virtualbox.org

Hi,

I, sincerely, hope you will kindly rescue me. I am just an average user and not a very computer savvy guy.

Unfortunately, my old laptop (Guest: Windows XP Home Edition) died so I ended up buying a new one (Host: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit).

Since I wanted to use all of my old programs (Adobe Photoshop .etc), I found Virtualbox and VM Player over the internet to be the best solutions. I decided to use Virtualbox (Version: VirtualBox-3.2.10-66523-Win) because it looks really neat. So far, so good.

However, I am not able to do the following despite looking for answers for the past several days:

- I am not able to print, copy, fax or scan (My All-in-one Samsung CLX-3175FW is using USB)
- I have no USB support
- I want to share Guest-to-Host and Host-to-Guest almost all the programs, folders .etc through Share Folders which I am really confused to figure out
- I am not able to use InterVideo software installed on Guest to watch movies either

The only good news IS that I am able to surf the web somehow without doing anything on my part.

Please, help me and rescue me with step-by-step solutions which will not get interrupted or eliminated with the upgrades of virtualbox or other softwares.

Thanking you in anticipation and looking forward to hearing from you soon...

Best regards,

Polite

You were able to do all the above on your old laptop with Linux as host? Also, with Windows 7 as Host and XP as Guest for all those programs, why don't you just install them on the Host? There is a driver for W7 for it.

Hi,

Thank you very much for your kind response.

I apologize for the confusion, however, I would like to clarify that I have never used Linux on my old laptop which was Windows XP Home Edition based. Since it died, I bought a new laptop which is also Windows 7 Home Premium based.

All I have been able to to do so far is to convert my old laptop's hard-drive into VHD using a free utlity available from the Microsoft and simply mount it on new laptop using Virtualbox.

I have tried my best to do the things which I mentioend in the above post but unfortunately I am not able to do. That's why I am here seeking help from the expert users and the makers of Virtualbox.

I, sincerely, hope that someone will kindly help me and point me in the right direction.

Thank you and best regards,

Polite

Hi,

PoliteGesture wrote: - I am not able to print, copy, fax or scan (My All-in-one Samsung CLX-3175FW is using USB)
- I have no USB support
- I want to share Guest-to-Host and Host-to-Guest almost all the programs, folders .etc through Share Folders which I am really confused to figure out
- I am not able to use InterVideo software installed on Guest to watch movies either

looks like you did not yet install the guest additions, don't forget to boot the guest into "safe mode" to install them

sharing folders is explained in the manual, same chapter
... and add some entries in \windows\system32\drivers\etc\lmhosts

Code: Select all

255.255.255.255        VBOXSVR #PRE
255.255.255.255        VBOXSRV #PRE

HTH

Hi,

wow! Great thanks.

I inserted those two lines which you kindly gave me in your post and now I do have the USB support and my Printer is working, indeed, thanks to you. However, one thing which I noticed that I am not not able to print simultaneously from the guest (Windows XP Home Edition) and host (Windows 7 Home Premium) computer. In other words, USB and Printer only works either from the Guest or the Host side but not simultaneously.

"Guest Additions" are already installed. They were really piece of cake. All I had to do is click on "Install Guest Addition" under "Devices" tab of the Virtualbox. However, I must admit that I didn't install them under the Safe Mode. They seem to be working fine as my mouse doesn't get captured and I am able to use the Seamless mode (which I am using right now as a matter of fact).

Regarding Share Folders, believe it or not, I have tried my best to follow the User Manuel and even some of the Tutorials but so far no success. Most of them talk about Sharing from the Host but not vice verca. What I would like to do, if possible, is to have the Sharing of all the folders, programs, files .etc in two-way (Guest-to-Host and Host-to-Guest) manner.

I am greatly thankful to you for you precious help. I, sincerely, hope that you will help me in this manner as well.

Thanking you in anticipation and looking forward to hearing from you soon...

Take care and best regards,

Polite

P.S: Is there any possiblity that I could use USB, All-in-one printer and other devices simultaneously? Please, elaborate if you don't mind. Thanks.

sharing USB (printer and anything else) can not be done with VBox, as well as the VBox shared folder is limited to reside on the host.


Its possible to do what you want: you need a network connection between host&guest, other than the default "NAT" that works only one direction from guest to outside. See the VBox manual: "bridged" connection is probably what you want, "host-only" could also be used but offers no way to outside world just only to the host.
Next prerequisite may be (i don't use Windows often so i don't know exactly) that both Windows, host as well as guest are member of the same "Windows Workgroup" or "Domain"
When these conditions are met you can use standard Windows built-in share permissions to access files on host & guest and vice versa.

For printer sharing set up the printer queue on the host as Windows print server, i know that can be done but how to do is outside of my knowledge

Hi,

Thank you very much for your kind response again. Indeed, I appreciate that very much.

After careful consideration and testing of Virtualbox, I have decided to migrate to VM Player which seems to be way more end-user friendly. Unfortunately, I am not a computer savvy guy, thus, VM Player seems to be a good fit for my needs.

Once again, thank you very much for your kind and precious help.

Good luck, take caree and best regards,

Polite