virtualbox.org

I have Virtualbox 3.0.2 on XP Pro host machine. I have created a virtual machine running Windows 7 RC. I am having a problem with shared folders. I have read the tutorial here about XP guest machine on XP and shared folders and the other threads I could find but none seem to touch on my specific problem. I followed the Help file instructions under section 4.6 Folder sharing. I created a shared folder on the host and then connected it from within the guest machine as a permanent shared folder.

The problem I am having is in the next part of the help file instructions on how to attach the shared folder to the guest. I have searched Windows Explorer on the Host under Network Places, entire network, and I see everything except "Virtual Box shared folders". Since I already connected the shared folder from within the guest Windows 7 machine, I should see "Virtual Box shared folders" on the host, correct? I'm stumped and the other method of attaching via command line reads like Greek to me. I assumed I would be able to share with and from all machines on the network but this virtualbox guest cannot be seen on the network, whereas, my machines in VirtualPC 2007 and VMWare Workstation 5.5 all see each other on the network and I can share between all machines so this way of having shared folders is unfamilar to me and I need some help.

Thank you in advance for any guidance you can give me.

I'm not too sure what you are expecting. If you install guest additions in the guest (to enable GA shared folders + other things such as mouse integration) then you just go into your VM settings, shared folders section, and list one or more shared folders. When you next boot up the guest these folders should now be visible in your nethood in the "VirtualBox Shared Folders" branch. With a Vista or Win7 guest you may need to do that "net use xx" command to enable the folders from inside the guest. The "VirtualBox Shared Folders" branch is never visible on your host, that feature is entirely virtual. Your host has no need to use the network to access those folders, they are on a local drive!

The other way to do shared folders is to set up a normal network share. You create a folder on the host, access that folders properties and designate it as shared, i.e. exposed on any network connection. In the network settings of your VM you need to enable Bridged or Host Only network mode. Then in the guest you open an Explorer window and use "Map network drive" to access a host folder. Host and guest need to be members of the same workgroup (simplest) or domain for this to work.

Network was on default setting which is NAT. I have no idea why I didn't put it on bridged when I first set up the machine. Plus the group was Workgroup in Windows 7 by default not MSHome so I had to change that also. The Windows 7 network troubleshooter had me scratching my head for a minute though because it said the time was wrong on the guest machine...it was off the host time by 20 seconds. I also got the host's printer set up for the guest and I think all this is fine now. I am really surprised that I didn't notice network was on NAT...no wonder the problems! I am irritated with myself. I had the machine set up for several months and just now decided to use it so I should have looked at all the settings again to make sure they were as I wanted them but I was just anxious to try Windows 7 and didn't make sure the settings were as I wanted them.

Do you happen to know what multi media audio control driver I need? I am not about to get it from Windows Update. Microsoft always has the wrong driver. Troubleshooting tells me I need to turn on Windows Updates to get the driver but doesn't tell me the driver I need so I can get myself.

Mele20 wrote:Do you happen to know what multi media audio control driver I need? I am not about to get it from Windows Update.

I'm not a Win7 user (at least not yet in a VM), so I can't answer detailed questions about Win7 guests. You should search the Windows Guests forum for that issue since I vaguely remember seeing it discussed before, something about downloading Realtek drivers.

Mele20 wrote:Do you happen to know what multi media audio control driver I need?

Windows Update has the driver for it. Just open Control Panel and then Windows Update. It should be noted as optional update. If it can't find the driver, you have to grab the latest AC'97 driver from the realtek site (www.realtek.com.tw). I would give WU the first shot, as some had issues with the realtek driver, though others have mentioned it was better with the newer release.

Thank you both. I don't use WU/MU. Since 2004, I have not been to WU and will not use it under any circumstances. I read the Microsoft Security Bulletin each month that comes in my email, and then each individual bulletin/KB article, then download each patch manually to disk and install it. First thing I do on a new computer is disable Automatic Updates service.

Anyhow, I went to the Realtek website and that website displays very strangely on Opera 1010 beta that I have installed on Windows 7 plus the site displays with IP address in the address bar...that is a bit odd also. The site is all cramped up on the left side of my 19" flat panel LCD monitor (not widescreen) at 1280x1024 resolution. Anyhow, part of the right side of the website appears cut off. I did a search from the downloads page for the driver and search reverted me to the main page of the site with the ip address in the address bar. I don't know if that is Windows 7 or Opera or a badly designed website. I'll look later from Fx 1.5 (good, old but trusty version) on my host XP Pro machine.

I don't care really about sound except whenever I revert out of full screen the tray icons lose the setting I gave them and revert to the default of 24 and that makes them gigantic and I detest big icons. I don't know if this is a Windows 7 issue or a VirtualBox issue. I think it is a VirtualBox issue because I had Windows 7 for awhile on Microsoft VPC and going in and out of full screen did not revert the tray icons to default but kept them small (20) as I set them in Display/Items. If I could revert back and forth easily then I'd just use sound on the host machine but since I don't want to have to go into Display/Items every time I go out of full screen and come back to fix the tray icon size I thought it would be nice to have sound on the guest.

I even tried SoundBlaster and it didn't work. I know there is an awful problem if you choose SoundBlaster on VPC with Vista or Windows 7 but I tried it on VirtualBox anyway.

Site works just fine on my Opera 10.10 beta on Linux.