Hi there
I'm having problems getting external USB hard drives to work with VirtualBox 3.2.2. Are there still problems accessing external USB hard drives or should my hard drives be working with version 3.2.2?
I'm running Snow Leopard with the latest updates and the Virtual OS is Windows 7. I've read that problems existed with USB drives on a Mac. I've unmounted the drives and Added them to the USB settings in VirtualBox before running the guest host but still the problem occurs. That is I can't access them and they are greyed out under devices.
I don't really want to mess around in Terminal without a step by step guide, as I'm relativity new to Mac command line and might make a grave error. So unless some has previously posted or blogged a clear step by step guide I guess the best thing to to wait until it has been fixed. I believe the terminal part was only a work around anyway.
Kind regards
Infobleep
Accessing a USB hard drive in Windows 7 - VirtualBox 3.2.2
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infobleep
- Posts: 10
- Joined: 3. Mar 2010, 16:59
- Primary OS: Mac OS X other
- VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
- Guest OSses: Windows 7
Re: Accessing a USB hard drive in Windows 7 - VirtualBox 3.2.2
Hi there
Just an update. The best way to work around this issue I believe, until they resolve it properly, is to set up the external hrd drives in Snow Leopard and then virtually share them as network drives in VirtualBox.
My reasons for saying this are as follows. Some how I managed to get one hard drive working at least but not the others. However there is a problem. Once you get the drive working in Windows 7, there is no way to switch it off in VirtualBox. So you can't use the drive in Snow Leopard until Windows 7 has been shut down. If you eject the drive in Windows 7 and then click on the list of USB devices in VirtualBox, it starts it up again. If you eject it and no nothing else in VirtualBox, it's still not visible in the Snow Leopard disk utility. If you don't eject it in Windows 7 and simply click on the list of USB devices in VirtualBox, nothing happens.
Where as if I click on a printer in the list of devices in VirtualBox, that switches it on and off for availability in Windows 7. So you don't have to close Windows 7, in order to print from Snow Leopard.
Which is why I think the virtual network drives might work.
Kind regards
Infobleep
Just an update. The best way to work around this issue I believe, until they resolve it properly, is to set up the external hrd drives in Snow Leopard and then virtually share them as network drives in VirtualBox.
My reasons for saying this are as follows. Some how I managed to get one hard drive working at least but not the others. However there is a problem. Once you get the drive working in Windows 7, there is no way to switch it off in VirtualBox. So you can't use the drive in Snow Leopard until Windows 7 has been shut down. If you eject the drive in Windows 7 and then click on the list of USB devices in VirtualBox, it starts it up again. If you eject it and no nothing else in VirtualBox, it's still not visible in the Snow Leopard disk utility. If you don't eject it in Windows 7 and simply click on the list of USB devices in VirtualBox, nothing happens.
Where as if I click on a printer in the list of devices in VirtualBox, that switches it on and off for availability in Windows 7. So you don't have to close Windows 7, in order to print from Snow Leopard.
Which is why I think the virtual network drives might work.
Kind regards
Infobleep