USB drives not attached to guest VM

[bblack100]

I have a Windows 8 host and was attempting to "see" an external hard drive in my Windows XP Virtual Machine. I have a very low level of expertise, but I discovered this while tripping around frantically in places Microsoft probably never intended me to go.

I upgraded to VirtualBox 4.2.12 with guest extensions and the Extension Pack.

I CLOSED VirtualBox.

In the Windows 8 Host, with the external drive plugged in, I opened Windows Explorer. I RIGHT-clicked on the external drive and chose "Properties." I clicked the "Sharing" tab, then chose "Advanced Sharing," checked the box "Share This Folder," and clicked "Apply."

I then started my VirtualBox copy of Windows XP. NOTE: it took much longer to start than normal. I then discovered that the external drive was visible in the virtual machine, but had disappeared in the host.

I love it when things make sense.

[mpack]

@bblack100: This thread is about attaching a USB drive. Your problem is about a attaching a shared folder, a different subject entirely (regardless of how the host accesses the drive which the folder is located on). I will quickly note that sharing the root folder of a drive is probably a bad idea. Also, your description appears incomplete: a true network share (which is what you described) should only work if the guest and the host are on a common workgroup or domain. Perhaps you are using bridged networking? Windows guests often take a long time to "discover" a share automatically. Usually they get faster once the first discovery is done, or you can provide a manual network path.

I find it surprising that you didn't consider using GA shared folders. See section 4.3 of the user manual.

[emcarnahan]

@JohnAGonzalezFL Thank you that worked brilliantly!

[ISA2017]

Hi there,
I have the exact same problem. I want to run SnowLeopard on a virtual machine and be able to see a USB flash drive. I have tried using a windowns host (running Windows 10) and OS hosts (both Mountain Lion and El Capitan) and several versions of VirtualBox. In all hosts I am able to unmount the USB flash drive and VirtualBox sees the flash drive (on the bottom USB device button on the right) but I am not able to actually see/access the pen in Snow Leopard.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

[socratis]

I have tried using a windowns host (running Windows 10)

OSX installs are only supported on Apple hardware. See: Important notice regarding Mac OS X as Guest.

Locking this. It was a 4-year old thread to begin with...