Connecting HDDs and printers to Ubuntu 13.10 guest from W7

Discussions about using Linux guests in VirtualBox.
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samtweet
Posts: 35
Joined: 30. Oct 2013, 19:47
Primary OS: MS Windows other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Win 7, Ubuntu

Connecting HDDs and printers to Ubuntu 13.10 guest from W7

Post by samtweet »

In Vbox Ubuntu 13.10 guest does not see any HDDs or printers either IDE SATA or USB. These are seen in Windows guests as shared items or folders and are immediately available from within the Guest.
When I replicate the USB and Folder settings for Linux, nothing shows up in the Guest.

If I boot into Ubuntu directly as a stand alone OS on a USB stick everything is available without any further settings.

So, my question is, how do I simply make Ubuntu guest "See" the "Host" hardware?

Running VirtualBox 4.3.6 with Guest additions 4.3.6
socratis
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Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Connecting HDDs and printers to Ubuntu 13.10 guest from

Post by socratis »

samtweet wrote:So, my question is, how do I simply make Ubuntu guest "See" the "Host" hardware?
You can't. And that is a good thing™. You shouldn't mess with your host's hardware, except through specific, controlled ways. The way to access a HDD is through "Shared folders". The way to access USB resources is through "USB filters". Both links are for the online manual.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
mpack
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Re: Connecting HDDs and printers to Ubuntu 13.10 guest from

Post by mpack »

A VM is a separate PC - call it PC B.

PC B does not directly operate the hardware of PC A. You can however access PC A's hardware over a network, if PC A serves it up (i.e. the way to access a shared printer is via the network, not move the USB cable from A to B.
samtweet
Posts: 35
Joined: 30. Oct 2013, 19:47
Primary OS: MS Windows other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Win 7, Ubuntu

Re: Connecting HDDs and printers to Ubuntu 13.10 guest from

Post by samtweet »

Thank you both for your replies, although the setting are the same for the Windows and Linux guests, the results are quite different. I realise now that it is not a simple task to share folders and printers in Linux with a Windows host. I will again read the relevant manual sections which are heavy on verbiage and light on specifics.

Merry Christmas to you both.
Perryg
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Re: Connecting HDDs and printers to Ubuntu 13.10 guest from

Post by Perryg »

Network level sharing between Windows and Linux requires samba being installed on the Linux guest. After that it should work as long as the workgroup matches (configurable in samba)
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39134
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Connecting HDDs and printers to Ubuntu 13.10 guest from

Post by mpack »

samtweet wrote:I will again read the relevant manual sections which are heavy on verbiage and light on specifics.
Well naturally. It's the VirtualBox user manual, not a networking tutorial - it isn't the job of the VBox manual to cover that stuff at all. If you need a networking tutorial then a web search might be better.
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