Win98 guest / Win10 host - File sharing

[andrewtheart]

Hello,

I am at a loss on how to share files between Win98 guest / Win10 host.

I created and mounted an ISO image in VirtualBox, but the Win98 machine doesn't recognize it. It doesn't show up as a CD in the system.

Network doesn't work (I tried NAT, bridge adapter, generic driver)

I was able to create and mount a virtual floppy disk image, and write to it from within Windows 98, but I can't read the image from within the host (win10).

What other options are there, and what could I be missing? Is this just not a possible task?

[andrewtheart]

I was able to read and write from the floppy disk image using Magic ISO maker.

Create the image (.ima) in Magic ISO maker following these instructions
[Offsite link deleted by mod]

Mount the image as a floppy disk in VirtualBox settings

Limitations: The floppy disk is limited in size 1.44Mb or 2.88Mb max

[mpack]

There's no reason why a CD shouldn't be mountable in a Win98 VM, but with no data we can't speculate on why yours didn't work.

Another option is to share a Win98 folder with the host.

This was all discussed quite recently.

Incidentally, I deleted your offsite link to a tool specific tutorial. You're a bit early in your VirtualBox forums career to be recommending third party sites and software.

[irishlazz]

I've been discovering that there are no *easy* ways to get files in/out of the Win98 box. Yes, you can mount an ISO as a virtual drive to get files INTO the box, but that means making a new ISO every time you find something else you want to try. And "rebooting". Or burning it onto YET ANOTHER cd and rebooting with it in the drive. [If I try to swap CDs the drive ceases to read inside the box].

For small quick transfers I've found that email attachments are the easiest way to get files in/out of the box. An old version of Firefox has just enough oomph to load my basic gmail.

[mpack]

As mentioned above, it is much easier (and quite easy overall) to share an internal Win98 folder with the host (using SMB1), than it is to get Win98 to correctly access a folder shared BY the host. It only requires that both PCs are on a common network.

[ghr]

Assuming that this is Win98SE: with that version I can have a VM read a share on my Win10 Home host using the host-only interface. Host can also handle connections from DOS VMs. Other options you have (as mpack states, discussed elsewhere but that was for Win95?): USB (just set it up with USB 1 only, NOT USB 2) or a mall, fixed size extra virtual HDD that you can either edit or connect to other VMs with easier file IO options.

[Rootman]

I've not done this in years, I actually had a couple of DOS apps I had to run in 64 bit Windows, which you know will not run.

I got around it by creating a FAT drive .VDI file that I attached to the HOST, wrote the files out to, then dismounted from the host and mounted to the GUEST. I did it this way rather than directly to the GUEST OS disk to avoid possibly corrupting it and the fact that I had a few DOS VMs to update, so I just held the smallish FAT .VDI file on a USB stick that I mounted to the host and opened and mounted the FAT volume from it, that way I could quickly take it to each machine and copy the files. In my case they were data files that needed periodic updating. Imdisk Toolkit is a wonderful tool to make mounting VDI files directly to the host a snap. If this is an isolated guest VM to a single host just create the FAT VDI file on the hosts disk right next to the guests main OS VDI file.

[irishlazz]

As mentioned above, it is much easier (and quite easy overall) to share an internal Win98 folder with the host (using SMB1), than it is to get Win98 to correctly access a folder shared BY the host. It only requires that both PCs are on a common network.

TING!!!!!! That is the sound of a light bulb going off. I suppose it helps when I read with a fresh brain instead of an exhausted and frustrated one. In case others follow here is the nutshell:
1) Set up the share in the win98 VB
2) Make sure the SMB1 is active in the host (mine already was)
3) Don't waste time trying to get host to "find" it - you know what you called it. Go to the address bar in file explorer and type \\VMname\sharedfoldername.

Thanks mpack etc!

[mpack]

TING!!!!!! That is the sound of a light bulb going off.

Um. Wouldn't that plunge you into darkness?

[HustleKing]

I am trying to access a folder that is in my windows 98se guest, from my windows 10 host (my goal is to get files off the guest and onto the host and I can't figure out any way to do that). I do have smb1 active on the host. I am stuck at the "set up the share in the win98 VB" step of what irishlazz recommended. Is there a post that describes in detail how to do that? I have read through a bunch of posts and have been unable to figure it out.

(I can't get internet to work at all on the guest, except for search engines. It will load google and bing and let me perform searches but when I click a link or try to go to a different site I get a error, no clue why that is)

I have my VB network settings set to NAT, PCnet-PCI II adapter (I dont know why, I read it somewhere)
I went into control panel>networks>configuration and enabled file and print sharing. (I have no idea how to configure dns/IP settings, or if I am supposed to mess with those at all)
I turned sharing on in the properties of the folder I am trying to access.
The guest is in a workgroup but I don't know how to access it from the host.
On the host, I do see the guest name appearing on the network but it will not let me access it "the network path was not found". (I don't know at what point the computer name showed up, it wasn't there earlier and I have tried a few different things since then, maybe I fixed it and then broke it idk)

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[mpack]

I am stuck at the "set up the share in the win98 VB" step of what irishlazz recommended. Is there a post that describes in detail how to do that?

Not around here. That counts as general PC/OS tuition, which we're not keen to branch into on this site - the scope is endless.

I suggest that you stop thinking of it as a VM problem. Start thinking about it as the physical problem of joining a Win98SE PC to a modern network. No doubt there are lots of businesses that keep a Win98PC going for some reason or another, so I bet there's plenty on this subject to be found using Google.

As far as what role VirtualBox does play, it's a hardware simulator. It provides the hardware for the PC. All the software level stuff, including support for network protocols, is provided by the guest OS and its config.

Back to OS tuition: it has been a while since I did it, but I don't remember it being amazingly hard. There are tutorials on this site that tell you how to get a network connection running. Beyond that I believe you just right click the folder in "Windows Explorer" (shell file manager) and select the sharing tab. You may have to enable file and printer sharing in Control Panel first.