virtualbox.org

I have been running Windows XP Mode on my Windows 7 Pro computer for a few years and it has come to the point of almost being unusable now. So, I have just installed VirtualBox 4.3.12 and got all my software installed (this is for a legacy program that will not run in anything above XP). Now, to the the problem. How can I access my real hard drives from inside the VirtualBox XP installation? When I ran MS Windows XP Mode I could go into Windows Explorer and see all of my hard drives on this computer, even the real ones. When I open up Windows Explorer on VirtualBox XP I can only see and use the virtual hard drive. I have a large amount of audio files on my real hard drives that I need my legacy program to be able to use, without having to copy all of it to my virtual hard drive. I finally was able to use one of my USB flash drives, but when I get VirutalBox XP to see it, it kicks the drive out of my real Windows 7 installation.

So, in a nutshell, I need to be able to access real files from my real hard drive from within Windows XP that is installed inside VirtualBox.

Thanks!

You can use Shared Folders (warning : not a real file system emulation!) or a real network share.

noteirak wrote:You can use Shared Folders (warning : not a real file system emulation!) or a real network share.

How does MS Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 do it? I don't know...it just works and shows up on there. I need a stable way to do it. I need VirtualBox and my real installation of Windows 7 to be able to access and use those without having to kick one or the other off. I will look at your suggestion. Thanks!

Darkcyber wrote:How does MS Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 do it? I don't know...

Since Microsoft doesn't open its code, nobody knows except the Microsoft devs, so your guest is as good as mine. I can only show you what is possible on Virtualbox, or outside of it using regular tools like you would between two physical computers.
Hopefully that will suits your needs.