2017, 22:25

Re: W2K OS CD on External Disk Drive not installing in VirtualBox

Post by paisanoGlen »

thank you for your astute reply, Socratis!

So .... I decided to double-check the 2-disk Windows 2000 packaging.

It's NOT an OS, but Microsoft OFFICE 2000 ... :lol: :oops:

I'll go a-hunting on Amazon for the OS (again) and give this a try (again) with full faith that VirtualBox will handle the disk properly, even if the DVD drive is USB-attached.

I'll update this topic in a few days.

Glen
paisanoGlen
Posts: 3
Joined: 13. Mar 2017, 22:25

Re: W2K OS CD on External Disk Drive not installing in VirtualBox

Post by paisanoGlen »

Again, thank you, Socratis!

I was able to find & download W2K and burn it to an ISO disk.
I inserted the ISO disk into the USB-connected DVD/CD drive, started VirtualBox, created a WINDOWS2000 machine, then STARTED the machine, pointed it to the external DVD/CD drive, and ... VOILA! ... it almost installed nicely.

only setback was: I did not have a product key; I went back to the download site and picked up the product key. Using the product key, the OS was successfully installed and boots nicely.

I'm genuinely, supremely satisfied with this Forum. THANKS!!!!!!!

Glen
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: W2K OS CD on External Disk Drive not installing in VirtualBox

Post by socratis »

Two things:
  • You didn't have to burn the ISO to a CD and then do the installation through the external CD. You could just select the ISO directly in VirtualBox. That would save you plenty of time. And a disk. ;)
  • You're supposed to buy a license. Otherwise I don't want to know about it, it's against the forum rules...
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
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