virtualbox.org

Hello!, thank you for taking the time for reading my post. Please forgive me for being so ignorant. I am not a technician nor understand many of the words that are used in the virtual machine environment (that is probably one of the main reasons I had to ask for help). Well, now I will get right to the point: I wanted to install a game in my laptop computer (concretely, "Heroes of Might and Magic 1"). It was created for Windows 95, but I installed it many years go on a desktop computer running Windows XP (and played it on it), so I know for sure that it will work with Windows XP. Now I have a laptop computer with Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit, and the game can not be installed (I also read about it [that it will not run under a 64-bit operating system], and the recommendation was to use it with a virtual machine). I then decided to find out about virtual machines, and tried one from the Microsoft website, but Windows XP could not be installed on my version of Windows, so I downloaded VirtualBox and installed it. After a big struggle, due to my lack of knowledge, I finally installed Windows XP Home Edition in VirtualBox, and I think it is running well. My question is: What do I need to do to the game to be able to use it (that is, to install it and play it)?. I have the game installation folder somewhere in the hard drive (in Windows 7), but how can I access it from Windows XP? (I know that is something very basic, and there must be information posted somewhere, but I do not even know which words to look for [that is, technical words]). And I have another question: How can I use "Host+[letter]" (for example: "Host+D", "Host+F")?. I can click "Ctrl+C", "Alt+Prt sc" and so on, but how can I "click" "Host+[letter]" (a probably absurd question, I know, but I had never used a virtual machine before, so please understand that). I have already used Google for a lot of time to look for answers, but I have not found anything relevant to "Host+D" or "Host+F" (other than this forum, that is how I got here).

Here is some information (I just hope I used the correct words):

- Host: Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit (the operating system that came installed in the computer when bought at the store, the system before downloading and installing VirtualBox, and the system in use when VirtualBox is not running).
- Guest: Windows XP Home Edition (probably 32-bit, but I am not sure) with Service Pack 3 (the operating system installed with VirtualBox).
- VirtualBox version: 4.2.16 r86992 (the last version on July 15, 2,013).

I hope that was clear. Thank you very much for your help.

There are a number of ways of getting at files on the host (your Windows 7 machine) from the guest (your XP running in VirtualBox).

Whatever you do, first make sure you have Guest Additions installed. (Install the extension pack in the host, then with the guest running click "Devices | Install Guest Additions".)

The simplest way is to set up a shared folder. You can do this from "Settings" or from "Devices | Shared Folders". Choose to add a folder, and select a folder on the host. Then when you open Explorer or "My Computer" in the guest then that folder will appear as an extra (network) drive.

The "Host" key is normally the right-hand of the two "Ctrl" keys. (You can change which key it is, but there is not usually much point because you can still use the left-hand Ctrl key as normal.) You can use this key with a letter (like you would use Ctrl or Alt with a letter) from within the guest to give machine-level instructions.

Having said all this, be aware that games do not always run well in a virtual machine.

Have you actually read the User Manual entierly? Many many things are covered in there, epsecially answering your questions.

I have read the manual, and was not able to understand much (which is frustrating), that is why I took a very long time to write such a long explanation as I wrote, because I know that there are always people who, like you, do not offer any help, just criticize.

To the person who helped me: Thank you very much for your good help, I could install the program on Windows XP, although it was not so easy. The point where I got lost was "Choose to add a folder", because there is just a tiny icon on a corner for doing that, but after trying and searching, I found it. And the folder was not seen on "My Computer", I had to click on the icon "Folders", which opens Windows Explorer, where I had to click on "My Network Places" and then on "Entire Network" (I do not even know how could I get there, and did not find any other way). Other than that, your explanation was very clear, and it really helped me. The sad thing is that the program was installed but I can not load it completely due to some minor sound issues (I have researched and found that it is not so compatible with Windows XP). Then I have decided to do the same using now Windows 95, but it does not work the same (probably because networking was not so developed at the time when Windows 95 was created). My new question is: How can I access a "Shared Folder" on Windows 95 using VirtualBox?.

Your advise has been unvaluable to me; thanks to you, I was able to accomplish what I wanted, now I have to see if that will work with Windows 95. Thank you very much again.

Offering help I did - all your questions had answers in the user manual, and cover them at length. You did not mention that you read it in your post, so to me, it was the very first help anyone could give you.
Most people don't read it, or don't think of reading it. In this case, it is worth doing so. Critism would be me telling you that you shouldn't be using VMs since you lack the knowledge. Now that wouldn't be useful
Only now you mention that you've actually read it, but did not understand it, which is another problem entierly.

You cannot access Shared folder on Windows 95, as Shared Folders rely on guest additions, which do not exist for Win95.

I'm afraid what you want is a little more tricky with earlier versions of Windows, though if you spend some time studying the manual, and look at some of the tutorial sections in the forum, it will tell you how.

First can I suggest that, if you have them available, you use Windows 98 (preferably the "Second Edition"), or failing that use Windows Me. Both of these work better than 95, and they will run (practically) everything that 95 will.

