virtualbox.org

I've been formally told that this is the case for my HP 5510

I hear tell that Virtualbox doesn't do so hot either supporting physical printers in a guest. Timing & other such is apparently harder to accomplish virtually. The usual advice given here is, Install the printer in the host and share it to the guest.

Once it's shared on the host, the printer will work in the guest just fine.

How do I share the printer on the host, to the guest? Please give details and thanks.

A full answer to that would be beyond the scope of these forums. The only thing that relates to VirtualBox is that you must have the host and the VM present on a common physical network, so you must use VM network settings that allow that. Depending on circumstances that usually means that the guest must be using bridged networking (this would be my preference), or host-only networking.

From then on it's a normal network configuration task, details to be found on Google, but summarised below.

Once the two machines are connected to the same physical network, they need to be configured to be on the same logical network. At its simplest that means making them both part of the same Windows workgroup.

Then, you need to enable printer sharing for your printer on the host, and install a driver for that printer type in the guest. At a low level all that's happening is that basic I/O is being redirected across the network (so the comms medium is network, instead of USB or LPT), but the printer API (the driver) still needs to be installed in the guest.

Returning to what HP told you: it was total BS. You gave them an opening to tell you to get lost, so they did. HP most certainly does provide drivers that can be redirected across networks, in fact wireless printing is one of the things they make a noise about. A virtual PC is as capable of network comms as any other PC.

SteveGG from your separate forum thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=66476 you indicate you are running Win7x64 on host and WinXPx32 on guest -- I am also running Win7x64 on host but also Win7x64 on guest and have two different locally connected HP printers running on guest no problem (within limits given obsolete printers not supported beyond WinXP)

What VBox version are you running? -- I have had my printer setup running on current major release from v.4.3.6 thru latest v.4.3.24 including several minor releases in between all without issue.

How are you trying to connect your printer? -- I have HP PSC 2350 series connected via USB and HP OfficeJet 4500 series connected via wifi (as well as USB when running on different physical LAN thru different physical router so I would not have to change wifi IP config)

If trying to connect printer via USB you would need to do at least minimum install of HP drivers on both host and guest. Note you will need to install HP drivers on host first (and verify communication is working) then assuming you have proper VBox Guest Additions installed and working on your guest you should see your printer listed in VBox USB Devices menu list. Then attach your printer to guest (which guest OS will attempt to install printer device driver but fail as no driver would be found but that is ok for now). Finally install HP drivers on guest.

If trying to connect printer via wifi you would need to install HP drivers on guest first with guest network attached via Bridged Adapter directly to your LAN either over your physical wifi or LAN adapter (installing HP drivers on host is not needed for wifi) Once HP drivers are installed and working on guest with appropriate IP setup for your LAN, then guest network can be attached either via Bridged Adapter or NAT without affecting printer setup. Note depending on specifics of your LAN would suggest defining static IP for printer to prevent DHCP issues particularly when attaching guest via NAT.