Win Vista guest on Ubuntu host has no CD/DVD player

[roelvdh]

In order to run some old software I installed a temporary VM Win Vista 32 bits on my Ubuntu host. Everything installed fine and I could install my needed programs from the CD/DVD player.
However, the CD/DVD player is not visible in Win Explorer and Device Manager returns an exclamation mark on the device (and on Base System by the way).
What's worse, I can't install Guest Additions, so currently I cannot share essential files. The *.iso file seems correctly linked to the CD/DVD device but it doesn't start automatically (Win option to start CD/DVD automatically is correctly set). I have burnt the *.iso on a CD but that doesn't work either, although I can install other programs that way.
I could go through the hassle of re-installing everything but if anybody has a hint on how to solve this I would appreciate it very much.

[loukingjr]

1. Install the extension pack for VirtualBox.
2. With the guest running, Dbl-click the VirtualBox CD from Explorer. Run the installer.

[loukingjr]

I forgot to mention restart the guest after each step.

[roelvdh]

Thanks. Extension Pack conflicts with virtualbox-guest-additions-iso. Do I need to uninstall latter? How is that safely done on Ubuntu 14.04?

[loukingjr]

First of all you can't connect the extension pack as an .iso.

To install the extension pack, start VirtualBox choose Preferences>Extensions click the top folder icon with the downward arrow which opens a popup menu so you can navigate to where you saved the extension file.

I really have to speak to someone about not including the user manual with the VirtualBox package.

[roelvdh]

Thanks again and I fully agree about the manual. I have set up a few Virtualbox VM's in the past (on my CentOS system) and thought this would be a quick one on my new Ubuntu system, but I should have remembered the hours I spent in the past on the Virtualbox manual in order to fully understand the system. This is not software to be installed without a manual unless you're experienced and it appears I had lost mine.
Kind regards, Roel

[loukingjr]

Here you go… https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Documentation

[mpack]

This is not software to be installed without a manual unless you're experienced and it appears I had lost mine.

The software is bundled with a PDF copy of the user manual. I assume Lou's comment was facetious.

[roelvdh]

I have now carefully read the manual and tried various routes but still having problems.
1. I uninstalled VBox Guest Additions via ./uninstall.sh. OK.
2. I installed VBox Extensions. OK.
3. I added the Ubuntu user to the group vboxusers. OK.
4. Restarted Ubuntu and Win Vista
Still no CD/DVD drive visible in Win Explorer.
Also, USB disks I tried are not visible (Settings correctly flagged).
Device Manager still returns an exclamation mark for the CD/DVD drive.
I tried to run the script VirtualBox.run according to the hints in the manual but this program seems missing in the Ubuntu version of VirtualBox. Same for the program rcvboxsrv.
Uninstalled VirtualBox and re-installed twice.
Tried the same on my CentOS system and everything runs like a charm. Still I will not yet give up on Ubuntu.
Any more ideas?

[socratis]

Post the output of the command:

   VBoxManage showvminfo "Your_Virtual_Machine_Name"

[roelvdh]

Log-file:

Code: Select all

Name:            Vista
Groups:          /
Guest OS:        Windows Vista (32-bit)
UUID:            462be116-9a3b-444e-8909-4f3e2b1f178d
Config file:     /home/roel/VirtualBox VMs/Vista/Vista.vbox
Snapshot folder: /home/roel/VirtualBox VMs/Vista/Snapshots
Log folder:      /home/roel/VirtualBox VMs/Vista/Logs
Hardware UUID:   462be116-9a3b-444e-8909-4f3e2b1f178d
Memory size:     512MB
Page Fusion:     off
VRAM size:       21MB
CPU exec cap:    100%
HPET:            off
Chipset:         piix3
Firmware:        BIOS
Number of CPUs:  1
PAE:             off
Long Mode:       off
Synthetic CPU:   off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode:  message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI:            on
IOAPIC:          off
Time offset:     0ms
RTC:             local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Nested Paging:   on
Large Pages:     off
VT-x VPID:       on
VT-x unr. exec.: on
State:           running (since 2016-01-15T21:11:56.268000000)
Monitor count:   1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address: 
Teleporter Password: 
Tracing Enabled: off
Allow Tracing to Access VM: off
Tracing Configuration: 
Autostart Enabled: off
Autostart Delay: 0
Default Frontend: 
Storage Controller Name (0):            IDE
Storage Controller Type (0):            PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0):  2
Storage Controller Port Count (0):      2
Storage Controller Bootable (0):        on
Storage Controller Name (1):            SATA
Storage Controller Type (1):            IntelAhci
Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (1):  30
Storage Controller Port Count (1):      1
Storage Controller Bootable (1):        on
IDE (1, 0): /home/roel/.config/VirtualBox/VBoxGuestAdditions_4.3.34.iso (UUID: 4d7e0826-1da9-49dc-8761-8f9a6bf5e452) (temp eject)
SATA (0, 0): /home/roel/VirtualBox VMs/Vista/Vista.vdi (UUID: 3e229efa-8136-41c2-84c9-2502b3daa07e)
NIC 1:           MAC: 0800275A6EFB, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny, Bandwidth group: none
NIC 1 Settings:  MTU: 0, Socket (send: 64, receive: 64), TCP Window (send:64, receive: 64)
NIC 2:           disabled
NIC 3:           disabled
NIC 4:           disabled
NIC 5:           disabled
NIC 6:           disabled
NIC 7:           disabled
NIC 8:           disabled
Pointing Device: USB Tablet
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1:          disabled
UART 2:          disabled
LPT 1:           disabled
LPT 2:           disabled
Audio:           enabled (Driver: PulseAudio, Controller: HDA)
Clipboard Mode:  disabled
Drag'n'drop Mode: disabled
Session type:    GUI/Qt
Video mode:      1024x768x32 at 0,0
VRDE:            disabled
USB:             enabled
EHCI:            enabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Available remote USB devices:

