[Solved] Devices Menu

[MikeGreen9]

Ubuntu 22.04 using UNITY
VBox Version 7.0.6 r155176
Hi.

In a previous post I said:

I have a problem Installing Guest Additions.
I found the GuestAdditions iso: /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso
The user manual says:
"In the Devices menu in the virtual machine’s menu bar, Oracle VM VirtualBox has a menu item Insert Guest Additions CD Image".

Where is the "Devices menu" ?
In the Top Menu Bar I see: File Machine File Manager Help
In the Menu Bar below, I see Options Operations Log Settings Start->

Should I be looking in the Virtual Box Manager or in the Guest Windows7 window?

I'm not the only one having a problem finding the Devices Menu:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/179799/ ... l-machine

I tried creating a Virtual Machine Shortcut: "Insert Guest Additions CD Image". This does nothing in the Guest WIndow7 window.

Is it because I'm running Unity, not Gnome? I tried hovering on Menu Bars, but that does zip.

This should be something simple, but I'm at a loss.

How to install "virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso" ?????

Thanks in advance for any help,
M...

[granada29]

"In the Devices menu in the virtual machine’s menu bar, Oracle VM VirtualBox has a menu item Insert Guest Additions CD Image".

There's your answer in the line you quoted from the manual.

Give focus to your VM window and you will see the Devices menu.

[scottgus1]

In the VM's window:

[MikeGreen9]

Hi.
If you look at the snapshot below, you will see that my machine displays: " File Machine Help"

Your snapshot displays: " File Machine View Input Devices Help"

There is NO "Devices" displayed on my Menu Bar. Therein is my problem.

VBox ScreenShot 6.png (63.55 KiB) Viewed 3713 times

What to do?

Thanks,
M....

[granada29]

Its possible that the User Interface setting for the VM has somehow unselected the items to be shown in the VM Toolbar. The setting interface is kind of strange but does work.

Shutdown your VM
Open Settings for the VM in VirtualBox Manager
Select the User Interface icon
Check that the required menu items displayed are selected.
Save the changes and restart the VM.

Here is a screenshot from my Mac so there will be minor differences.

Screenshot 2023-03-12 at 7.18.41 AM.png (99.74 KiB) Viewed 3711 times

[fth0]

If you look at the snapshot below, [...]

... I see that the Close button of the VirtualBox Manager is active and the Close button of the VM's window is inactive, indicating that the latter has no focus although being displayed in front of the former. In consequence, the menu at the top belongs to the VirtualBox Manager and is not the menu that you want. So the real question is how to make the VM's window the active window ...

[MikeGreen9]

Best answer yet - close but no prize yet.

VBox User Interface Screen Looks promising - there is "DEVICES". No matter how I toggle these OFF/ON, or toggle that obscure tick mark to the right, nothing changes. And yes I do restart the VM each time.

VBox User Interface Screen.png (58.1 KiB) Viewed 3674 times

And something is not quite right here. Look at the FILE options in the User Interface Screen AND the MenuBar:

VBox File.png (51.73 KiB) Viewed 3674 times

Look at the MACHINE options in the User Interface Screen AND the MenuBar:

VBox Machine.png (60.14 KiB) Viewed 3674 times

Shouldn't there be a correlation between the SETTINGS options list and the MENUBAR options list?

I'm open to trying anything.

Thanks,
M....

[granada29]

Hmmm - I don't run VirtualBox on a Linux host, but it seems that you are still not using the menubar associated with the running instance of your VM. Maybe if you start your VM then close the VirtualBox Manager you will get a clearer idea of what is going on with the menubars.

I am not sure if your screenshot of the User Interface settings is showing Devices as selected or unselected - like I said earlier, it is a weird interface, but by toggling it one way or the other you may be able to get the menu to appear in your VM's menubar.

*Edit: Fix typos

[scottgus1]

I too see something really weird.

In the screenshot here viewtopic.php?f=7&t=108844#p533225 The window "Oracle VM Virtualbox Manager", the main Virtualbox window with the list of VMs where one can make new VMs and change their settings, has no menu bar. Instead, there is a menu bar above the window title bar (!) aligning with the left side of the Ubuntu tiles, with the usual "Oracle VM Virtualbox Manager" menus File, Machine, & Help.

There is also a VM running, "Virtual Box WIN7 [RUNNING]" with no menu bar. Such a no-menu bar VM window is possible if the VM is in Scaled Mode. HostKey-C brings a VM out of Scaled Mode.

