Problem reading floppy drive

[ukdodger]

Hi, I've installed Virtualbox on my host Windows 7 home edition PC and created a WindowsXP guest machine in Virtualbox. All went well until I configured a 3.5inch floppy drive and attempted to read a floppy.

With the guest powered down I right clicked on 'Settings/Storage/Controller:Floppy'. Then clicked on 'Add Floppy device', then on 'Choose disk', then opened the file type 'All files' in the dialogue screen returned and it read off all the file names on the floppy. So far so good. But when I when I try to open any file the response returned is as below:



"Failed to open the floppy disk file A:\DTSETUP.INF.

Could not get the storage format of the medium 'A:\DTSETUP.INF' (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED).

Result Code: VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80BB0005)
Component: Medium
Interface: IMedium {05f2bbb6-a3a6-4fb9-9b49-6d0dda7142ac}
Callee: IVirtualBox {fafa4e17-1ee2-4905-a10e-fe7c18bf5554}
Callee RC: VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)"

I could read all the files on my old WindowsXP PC perfectly. The floppy contains a program associated with the Sharp 570 organiser and named 'Intellisync'.

Any ideas and suggestions welcome. Thanks

[socratis]

Failed to open the floppy disk file A:\DTSETUP.INF

That sounds suspicious. First of all, the "A:\" part. Is this on an actual floppy drive that you have on your host?

Then, it's the ".INF" part; that seems like an information installation file. Most probably located on a floppy which came with your installation software.

If the above are correct, my guess is that you have to assign the whole drive A:\ to your guest. If you can. Don't have a floppy to test it before suggesting it.

[ukdodger]

Failed to open the floppy disk file A:\DTSETUP.INF

That sounds suspicious. First of all, the "A:\" part. Is this on an actual floppy drive that you have on your host?

Then, it's the ".INF" part; that seems like an information installation file. Most probably located on a floppy which came with your installation software.

If the above are correct, my guess is that you have to assign the whole drive A:\ to your guest. If you can. Don't have a floppy to test it before suggesting it.

Thanks socratis. It's on an external floppy on the host. The file is the .exe to instal the program onto the guest XP.
How do I assign the whole drive?

[mpack]

How do I assign the whole drive?

You don't. The option to use host drives is only available for optical media (data CDs and DVDs).

You could however access the drive as a shared folder. Or better yet, copy the contents to an existing shared folder.

[ukdodger]

How do I assign the whole drive?

You don't. The option to use host drives is only available for optical media (data CDs and DVDs).

You could however access the drive as a shared folder. Or better yet, copy the contents to an existing shared folder.

Ok thanks mpack. I'll have to find out how to do that first and come back on here. Cheers.

[socratis]

You can assign assign a floppy device to a VM. That is a physical floppy via the floppy controller, not a USB one; that's not the point of this thread I guess.

I just booted my old Windows computer, which so happens that it has a 3 1/2 floppy drive and VirtualBox 4.2.18. I was able to assign the host's floppy to my VM. Now, if I only had an actual floppy disk hanging around, I could test if it actually works

But it is definitely better to use a shared folder, unless the installer checks to see if it is running from a floppy (extremely rare).

[ukdodger]

How do I assign the whole drive?

You don't. The option to use host drives is only available for optical media (data CDs and DVDs).

You could however access the drive as a shared folder. Or better yet, copy the contents to an existing shared folder.

I made it a shared folder by dragging it to Shared documents and a shortcut to it appeared. Opening the shortcut returns 'Place disk into Drive 'A''. I did and nothing happened. I also copied it using 'Copy & Paste' and the same shortcut appeared. Opening it returned the same - 'Place disk into Drive 'A''. I did and Again nothing happened.

[mpack]

You can assign assign a floppy device to a VM. That is a physical floppy via the floppy controller, not a USB one;

Nuts. I was being stupid. I hurriedly checked whether host A: or B: was offered as an option and it wasn't. But of course not - the PC I checked on doesn't have a physical floppy drive, in fact none of my PCs do.

