VM Doesn't recognize external DVD drive

[HAM]

I'm running VM 4.3.14 on my Mac Air OSX 10.9.4. I'm using it to run Windows 7 on the Mac. I have an external DVD player/recorder attached to the Mac through the USB port. However, when I open VM and run Windows, it is not recognized. The player is recognized on the Mac.

How can I solve this problem?

Thanks

[mpack]

AFAIK, the most practical solution is to use the host to make an ISO or DMG image of the CD/DVD you want to use, and mount the ISO in the guest instead.

[HAM]

Thank you. I realize I can do as you suggest but I would prefer to avoid the time consumption as I am in a remote area and often have to rely on battery power. Thus I would like to use the external drive if it is feasible.

[mpack]

By "most practical" I mean "the only solution I know of, apart from rewriting the source code". For some reason, VirtualBox does not recognize an external USB optical drive as an optical drive, on Apple hosts. I assume this has something to do with the host driver, or how OS X itself handles it. I.e. perhaps it's handled by the host as normal mass storage.

p.s. If you're concerned about battery life then running off an ISO consumes way less!

[HAM]

Knowing that my problem is related to the source code at least satisfies the question I had regarding whether I ws just doing something wrong.

I realize that running an ISO on a virtual drive consumes a lot less power but it's getting the image to the ISO format on the computer that burns the power, or at least it did in Windows.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it even if it was bad news.