In the first screenshot here viewtopic.php?f=7&t=108844#p533239 again the main Virtualbox window has no menu bar. Something is broken.

The other screenshots show an attempt to compare the VM UI settings to the main Virtualbox window. The VM UI settings do not control the main Virtualbox window. They control the VM's window.

When the VM window is focused, hit HostKey-C. If this does not bring the menu bar out, I would like to see a screenshot of your entire host screen, with the main Virtualbox window on one side and the VM window on the other side, and no windows overlapping. If the screenshot is too big, we will allow a 3rd-party picture hosting site for the screenshot this time. Please pick a hosting site that does not show smut and porn on the sides.

[fth0]

Virtualbox window has no menu bar. Something is broken.

Objection, your honor!

What you're seeing is the typical behavior of Unity under Ubuntu. Just like in macOS, there's a global menu bar at the top of the screen, showing the menu belonging to the currently focused application window, and in consequence, (most) application windows do not have a menu bar.

It's just not clear why the VM's window is not focused, although being displayed in front of the VirtualBox Manager's window, and if it's a Unity problem or a VirtualBox problem.

[scottgus1]

Objection, your honor!

What you're seeing is the typical behavior of Unity under Ubuntu.

Sustained!

That is confusing! The menu bar on the window that's active appears at the top of the Ubuntu screen? Not under the window's title bar? And the top-menu-bar changes to whichever window is active? Whoa. Maybe I'm just too Windows-centric, but if I ever ran a Linux PC, that would be the first thing to go...

MikeGreen9, I withdraw my thoughts above. Linux is just too beyond me... Granada29 & Fth0 will lead you to the promised land!

[fth0]

The menu bar on the window that's active appears at the top of the Ubuntu screen? Not under the window's title bar? And the top-menu-bar changes to whichever window is active?

Yes, that's a behavior well-known to Macintosh users of all ages (Classic Mac OS, OS X and macOS). It even predates Microsoft Windows 1.0. A few Linux distributions liked this concept, and (Ubuntu) Unity (Wikipedia) used it to cope with the limited vertical display resolution of netbooks.

Maybe I'm just too Windows-centric, but if I ever ran a Linux PC, that would be the first thing to go...

Most Linux distributions do not use this concept. Even if you want to use Ubuntu, just don't select Unity as Desktop Environment (DE). In contrast to Windows and macOS, in many Linux distributions you can choose between a lot of different DEs, matching the look and feel that you like.

[MikeGreen9]

Hi.

Okay I've made some progress. I run Ubuntu using the Unity desktop environment instead of the default GNOME. I prefer Unity as it more closely resembles a Windows like environment. Although I am an ardent Ubuntu user (past 12 years) who would never go back to Windows, I do admit that I like my desktop to look like Windows.

As per 'fth0' Unity is causing my problem. In Ubuntu you can easily boot with either the GNOME or Unity desktop environment. Here is a pic of "Devices" under GNOME:

VBox Devices With Gnome 2.png (86.77 KiB) Viewed 3404 times

Wonderful to see that !
However, there still is a teeny problem - "Upgrade Guest Additions" is not highlighted.

In VBox "Settings" "User Interface" "Devices", "Upgrade Guest Additions" is ticked as are all the other options in the drop down list.

VBoxGuestAdditions.iso is located in "/usr/share/virtualbox/". Perhaps the Guest doesn't know where to look for it ??

What gives,
M...

[fth0]

Good idea to switch the desktop environment just for the installation.

"Upgrade Guest Additions" is not highlighted

You can ignore that (*) and just use "Insert Guest Additions CD image...". If your guest OS doesn't use CD autostart, open the Windows Explorer, navigate to the CD and start "VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe" yourself.

(*) "Upgrade Guest Additions" is a new feature of VirtualBox 7.0 that does not work in all situations yet (work in progress).

[MikeGreen9]

Hi.
I've opened Windows Explorer and see the following:

VBox Explorer with CD Support.png (94.39 KiB) Viewed 3374 times

Embarrassed to say I don't know what to do now. Clicking on
"CD Drive (D): VirtualBox Guest Additions" does nothing.

I know where the Guest Additions ISO is, but where is "VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe"

And as usual, I'm confused - this isn't actually going out to the CD - so where is it going? Is Windows actually seeing the Guest Additions.iso ? Where ?

When Windows comes up, it does say "VBox CD Rom ATA Device Driver software successfully installed"
but the CD is not spinning up.

Thanks,
M....