Windows XP and shared folders

[pinnerite]

I have been running XP as a guest of Linux for many year.

For uniformity I employed Samba not the Vbox shared folders facility.

Windows 10 can use both but XP can no longer access Samba shares.
I changed the minimum protocol for both client and server to NT1 but it has made no difference.

Using the Vbox shared folders facility enables Windows Explorer to see the Linux folders.
It even recognises the assigned drive numbers but the application programs don't show them.

Is there a solution?

[scottgus1]

I employed Samba not the Vbox shared folders facility.
...
I changed the minimum protocol for both client and server to NT1

I've not heard of this designation regarding shared folders. It's usually called SMB1, SMB2, SMB3.

XP only had SMB1. Later SMB2 & 3 were developed. Windows 10 has 2 & 3 active and 1 is deprecated due to security glitches capitalized upon by Wannacry.

Once SMB1 is enabled in Windows 10 and Linux, XP should be able to pass files & folders back and forth.

However, 'these are protocols in Windows and Linux. Virtualbox does not operate on that level. Virtualbox only provides the "hardware" the protocols ride on.

If you can still ping between the VMs and to the host (note that Windows Firewall in each OS needs to have Ping or ICMP Echo Request enabled to respond to Ping) then the Virtualbox network is working, and the problem is in the protocols and the OS's, not Virtualbox.

[javispedro]

A lot of distributions these days are completely removing SMB1 support from Samba, so that it won't work even if you enable it in the config file.

Much to my annoyance. It is one thing to have reasonable defaults... but this is just annoying.

Using the Vbox shared folders facility enables Windows Explorer to see the Linux folders.
It even recognises the assigned drive numbers but the application programs don't show them.

It is not clear what this means, and I think is the root of the problem. If SMB shares and UNC paths work on these programs, shared folders should in theory also work.

[scottgus1]

Virtualbox Shared Folders don't work through "shared folder" SMB protocols. They make their own special channel using Guest Additions. The VM doesn't even need a network for Virtualbox Shared Folders to work. XP can see 10's and 11's folders shared via the Virtualbox settings without changing any SMB settings in the OS's.

Using the Vbox shared folders facility enables Windows Explorer to see the Linux folders.
It even recognises the assigned drive numbers but the application programs don't show them.

It is possible for an app to not see the drive letter, if the app is opened Run As Administrator or as another user. It's a Windows thing.

However, pinnerite is now using regular OS-generated shared folders, not Virtualbox Shared Folders. Soon as we hear back how Ping is working we'll know where to look next.

[pinnerite]

Thank you for your responses.

From Windows XP, I can ping the host and the hub.

It doesn't seem to matter whether whether or not I set the client min protocol = NT1 or SMB1 (and the server protocols), the result is the same.

Maybe I should make the enquiries to Linux x mint as that has been my distro of choice for several years.

[pinnerite]

I wanted to add to add a Host-only adapter but VBox wouldn't permit it.
Empirically (trial and error) I thought that I would disable the NAT adapter and try again.
Sure enough it worked.
More importantly when I rebooted Windows XP it came up with all samba shares enabled.
I hope this helps others.

[scottgus1]

That's an interesting report, pinnerite! Seems to me that there was something incompatible in the IP addresses or a failed service, then, tied to the adapter's settings. Usually, switching to Host-Only then back to NAT would only change the IP address range & gateway.