I would still go with copying the contents to a shared folder on the hard disk, as I mentioned above.

[scottgus1]

I made it a shared folder by dragging it to Shared documents and a shortcut to it appeared. Opening the shortcut returns 'Place disk into Drive 'A''. I did and nothing happened. I also copied it using 'Copy & Paste' and the same shortcut appeared. Opening it returned the same - 'Place disk into Drive 'A''. I did and Again nothing happened.

You're not copying the files, you're making a shortcut. This time, open the floppy drive in a window so you can see all the files inside the floppy. Copy the files to the shared folder. And hope there's no copy protection....

[ukdodger]

I made it a shared folder by dragging it to Shared documents and a shortcut to it appeared. Opening the shortcut returns 'Place disk into Drive 'A''. I did and nothing happened. I also copied it using 'Copy & Paste' and the same shortcut appeared. Opening it returned the same - 'Place disk into Drive 'A''. I did and Again nothing happened.

You're not copying the files, you're making a shortcut. This time, open the floppy drive in a window so you can see all the files inside the floppy. Copy the files to the shared folder. And hope there's no copy protection....

Thanks scott. It's infuriating. Getting VB to read the disk is hit & miss. I found if I went to 'Computer' then highlighted the 'A Drive' and then opened 'Explore' from the options for the disk - it listed all the files. 'Aha I thought here we go'. I ran the 'Setup.exe' file and it started the setup. Then it asked for disk 2 of the setup program. I inserted disk 2 and it returned 'Unable to find specified path to file'. Reinserting the disk made no difference. I abandoned the setup, rebooted the machine and started over. This time after opening 'Explore' it returned ' Unable to read disk'. If you have any ideas they'd be welcome!
.

[scottgus1]

open the floppy drive in a window so you can see all the files inside the floppy. Copy the files to the shared folder

Should have added, Do this on the host, not the guest. Once the files are in the shared folder on the host, access the shared folder in the guest.

If your installer insists on thinking it's running off a floppy, you may need to get floppy-image-making software on your host, make images of the floppies on the host, and point the Virtualbox floppy drive at the images.

[ukdodger]

open the floppy drive in a window so you can see all the files inside the floppy. Copy the files to the shared folder

Should have added, Do this on the host, not the guest. Once the files are in the shared folder on the host, access the shared folder in the guest.

If your installer insists on thinking it's running off a floppy, you may need to get floppy-image-making software on your host, make images of the floppies on the host, and point the Virtualbox floppy drive at the images.

That's part of the problem Scott. My W7 cant read the disk as it's 32bit. It just asks to insert a disk in drive 'A'.

[scottgus1]

I assume you really mean 16-bit, since Windows 7 can still run 32-bit stuff but not 16-bit. A Windows 7 host should be able to copy the files from the floppy to a shared folder. Then your guest should be able to read the files from the shared folder and execute them. (If you are using Guest Additions Shared Folders you might need to copy the files inside the guest from the shared folder to a guest folder, since Guest Additions Shared Folders only works for copying, not executing.)

[ukdodger]

I assume you really mean 16-bit, since Windows 7 can still run 32-bit stuff but not 16-bit. A Windows 7 host should be able to copy the files from the floppy to a shared folder. Then your guest should be able to read the files from the shared folder and execute them. (If you are using Guest Additions Shared Folders you might need to copy the files inside the guest from the shared folder to a guest folder, since Guest Additions Shared Folders only works for copying, not executing.)

You're probably right but even so when I try to 'right click - copy disk' a window pops up giving the 'copy from' and 'copy to' options as both A drive?

[scottgus1]

What you need to do is basic file usage, nothing fancy. Open the A drive window on the host. You should see all the folders and files on the floppy in the window. In the Organize dropdown pick Select All, then pick Copy. Open the host's shared folder, and in the Organize dropdown pick Paste. The drive should start up and gradually all the files will copy over. In the guest, you will find the files in the shared folder.

If your program is on multiple disks, see this: http://ask-leo.com/can_i_copy_a_multifl ... _work.html