virtualbox.org

Host: Windows 7
Guest: Windows 7

Does one need to install Drivers onto the Guest OS?

Thanks!

If you're referring to drivers in the guest for the host's hardware, then, no. The guest will not see the host's hardware except for the CPU, only the virtual hardware presented to it by Virtualbox.

There are Guest Additions to be installed in the guest to allow it to use some of the virtual hardware more easily. They aren't necessary for a guest to run, but they do make interacting with the guest a whole lot easier.

If you plan to attach hardware to the guest through the Virtualbox USB filter system, then you will need to install that hardware's drivers in the guest. The USB hardware's drivers don't have to be installed in the host for the guest to see and use the USB device.

Thank you for the reply.

Yes, I was referring to the Host's hardware. The thought was drawn from when one performs an OS install on a system followed by installing Drivers too.

That said, now I'll give some thought to Guest Additions. Do you have any suggestions for my systems configuration?

What systems configuration? The config of the host is irrelevant, as scottgus1 pointed out. The drivers you need in the vm OS are the drivers for the virtual devices in the vm. All of these should be available from either the OS installed in the vm or from the guest additions.

The only way you can change the config of the vm is by changing the settings. If you are using the default values supplied by VirtualBox when you created the vm, everything should work without any other action by you.

Also, there is only one Guest Additions for a particular guest OS. The Guest additions comes with Virtualbox as an iso file, which can be "inserted" into the guest's virtual CD drive, and runs like a CD installer disc in the guest. There's a menu option in the Virtualbox guest window's Devices menu to insert the Guest Additions CD, then you access the guest's CD drive & install the correct version for your guest OS.

Got it. Thank you. I think that I have the Additions added now.