virtualbox.org

Hello
I'm using a Windows 7 host system (64-bit) with several Windows 7 guests (32-bit). VB-Version is 4.3.0 with installed Extension Pack Version 4.3.0. Everything is working fine except my problem with the CDROM drive. Since I haven't found any solution after hours of searching with Google nor by searching this Board, I try to open a new Topic, hoping somebody can help me to solve this problem.

Within my virtual machine I've installed the CDROM drive in the settings menu (Storage: Controller IDE - Host Drive D: as "IDE Primary Master" with activated checkbox for Passthrough).
When I insert a CD or a DVD in my drive it works well and I can read files from the drive without any problems. However after starting my burning software Ashampoo-Burning-Studio-2012 I receive only the start screen of the program which shows the dialogue: "searching for drive". Nothing more happens in the virtual machine.
Another problem is, that in the host system the CDROM drive is vanished and the physical drive is locked. I can't open the drive to remove the DVD. The drive is completely vanished from my host system. When I open the Windows Drive Manager, the the drive is no longer listed. To use the opion "scan for hardware changes" does not help - the drive won't be found.
Interesting is, that withing the Drive Manager of the guest system, the drive still is listed as "VBOX CD-ROM ATA Device". Anyhow, although the drive is listed in the Drive Manager of the guest system, it isn't accessible.
When I stop Ashampoo-Burning-Studio with the task manager, the CDROM drive remains vanished in the host system. Also if I close the virtual machine, the drive is no longer accessible. As a conclusion of this failure I get an error message (PIIX3 cannot attach drive to the Primary Master) when I try to restart the virtual machine.

The only way to recover the drive and to unlock it is to reboot the whole system.

I don't beleave that this is a problem of my software Ashampoo-Burning-Studio, since the same problem occur if I start Imageburn or if I try to use the vendors toolbox (Plextools) to access the drive.
Access to the drive from the host system works without problem.

Does anyone have an idea how to solve this problem ?

4.3.2 (released yesterday) mentions a CD-ROM related fix in the changelog. I suggest you try it, then we'll see where we are.

Dear mpack,
thank you very much for your fast response to my post.
I've just upgraded to version 4.3.2 but the problem still exists. As long as the exension pack (VBoxGuestAdditions.iso) is mounted as CD-Drive, I can start my burning software without problems. However in this state I can't write or erase a DVD since I get an error message (no compatible burning device found) from the burning software.
If I switch back in the settings menue to my physical DVD-Drive then the old problem occur. When starting the burning program I get the welcome screen which says "searching for drive" ans nothing more happens in the VM. While watching the device manager which I have opened in the host system I can see after a few seconds, that the CD-drive vanishes from the listed devices.

It would be great if you have an idea how to solve this problem. Any suggestions are welcome.
Best regards and thanks in advance.

No, I don't know of any workaround - the passthrough mode is documented in the user manual as an experimental feature. If you want to follow this up then you'd have a post a ticket on bugtracker with full details, exact model of drive, exact versions of host and guest OS, and burner software.

Can you confirm that you are able to burn CDs on the host? If yes then do you really need to do it from inside a VM? You could create an ISO image inside the VM, and burn it using the host.

Ive setup my computer with a minimalized host system and separated all applications in different guest systems. Therefore I would like to apply this concept also for my DVD burning program. If this won't work (due to missing capability of VB), you are right I could install the burning software at the host machine as a fallback solution.
However if I could avoid this I would prefer to run my burning program also in a VM.

I will wait some more days, if there isn't any solution of my problem I will follow your suggestion and open a ticket on bugtracker.
Thanks for taking care of my problem.

A VM uses capabilities of the host. If you can't confirm that the host is capable of burning CDs/DVDs then we can't assume that it's possible in a VM either.

sorry for misunderstanding. Yes I can confirm that it is possible to burn DVDs at the host system. However as I already mentioned in my last post, I would prefer to install and use the burning programm in a VM (if possible).
Since I'm very busy the next few days with my job, I estimate to be able to check this forum only next week. If there is another suggestion to check I will try it, otherwise I will open a ticket.
Many thanks.