Can VirtualBox Register a plugged-in external disk drive?

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
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Lamecoded
Posts: 4
Joined: 9. Mar 2021, 23:14
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: WindowsME

Can VirtualBox Register a plugged-in external disk drive?

Post by Lamecoded »

Hi,
I have an iMac with a broken superdrive (internal disk drive) which I cannot fix (due to it being an iMac).
When in VirtualBox on my iMac, can VirtualBox register and use a plugged-in external disk drive?
Or do I have to just settle for iso files?

I'm hoping it can, because then I can use various disks in virtualbox via the external disk drive.

Edit: I don't think so, I'll just have to make do with iso files
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Can VirtualBox Register a plugged-in external disk drive?

Post by scottgus1 »

Ok, so I googled a 'superdrive' and found out it's just Apple's 'superfancy' name for a CD/DVD drive.

Virtualbox will boot from and use an external USB CD drive if the host still controls the CD drive and the VM's CD drive is pointed at the host's CD drive.

If the USB CD drive is passed into the VM with Virtualbox's USB Filters, then the VM would own the CD drive and Virtualbox would theoretically boot from it only if the VM uses EFI booting. Virtualbox BIOS boot cannot boot from any USB device.

If the external CD drive connects via another channel besides USB, like Thunderbolt or Firewire, I don't know if Virtualbox will use it. Theoretically it still should work if the host still owns the CD drive.

Converting CD & DVD install media to ISO is also a viable and faster method to boot VMs, provided there is no copy-protection scheme on the disc.
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