virtualbox.org

Windows 10 host and WinXPPro guest.

I used the cd to add printer. The USB port (called 010)) was assigned to the printer. The printer software goes through all the steps except it doesn't recognize the printer; and so the installation fails. Looking up in the devices menu in USB, the menu says that no USB device is connected. I wonder if I could add the printer this way, or do I have to go through the network (but how?) to add the printer?

An easier option may be to keep the printer attached to the host, share it as a network printer and have the guest to connect to it. Instructions are probably something along the lines of...

Windows 10 (host)

Ensure the printer is correctly installed and prints, etc.
Open "Control Panel" and double click the "Devices and Printers" icon to show all the devices.
Right click on the printer and select "Printer Properties"
On the "Sharing" tab tick the "Share this printer" option and give the printer a sensible name
Click "OK" as many times as needed to close all the dialog boxes.

In VirtualBox

Set the networking type for the Windows XP Pro VM as "bridged" and bridge it to the correct host Ethernet adapter (this may also work with other networking modes but I have never tried them).

Windows XP Pro (guest)

Ensure that the guest is correctly getting an IP address either from a DHCP server or use the correct fixed IP address settings
From the Start menu select "Printers and Faxes"
In the left panel click on "Add a printer"
In the dialog select the "A network printer or...." option
On the next dialog choose the "Connect to this printer" option and specify the network name as \\<win10_computer_name>\<name_given_to_printer>
Install the Windows XP printer drivers as normal

Thanks for your reply.

I followed your instructions.

I set up the printer on the host with the name: HP_LASERJET_1200.

On Virtual Box I set up Windows XPPro Network properties with the settings Bridge Adapter; Allow VMS and Intel(R)825671f-2Gigabit Network Connection.

And in Guest Printer addition I tried to set up the network connection and gave the path as \\<WIN10_DESKTOP_GH1RSU>\<HP_LASERJET_1200>

Then I get the error message: "Windows cannot connect to the printer. Either the printer name was typed incorrectly or the printer lost its connection to the server."

What did I do wrong?