virtualbox.org

I wanted to update an Android system (from 5.1 to 6.0), see also [1]. And since I did not want to „contaminate“ my host system (Windows 10), I installed the driver software in my guest system (Windows 7 or Windows Vista).

However the turned off smartphone was not detected by the guest and the update didn‘t work. (I cannot remember the error messages.) Thus I had to install it in my host system, which I wanted to avoid originally.

How could I have been successful in the guest?

The same topic is interesting to me for another reason too. I am thinking about flashing another smartphone with a custom ROM.

[1]
google for: WIKO_MAJ_ALL_MTK2.pdf
[I‘m not yet allowed tot post URLs. ]

Are you talking like the ADB debug driver? I really wouldn't want to run any kind of specialised hardware sensitive driver from a VM. VMs don't do hardware really. If the driver is respected and signed then just install it in your host.

Coincidentally, over the weekend I just did exactly what you propose: upgraded an Android device (Nexus 10 tablet) from 5.1 to 6.0 (Marshmallow). I installed the ADB driver on my Win10 AE Pro 64bit host. No ill effects. Tablet now running great. I hadn't used this tablet in 18 months or so, so first thing I had to do was replace the battery! I'm not a huge Android fan, but an Android tablet is great for talking to drones.