Does VirtualBox support virtual GUI I/O drivers?

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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deronj
Posts: 1
Joined: 13. Feb 2008, 23:46

Does VirtualBox support virtual GUI I/O drivers?

Post by deronj »

If I am running a Guest Windows in VirtualBox on top of a Windows host is it
possible for the Guest to support display and keyboard and mouse drivers? Do
these drivers access the display and keyboard and mouse drivers of the Host system? Is it possible to implement my own Guest driver code that instead of sending to the Host display/keyboard/mouse devices sends data instead to, say, a host network driver or an IPC channel?
Technologov
Volunteer
Posts: 3342
Joined: 10. May 2007, 16:59
Location: Israel

Post by Technologov »

>Do these drivers access the display and keyboard and mouse drivers of the Host system?

Virtualizers emulate basic hardware, such as keyboard/mouse/display.
This way, if your physical mouse is replaced from PS/2 to USB, your guest won't know this. He will think that he still has PS/2 mouse.

This is good for guest OS abstraction, but it is bad, because some Mice have more than 3 buttons, which Extra buttons cannot be used in Guest OSes.

> Is it possible to implement my own Guest driver code that instead of sending to the Host display/keyboard/mouse devices sends data instead to, say, a host network driver or an IPC channel?

Yes, the framework exists, so you can write drivers for VirtualBox.
But I'm not a developer, so I can't help you much.

-Technologov
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