<none>

Currently Attached USB Devices:

<none>

Bandwidth groups:  <none>

Shared folders:  

Name: 'muziekroel', Host path: '/home/roel/muziekroel' (machine mapping), writable

VRDE Connection:    not active
Clients so far:     0

Video capturing:    not active
Capture screens:    0
Capture file:       /home/roel/VirtualBox VMs/Vista/Vista.webm
Capture dimensions: 1024x768
Capture rate:       512 kbps
Capture FPS:        25

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size:      0 MB
OS type:                             WindowsVista
Additions run level:                 0

Guest Facilities:

No active facilities.

NB: The shared file is reported but it is also not visible in Win Explorer, nor can it be mapped to a drive.

[roelvdh]

I probably solved it and my analysis of what has happened might be of interest.
I had twice un-installed and re-installed VBox following the official Ubuntu procedure. Though I had noticed that the vdi-drive was still there after re-installing, I had assumed that it would have been cleansed by uninstalling VBox. I had tried to use the official recovery program rcvboxdrv, but that program is seemingly not included in the official Ubuntu 14.04 version. I assume this program would have done the cleansing.
After I deleted and re-made my vdi drive everything worked fine. So, my conclusion is that there has been a problem in the first installation, resulting in a glitch on the vdi drive. Such glitch is not removed by re-installing VBox on Ubuntu, and Ubuntu doesn't provide the program that probably could have done the trick.
This explains to me what may have happened and if you agree, you might want to bear this in mind.
Thanks for your help, best regards, Roel

[socratis]

When I asked about the VMInfo, I should have asked for the VBox.log as well. That would have showed whether you're using the Ubuntu version of VBox or the official one...

Also, keep in mind that the VMs (.vdi included) are DATA, they're not part of the program installation and uninstallation. Like when you're deleting/updating LibreOffice, your documents are not affected...

[roelvdh]

It is my policy not to use too many external repositories. Therefore I used the Ubuntu "official" repository, which basically only lets you install or remove a program, and doesn't provide the manual for doing that. I should not have done that in this case of VBox. VBox has so many options and the manual is so concise that it is a waste not to use the official VBox repo. I know that now and I should have known from the beginning.
Still, I used the same Ubuntu repo after I had deleted my vdi disk and this time everything went well. So there must have been something on the vdi that has to do with the VBox installation. VBox is not LibreOffice; there must be some VBox data in the Windows folders for Windows to run as a VM. It seems that exactly these data on the DATA drive have caused the problem.
Kalispéra

[socratis]

It is my policy not to use too many external repositories.

I am 100% with your not using 3rd party repositories idea. The problem is that Ubuntu (as do most Linux distributions) use a forked version of VirtualBox, which, if you want support for, you have to go to the Ubuntu forums. Keep that in mind for next time...

after I had deleted my vdi disk ... there must have been something on the vdi

1) Basically that means that you re-installed your guest from scratch, doing a clean install. 2) the VDI is a container, like a ZIP or RAR or an AVI. If your movie has broken sound at some point, it's the sound contents that are wrong, not the container. So, to sum it up, something was screwed up in your Vista guest.

VBox is not LibreOffice; there must be some VBox data in the Windows folders for Windows to run as a VM.

Hmmmm? What Windows folders? You're running Linux as a host, aren't you? What are you talking about?

VirtualBox (LibreOffice) is a program. You use that program to create your VirtualMachines (Spreadsheets). If you uninstall VirtualBox (LibreOffice) your VMs (spreadsheets) do not get deleted, so that if you ever re-install VirtualBox (LibreOffice), you can have your old VMs (spreadsheets) intact. I hope it's clearer now...

Kalispéra