How to connect to host WiFi PC

[RobertKza]

I am running VirtualBox 6.1.14 on a Windows 10 PC. The virtual machine is Windows XP. How can I connect the virtual machine to the host's (Windows 10 PC) WiFi printer
Regards Robert

[scottgus1]

First, please fill in a few details:

Do you have XP drivers for the printer?

Is the printer attached via Wi-Fi to your network router, or does it plug in via USB to the Windows 10 host PC?

[RobertKza]

First, please fill in a few details:

Do you have XP drivers for the printer?

Is the printer attached via Wi-Fi to your network router, or does it plug in via USB to the Windows 10 host PC?

Hi Thanks for raising these questions, unfortunately I think you have answered the questions I didn't want to ask myself ...
1. The printer does not have XP drivers, I just checked
2. The printer is attached via Wi-Fi to the network router.

A further question, could I use something like CutePDF be used in the Virtual Windows XP machine to generate pdf's for printing by the host

[scottgus1]

Thanks for the info, Robert!

#1 means connecting the printer to XP directly is a dead end. Each OS needs its own drivers to use a printer, even one shared by another computer on the network.

Yes, a PDF printer in XP is a great way to get prints out to the computer that has drivers for the printer. I have done the same thing for an old printer that had Windows 7 drivers max, whereas many of my other computers were Windows 10.

You should be able to use a Guest Additions Shared Folder to pass the PDF to the host.

[RobertKza]

Thanks for the info, Robert!

#1 means connecting the printer to XP directly is a dead end. Each OS needs its own drivers to use a printer, even one shared by another computer on the network.

Yes, a PDF printer in XP is a great way to get prints out to the computer that has drivers for the printer. I have done the same thing for an old printer that had Windows 7 drivers max, whereas many of my other computers were Windows 10.

You should be able to use a Guest Additions Shared Folder to pass the PDF to the host.

Thanks again, this is most interesting, as with my journey through my PC life the learning curve never stops!
Did a quick check and looks like if I follow this article I will have got meaningful file transfer between guest and host
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ho ... irtualbox/
Regards Robert

[RobertKza]

I found the creation of pdf's not so straightforward as I had hoped. The idea was to install CutePDF on the Windows XP platform. Any XP version of CutePDF that I could find did not install on the virtual machine. Fortunately I could save the database selected pages as *.htm files into the shared folder which then opened in IE on the host windows 10 machine
which was then easy to print using the host machine's printer

[scottgus1]

I have used free Foxit PDF Reader, which comes with a PDF printer, for years. They still have an XP-compatible version available.

Web-searching 'pdf printer for windows xp' may also help.

[RobertKza]

I have used free Foxit PDF Reader, which comes with a PDF printer, for years. They still have an XP-compatible version available.

Web-searching 'pdf printer for windows xp' may also help.

Many thanks, I'll give it a try
Regards Robert