Re-Writable Virtual Optical Drive Controller

[Solrac42]

I would like to see a re-writable optical drive controller implemented directly into VirtualBox to replace the read only virtual device used currently, there are various softwares available to do this already, so I suggest this feature should be built into VirtualBox, preferably a blu ray re-writer with the ability to create custom size disc images.

[mpack]

You fail to give a reason.

[michaln]

What, having someone else do something you want (and that few care about) for free isn't reason enough?

[Solrac42]

You fail to give a reason.

Hi mpack,

Thanks for your reply,

I need it for my work as a Computer Technician, to speed up the process of factory reset images for deployment onto multiple PCs and laptops, I find that VirtualBox running on my high end PC using SSD drives can do this much more quickly, so performance with a re-writabe Virtual optical controller would be a real boost to productivity.

[Solrac42]

What, having someone else do something you want (and that few care about) for free isn't reason enough?

Hi michalin,

Thanks for your reply,

same reply I gave to mpack.

[mpack]

Why not create your ISO images using standard ISO generation software such as ImgBurn? VirtualBox will never be as good as a tool which is purpose designed for the task.

And, unless paying customers start requesting it, I'm guessing that this feature has little chance of being implemented in VirtualBox, though I don't speak for the devs.

[michaln]

It's already possible to attach physical burners using passthrough. That really reduces the usefulness of this feature to something very near zero.

[Solrac42]

It's already possible to attach physical burners using passthrough. That really reduces the usefulness of this feature to something very near zero.

As a Computer Technician I could not disagree more.

Speed my friend, speed ... it can take an hour or more to complete a set of factory restore discs for a PC or laptop, it takes just a few minutes to complete when running a virtual optical burner which is stored on an SSD drive (as in my setup), I know because I have timed them when making them, I then use rufus to convert them to USB flash drives, so for me it would be a great enhancement for VirtualBox to have this feature, and I am sure others could benefit from this feature, as a workaround I use demo re-writer virtual burning software to get the work done, but I have to install it and set up the various settings every session and this takes time ... so do you now see, not zero usefulness but 100% usefulness.

[Solrac42]

Why not create your ISO images using standard ISO generation software such as ImgBurn? VirtualBox will never be as good as a tool which is purpose designed for the task.

Simply put my friend .... the ISO images are generated directly by the factory restore software, so I need a Virtual re-writer software installed to allow their creation, imgburn would be of no use in this situation.

Some factory restore software now incorporates the ability to create directly to USB drives as well as optical drives.
I have tried to write directly to a USB flash drive in the host computer but so far the operation has not succeeded ... see the "Virtual USB" thread I started in the Suggestions forum for more info.

[michaln]

As a Computer Technician I could not disagree more.

You could. All you said "this would be awfully useful to me", and I have no reason to doubt you. But unless there are at least several thousand other VirtualBox users in the same boat, it still means nothing. There are also several virtual CD burners already, which further significantly reduces the need for building such functionality into VirtualBox.

You could always write the code yourself, or hire someone to do that. It's certainly doable, but it's quite a bit of work. With zero payoff, that's just not an enticing project for Oracle.

[Solrac42]

As a Computer Technician I could not disagree more.

You could. All you said "this would be awfully useful to me", and I have no reason to doubt you. But unless there are at least several thousand other VirtualBox users in the same boat, it still means nothing. There are also several virtual CD burners already, which further significantly reduces the need for building such functionality into VirtualBox.

You could always write the code yourself, or hire someone to do that. It's certainly doable, but it's quite a bit of work. With zero payoff, that's just not an enticing project for Oracle.

I see your point, but would this be a difficult feature to implement ? would it be beneficial for other users ... maybe, but is it ... "out of the question" or would the programmers consider doing it in the future ?.

Also would it be easier ... and less time consuming to create a Virtual USB controller to do the same job as a host USB drive, I mention this because some modern PCs do not have USB 2.0 ports anymore, just USB 3.0 ports, and when I try to use a USB 3.0 port in VirtualBox the mouse is not captured properly whereby it wiil not cover the whole guest screen, making it impossible to use the guest, but perhaps I should create a bug report for this.

[socratis]

@Solrac42
I think I'm with you on this one; the read-write CD/DVD/DL-DVD/Blue-ray. I mean after all VirtualBox is the hardware emulator and having software workarounds is not ideal. But, I think I hear loud and clear the reasons why it has not been implemented (yet).

If I were you, and this was really important to me, I would look for a DVD-writer open source project emulator (if any) and petition the community of said project to coordinate and potentially contribute their code to VirtualBox.

[michaln]

I see your point, but would this be a difficult feature to implement ? would it be beneficial for other users ... maybe, but is it ... "out of the question" or would the programmers consider doing it in the future ?.

It's not out of the question. But the expected cost/benefit ratio is pretty high, and there are more important things to get done first.

Also would it be easier ... and less time consuming to create a Virtual USB controller to do the same job as a host USB drive, I mention this because some modern PCs do not have USB 2.0 ports

It would be possible to create a virtual USB CD/whatever burner. It is about the same amount of work as a virtual IDE/SATA/SCSI burner because 98% of the code would be exactly the same. I don't know if that answers your question.

and when I try to use a USB 3.0 port in VirtualBox the mouse is not captured properly whereby it wiil not cover the whole guest screen, making it impossible to use the guest, but perhaps I should create a bug report for this.

Actually you should describe the problem in detail in a separate topic. I don't quite understand what is happening there, or what USB 3.0 has to do with mouse capturing.

[Solrac42]

Thanks michaln for your answers to my questions, very informative.

I will test further this USB 3.0 and mouse capture anomally before I raise a bug report on it.