Using a VM with XP to access a print server

[Montalvo]

I'm trying to upgrade my home computers from XP to Win7 but I have some legacy programs and a print server that won't run on my new Win7 computers. A friend suggested that I use a VM running XP as a solution but I'm network illiterate. I confess that I haven't read EVERY word in the 355 page VirtualBox manual but I've struggled through a lot of it without making much progress. I'm hoping some sympathetic soul can lead this newbie through the steps to get my host computers to access the print server through my VMs.

I have a fixed IP address on the print server, have loaded the print server's s/w on my VM and have become familiar with using VBoxManage commands. From what I've read, it sound like I want to use port forwarding but at this point, I haven't even been able to attach and configure an adapter, nor do I know whether NAT, bridge n/w, etc. would work best for this application. Any help would be greatly appreciated (and no, I won't be insulted if your directions are in baby talk!).

Thanks,

Bob

[scottgus1]

I'd use Bridged networking. That will make your guest XP have the same network address range as the rest of your network. You can set the guest's network address to static if you want or need to, just keep it in the same address range as the network. Your guest will look just like another computer on the network. No port forwarding needed.
If you do set the guest's network address to static, you can block internet access to that particular network address in the Access Restrictions settings of your network router, then you don't have to put anti-virus software in the guest either.

[Montalvo]

Thanks for that direction, Scott. But when I select bridged adapter in the GUI on my VM, I still am unable to connect to my home network by performing any of the functions in "My Network Places" on the VM, for example:

--"Add a network place"
--"View network connections"
--"Set up a home or small office network"
--"View workgroup computers"

My host is connected to my home network but apparently there's something that I still haven't enabled on the VM to see the network, beyond simply selecting bridged adapter. Can you get a bit more basic?

[Montalvo]

I should have mentioned that I attempted to use the Network Setup Wizard but got a message saying that I lack the "required hardware".

[scottgus1]

If you go to your host's and guest's "network adapters" pages, you should be able to see what each network adapter's IP address is. If everything is set up right, they should read the same gateway address & subnet mask, and the first three parts of the IP address should be the same. Can you post the numbers here?
Also, I know some hosts have multiple network adapters in the back. If this is the case in your host, you might have bridged to the "other" adapter?
And, might as well post the guest's log, so we can see how it's set up in Virtualbox.

[Montalvo]

Scott, I can't find a network adapter page for my guest, despite clicking Devices/Network/Connect Network Adapter. Clicking on Devices/Network/Network Settings..., I see under Adapter 1 that the "Enable Network Adapter" box is checked, "Attached to: Bridged Adapter", the name is "Qualcomm Atheros AR8171etc." (my host's adapter, I assume), "Adapter Type: Intel PRO/1000MT Desktop", "Promiscuous Mode: Allow All", "MAC Address: 080027etc." and the cable connected box is checked.

When I look at the "Network and Sharing Center" on the host, it shows TWO networks: 1) an "Unidentified network-Public network" with no network access and Connections shown as "VirtualBox Host-Only Network" and 2) "Network 2-Home network" showing "HomeGroup: Joined" and "Connections: Local Area Connection". When I attempt to change the VB network's IP address to one consistent with my home network's static IP addresses, I get a message saying, "Warning - Multiple default gateways are intended to provide redundancy to a single network. They will not function properly when the gateways are on two separate, disjoint networks (such as one on your intranet and one on the Internet). Do you want to save this configuration?" I declined for fear of screwing things up.

I don't understand why I don't see a "local area connection" on the VB nor do I understand why the host is showing my home network as a separate network from that established by my guest. Sorry...wordy, but if you've waded through all this, can you help?

[scottgus1]

I begin to see your problem. XP doesn't have drivers for the Pro1000MT Desktop network card. (I'd bet you'd find that your guest's Device Manager shows a device missing a driver).

Shut down the guest and switch the guest's network card to PCnet-FAST III or Pro1000 T. Both of those cards have XP drivers built-in.

PCnet-FAST III is a 100mbit card, but according to discussions on the forum, the 100 vs 1000 mbits doesn't matter, the real network speed to the guest is the host's network speed.

Alternatively, there are drivers on the web for the Pro1000MT card that XP can use, if you want to try to find them. If you decide to try, get the ones directly from Intel.

I'd also set Promiscuous to Deny. None of my XP guests have that setting turned on. And I wouldn't change anything on your host's network settings. Virtualbox's host-only network is supposed to have a different IP address by default.

[Montalvo]

Success...for an instance. Scott, your recommendation on the selection of adapter type apparently got me part-way there and when I changed the host IP address on the Host-only VM network to one having the same first three numbers (i.e., 1-9 in 123.456.789.XXX) as on the host's IP address on my home network and did the same for the guest, that allowed me to see both host and guest on both host or guest. But then it stopped working, apparently because my host doesn't like having two competing networks running on one network card. Am I doing something wrong?

And ultimately I have to figure out how to have print requests go through the VM to the print server, from both the host and other computers on my home network. Is this even gonna be possible???

[scottgus1]

It should definitely be possible for your print server guest to work, but we have to tweak the right things. Good that you have the right adapter, so your guest can network to something. But I see you changed the Virtualbox Host-Only network IP addresses, which isn't the right thing to change.

In the Virtualbox window where you set the guest's network adapter type, there is an "Attached To" box, set that to "Bridged Adapter". Then set the "Name" box to the name of your physical PC's network card that you have plugged into your house network. This will attach your guest to the house network as if it were a new PC on your network, and all the other house PCs will be able to see it. Then you should be able to share the guest's print server in whatever way it's supposed to be shared, and your other PC's should be able to print from it.

(Just for info, the Host-Only network you were changing IP addresses on is only to allow the host and guest to talk to each other on their own separate network. No other computers on the network would be able to see or use the guest. The Host-Only network isn't supposed to have the same IP range as the regular house network, and may cause errors like you saw. You will not want to be using the Host Only network for the job this guest will do.)