virtualbox.org

Hi - I created a new vm (win10 host) and am trying to restore a backup of my vista machine to it. I thought I could create a shared folder to access the 168GB backup, but the shared folder is not appearing. I'm using macrium reflect, so it boots up windowsPE and runs macrium, but I can't find a way to get to that backup file. Maybe I can't see the shared folder because I'm in winPE at this point?

I did look in the faq, and did a search for "shared folder".

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!
Ron

You need the guest additions running in the OS to access the shared folder. WinPE does not have guest additions so you wouldn't just be able to access it. You should use regular network file share instead.
Another way, if you run the backup software inside the VM and restore it from there, could be to save the backup file into an extra virtual disk, which you could access from any guest OS, including WinPE.

noteirak wrote:You need the guest additions running in the OS to access the shared folder. WinPE does not have guest additions so you wouldn't just be able to access it. You should use regular network file share instead.
Another way, if you run the backup software inside the VM and restore it from there, could be to save the backup file into an extra virtual disk, which you could access from any guest OS, including WinPE.

Thanks for your response. Is there documentation somewhere on how to "use a regular network file share"? I looked under "network" after winPE booted up (to run macrium reflect) to find the image to restore from, but it has nothing under network - I was guessing because winPE didn't really set up the network.

I am using macrium reflect, it is running inside the vm using the restore disc I created, but I don't seem to have access to any network resources. I am trying to restore from a physical vista pc backup into this vm...thought it was a good idea at the time!

Ron

"use a regular network file share" means to share a folder using Windows 10's normal folder sharing and access that folder in the guest if you can get the guest network going.

I use Macrium, too. You will have to see if Macrium's restore environment has drivers for one of the types of network cards Virtualbox presents to the guest. There's a list of cards available in the "Adapter Type" dropdown under "Advanced" in Virtualbox guest's Network Settings. See if the Macrium environment has built-in drivers for any of them. If they do, use that card type in the guest to do the restore. If they don't, the cards presented by Virtualbox are common and drivers can be found for them. Use Macrium's driver add-in setup to include drivers for one of Virtualbox's cards.

Thanks, I will look into that when I get home.

Now, the vm does indicate that it has a network connection, in the vm listing of the main virtualbox window, where you start the vm. Is there something I need to do to get it to scan/learn the network? It already looks like it sees the card...just nothing in "network"...?

Ron

Sounds like it's the drivers missing.