virtualbox.org

Howdy.

I'm betting I'm missing something simple.

I've successfully installed Win95b as a VM on my Win7 laptop. I can access the laptop CD/DVD drive with no problems. What I can't seem to do is to access the Host hard drive so that I can copy files into the VM. I've read through every piece of documentation I can find, to no avail.

Is this possible or am I misunderstanding something?

Do I need to partition the Host drive and format it as FAT32 instead of NTFS? Could that be the problem?

I have other issues, but I'm dealing with one at a time .

Thanks in advance for any help!

The only way to transfer files hist to guest without guest additions being installed ( none available for 95 ) is a network share, or you could use the cd I suppose if you want to create an image of the files you need. For network share you would need to use Bridged or host-only as your adapter choice.

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. So How does one then get external files into the Win95 VM. I see that others have created a Win95 specifically to load old games and the like so I'm guessing that there is some way to do this. I've tried copying the files I need to a CD, but though the VM can see the CD no files appear.

How would I set-up a network share?

Thanks.

Perryg wrote:The only way to transfer files hist to guest without guest additions being installed ( none available for 95 ) is a network share, or you could use the cd I suppose if you want to create an image of the files you need. For network share you would need to use Bridged or host-only as your adapter choice.

That is a Windows OS problem, not a VirtualBox one. How you share files between different Windows OS systems is the same whether the machines are physical or virtual.

In most cases the newer OS is backward compatible, so with W95 and Win 7 you would need to use Win 95-style file sharing.

You should be able to read a CD from a Win 95 vm (if it has CD support) and read or copy them. How did you write the files to the CD?

I see. Thanks for the insight.

I have managed to find a workaround, sort of.

I had initially copied the files I needed to move into the VM directly to a RW CD. Again, the VM could recognize the CD but none of the files showed up. I then found a free version of a program called BurnAware (burnaware dot com) that allows me to create an iso file directly from the files on the Host HD. Once I had done that, I then selected this iso file as the IDE Secondary Master. This then showed up as the CD drive in the VM and I was able to copy the files onto the VM Desktop.

So success, in a way.

One further question. Could you expand on what you mean by "Win 95-style file sharing"? I've been using PCs since the days of command line DOS, but I'm having to relearn some of my old habits slowly.

Thanks for your advice. Much appreciated! I may be back as I delve further into this!

--Noconflicts (Steve)

BillG wrote:That is a Windows OS problem, not a VirtualBox one. How you share files between different Windows OS systems is the same whether the machines are physical or virtual.

In most cases the newer OS is backward compatible, so with W95 and Win 7 you would need to use Win 95-style file sharing.

You should be able to read a CD from a Win 95 vm (if it has CD support) and read or copy them. How did you write the files to the CD?

The way you outline will work for copying files from the host to the guest. (You should not need to burn a physical CD, however. There are a number of programs around that will create an ISO image for you with the files you want, and you can use that in the guest as though it were a CD.)

However you may not be able to find a program that will copy files from the Windows 95 guest onto a CD (whether an ISO image or a physical disc).

A better way is to use networking to set up a shared folder that can be accessed by both the host and the guest. Using Windows 95 inside Windows 7, I have not been able to get the guest to access any host files, but you can do it the other way round. You can set up a folder on the guest that the host can use. It is a bit fiddly, because the network drivers included in Windows 95 won't work on their own, but can be updated.

Proceed as follows:
In the Network section of the Vbox machine settings, make sure you have enabled one network adapter, and attach it to "Bridged Adapter". (The Name is unimportant, and is defined by the host. The default settings under Advanced are correct, but if you want to check: Adapter Type should be PCnet-Fast III, Promiscuous Mode: Deny and Cable connection: checked.)

Enabling the adapter will force the Network to install on Windows 95 when it is booted, if it hasn't already been done. Setting "Bridged Adapter" will not make any difference inside the guest.

Make sure the Workgroup name is the same in the guest and the host. For the Windows 7 host, This is displayed on the Computer | Properties screen. If you are installing the Network for the first time in the guest, just set it when asked along with the computer name (which should be something more sensible than "Default"). Once the guest Network has been set up, you can change these details from "Network Neighbourhood | Properties | Identification".)

After installation, you have to give a User name, but the password can be blank.

At this stage the guest network is capable of communicating with other Windows 95 networks, but not with the Windows 7 host. This is pricipally because to do that you need TCP/IP, which is not included in Windows 95. However it is included in the Windows 95 Dial-up Networking update. (Do not rely on the version that comes with MSIE 5.5 - that is incomplete.)

Although you do not need DUN itself, it is simplest to install the whole package:
Download DUN14-95.EXE, for example from one of the mirrors at: http://www.filewatcher.com/m/dun14-95.e ... 376-0.html Put this file on an ISO image (see above), and load this as a virtual CD in Windows 95. Run the EXE program from within Windows 95 (telling it, of course, that you do want to install TCP/IP if it asks). Wait until it finishes (it is quite a long procedure, including one or more reboots).

You are now in a position to share data between the guest and host. Enable File and Print Sharing in the guest: From "Network Neighbourhood | Properties | Configuration" click the "File and Print Sharing..." button, check "I want to be able to give others access to my files", and after a couple of "OK"s you will have to reboot.

Now create a folder on the guest that you want to be the shared folder. In Windows Explorer right-click on this and select "Sharing...", select "Shared As", the Share Name is the name the host will see for the folder. I suggest you suggest Access Type: Full and do not add a password. After you have clicked "OK", you will see that the folder icon now has a little sharing hand beneath it.

Within the guest you can access this folder like any other.

On the Windows 7 host, open Explorer. Click Network, wait a few seconds and the guest should appear in the list of computers along the top. (It may be necessary to click Refresh.) Open this "computer" in Explorer, and the guest's shared folder should be directly accessible to read from or write to.

The easiest network setup is to have a FTP server at the host, and a client FTP at the guest - http://www.oldversion.com/windows/ws-ftp-le/

If you have a supported guest, you can add an extra FAT drive to it, copy required file to that drive, and add the drive to the Win95 guest.

OK. I admit I hadn't considered that approach.

Is it that much simpler, though? You will still have to set up the network, and once you have done that the Microsoft File Sharing Protocol is easy to use.

Many thanks for everyone that suggested solutions! I have much to digest. I was able to create an ISO file for the files I needed to get into the Win95 guest. It's a bit clunky, but for now it works. I will explore the other suggestions made once I have my target program set-up and running within the guest.

Again, thanks! This is a great community!

--noconflicts