virtualbox.org

Perryg says:

Typically VBox uses the WIFI adapter as part of the host. A shared resource that it attaches to using a special driver. Once you take it away from the host and install it in the guest VirtualBox no longer controls it. It then becomes a NIC that you would configure with the guest OS.

I understand from this statement that it is possible to install a Wifi adapter directly in the guest OS (although one takes it away from the host in the process).

vbox4me2 says:

The adapter you see inside a VM is a emulated one, you can't see or access the real Host adapter.

I understand from this statement that it is not possible to install a Wifi adapter directly in the guest OS (although vbox4me2 may have been commenting specifically on the configuration described in the posting to which he was responding).


All of the type options for NIC are Ethernet drivers, so, if Perryg is right, I will presumably not be accessing the Wifi adapter through a NIC. But when I do lshw -C network (on a different VM, actually, running on the same host), I don't even see a Wifi adapter, so I am perplexed by Perryg's statement.

If it is possible to install a Wifi adapter directly in the guest OS, how does one do it? I have successfully connected to my Wifi adapter by creating a bridged interface to wlan0, but from the perspective of the guest OS, it is as if I have an Ethernet connection to the Wifi adapter on the host. Now I would like to use the Wifi interface in AP mode, specifying the configuration of the AP (e.g., the SSID) from the guest OS. Is this possible? What should I have assigned to the VirtualBox NICs?

The only way you can assign the wifi adapter direct to the guest is if it is an external USB adapter.