However, you can't use Guest Additions with any of these versions of Windows, which means you cannot use shared folders.

The "best" way to do what you want is probably to set up a network (perhaps use a "Host-only" network) which will include both the host machine and your virtual machine. You can then set up a share folder in the host (not the same as a VitualBox shared folder), and you can copy files from there to your virtual machine just like you would between machines on any network of PCs. This is not difficult to do, though I admit it does take a bit of understanding if you are not used to networks.

Another option is to use a different storage device. You could write the files to a CD (ISO) image. (You will need some extra software to do that, but free programs are quite easy to find.) You can then mount the CD image in your virtual machine. You could write them instead to a physical CD-R if you wished, and use that. A further option would be to write them to a USB memory stick. (Note that you cannot use a USB stick with Windows 95, and if you want to use one with Windows 98 you have to have a USB stick driver. Windows Me includes such a driver, and will use a stick like any modern system.)

I installed Windows 98 SE, and could install the program, since it is in an ISO file, but it needs a 256 color resolution and I only have two options available: 2 colors and 16 colors (in Windows 98 SE as a guest in VirtualBox). I have researched and have found that I need some drivers, which I already have downloaded to the host machine. Now I keep having the problem: to transfer the drivers folder from the host to the guest.

You mention ' "Host-only" network ', but I have only found "Host-only Adapter" in VirtualBox (Settings--->Network), then I chose "Host-only Adapter".

I have read the manual again (VirtualBox--->Help--->Contents). Its title is: "Oracle VM VirtualBox® User Manual Version 4.2.16 Edition" (I just hope that we all are referring to the same thing). I went to the section "6.6. Host-only networking", and it is inaccurate, which adds trouble to a person that is totally new to this. It mentions "Host-only networking" when the program has "Host-only Adapter, and ' "File" -> "Settings" -> "Network" ' when the program has ' "File" -> "Preferences" -> "Network" ', as examples (they should be more careful when writing a manual, or if it is based on a former program's manual, to make the changes to the manual for the new version).

I look for the folder I shared, but I do not see it anywhere in Windows 98. Where should I go to look for it?. When I go to "Network Neighborhood" I only find "Entire Network", and when I click on it, I receive the error message "Unable to browse the network".

I thought it would be easier to just download the files I needed (the game and the drivers for Windows 98) to the guest, but I can not access the internet through it (it looks for a modem which, of course, it can not find). I have also a USB memory stick, but I can not see it in the guest (you mentioned the drivers, I know [this is walking in circles]). I have tried many things, and nothing works, which is making the matter more frustrating.

Thank you very much for all your answers.

Pack the files in an ISO and mount the ISO in the Win98 VM. If you don't have something suitable already then ImgBurn is a free tool, and a very good one, which can burn CDs, image CDs, and manipulate ISO files (which are in fact images of data CDs).

Is it really so hard to understand that "Host Only Networking" and "Host Only Adapter" are both valid terms? The latter is used to participate in the former.

Thank you very much for all the answers, I have solved the problem now. I installed Windows 98 Second Edition, but could not get more than 16 colors. I found great help here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCieX6m52OQ (How to get 256 colors on windows 98). I already had the files I needed in an ISO file, just forgot that I could access the CD drive from Windows 98 on VirtualBox (even a child could have done that!); I just need to get used to it. So, I installed the drivers needed and could finally run the program (it crashes some times, but at least I could run it). VirtualBox takes all the capacity from my computer processor to simply run Windows 98.

I would like to know now how can I use the internet with Windows 98 Second Edition as guest on VirtualBox (the manual does not have information for that), since when I click on the Internet Explorer icon I get the screen "Welcome to MSN Internet Access!", which tells me "We need to install a modem before continuing", and my laptop computer does not have a modem (it uses a wireless connection). I would appreciate if someone could help me with that, please.

The most important thing is that I solved the situation with running my program, which was the only reason why I installed VirtualBox. Thank you all for your kindness, patience and for so much help!.

hhisc29926 wrote:I would like to know now how can I use the internet with Windows 98 Second Edition as guest on VirtualBox (the manual does not have information for that)

Nor should it, because the user manual and these forums are for discussing VirtualBox and it's issues, not how Win98 internet configuration works or what internet browsers will run: you can find all of the latter information using Google. Briefly, you will discover that configuring Win98 internet access requires more knowledge and fiddling than XP and later, and that most of the popular browsers stopped supporting Win98 quite some time ago. I seem to recall that Opera was the most modern browser that supported it (Opera 10 I think).

VirtualBox provides the (simulated) hardware. You can try running any operating system you choose on that hardware, but any problems you have with whatever guest OS you choose should be taken up with whomever designed that OS, or alternatively you can Google for discussion forums and blogs.

Thank you for your answer, anyway; I appreciate that. I guess that I will not install internet on Windows 98, and if I need to download something later on, I will download it to the host and transfer it to the guest using an ISO file.