Floppy drive not recognized

Pilule · Post by **Pilule** » 23. Mar 2015, 06:49

I can see the Floppy disk drive in the host computer on Windows 7 but I can't see it on the guest computer on Windows XP. I have looked everywhere in Virtual Box and can't find an option to turn it on. I don't see it in device manager either. I tried re-installing Windows XP with no luck.

Post by **loukingjr** » 23. Mar 2015, 07:31

If it is an external USB floppy you probably have to create a USB filter for it. Once you create the filter, it would have to be plugged in after the guest was opened.

If it's an internal floppy, someone else will have to help.

Post by **michaln** » 23. Mar 2015, 11:47

If the VM doesn't have a floppy controller+drive configured, it won't see any. See the Storage settings dialog.

Pilule · Post by **Pilule** » 23. Mar 2015, 16:40

I went to "storage" added "floppy controller". I now see it in device manager but I still don't have an icon for it. I tried restarting Windows XP, Virtual Box and Windows 7, nothing works. I tried removing it and re-installing it, I tried updating the driver. The floppy icon still doesn't show.

Thanks

Post by **scottgus1** » 23. Mar 2015, 17:28

I have an XP guest on a PC that does not have a floppy drive in it. The XP guest was installed without a floppy controller or drive. I added the floppy controller to the XP guest in the Storage settings and got a floppy controller in Device Manager in the guest, but no floppy drive icon (same as OP's results, I think). I shut down the guest, right-click the guest floppy controller in the Storage settings and add a floppy drive device. Virtualbox asks if I wish to choose a floppy image or leave the drive empty. I choose empty because I have no floppy image files. I restart the guest and the "floppy drive" is discovered, and I have the floppy icon in My Computer. Additionally, Virtualbox adds the floppy drive contents menu like the CD drive has.

Seems you'll need both the floppy controller and the floppy drive in the guest's Storage settings.

Post by **mpack** » 23. Mar 2015, 17:59

Here's what the storage settings should look like for a guest which has a floppy controller and an empty floppy drive attached to the VM.

Pilule · Post by **Pilule** » 23. Mar 2015, 19:38

M. Mpack,

I have the exact same display except for the icon where it says "empty".

Pilule · Post by **Pilule** » 23. Mar 2015, 19:54

M. Scottgus1

I did what you did and it worked.

Thanks a million

Post by **scottgus1** » 23. Mar 2015, 20:28

Glad it worked, Pilule! Mpack's screenshot is what I finally had when I got the floppy drive to appear in the guest. Makes sense, if it's pondered on. A PC needs both a floppy controller and a floppy drive for the floppy system to be usable on the PC.

Pilule · Post by **Pilule** » 24. Mar 2015, 01:40

It looks like I got exited too quickly. I do have the "flopppy disk A" icon but when I put a disk in it, it tells me "please insert a disk into drive A". That only happens with the guest computer (Widnows XP), it works fine with the host computer (Windows 7).
Darn.

Post by **mpack** » 24. Mar 2015, 12:45

This is a VM, not dual boot. The guest has its own floppy drive. It doesn't share the host floppy drive unless you tell it to.

Post by **scottgus1** » 24. Mar 2015, 13:06

In the Devices menu, there's an option for "Floppy Devices", then "Choose a virtual Floppy Disk File" or to attach to the host floppy drive (I don't have the exact wording, as I don't have a host floppy drive to attach to). You'll pick to attach to the host floppy drive, then your floppy should appear in you guest.

dlharper · Post by **dlharper** » 24. Mar 2015, 16:12

scottgus1 wrote:In the Devices menu, there's an option for "Floppy Devices", then "Choose a virtual Floppy Disk File" or to attach to the host floppy drive (I don't have the exact wording, as I don't have a host floppy drive to attach to). You'll pick to attach to the host floppy drive, then your floppy should appear in you guest.

Just for information: you choose "Host drive A:" using exactly the same technique as you would for a host CD drive. Whether it is attached to an old style floppy-disk controller or a USB socket makes no difference. (You do not need USB on the guest in order to use it.) I have just tried it out.

Having said this, although it will work, it is unbelievably slow. If at all possible, use the host to image the disk, and the attach the image to the guest.

Pilule · Post by **Pilule** » 25. Mar 2015, 17:02

I got it to work, well sort of. When I turn on the guest OS, I have to uninstall and re-install the floppy disk drive for it to work. If I put another disk in the drive, I have to uninstall and re-install the drive otherwise it shows what it read on the previous disk. Even if there is no disk in the drive, it show what was in the drive on the previous disk.
Like M. Dlharper says, it's incredibly slow.

Post by **mpack** » 25. Mar 2015, 17:07

It would surely be faster to eject the media than to remove and then re-add the drive. You need to bear in mind that there are two floppy drives here; the physical host one and the virtual floppy drive. VirtualBox has to echo signals from one into the other. No doubt that would work better if was a real floppy drive and not USB media.

It would also probably work far better with floppy image files.

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