virtualbox.org

I've attempted close to 100 installs of guests on Windows and Hipster. I don't recall any problem accessing the optical drive on Windows 7 Pro, but that was before I started on the Hipster install, so most of my experience is with Hipster. That's a lot more than 1 data point. In addition to Debian I tried CentOS with similar results.

Quite simply, the access to the physical optical drive is unreliable on Hipster. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it does not. I simply posted my comment to save others from wasting time trying to install guests from DVD. Disks that reliably and repeatedly booted on bare metal, did not boot reliably on a VM. I spent a *lot* of time trying to sort out if it was a configuration error on my part, even going so far as to redo the Windows host installs. I merely wished to alert other Hipster users that they will complete the install much more quickly if they use virtual ISO images.

As a very experienced, personal brand name consultant, I should like to suggest that insulting forum users is not conducive to a prosperous career.

rhb wrote: I don't recall any problem accessing the optical drive on Windows 7 Pro, but that was before I started on the Hipster install

So it may be Hipster after all, because I haven't heard anyone else complaining about that part. I most certainly have tried it with OSX and Win* hosts (multiple computers, multiple CD drives, multiple OSes) and I've never had an issue.

Maybe it's your CD drive. I don't know. I simply cannot make that call from a single user on a single computer with a single mention. My mathematical background screams "too many variables!!!".

rhb wrote:As a very experienced, personal brand name consultant, I should like to suggest that insulting forum users is not conducive to a prosperous career.

As a very experienced, sticking my name volunteer, I should like to suggest that you point me to the insults you are referring to. Tough reality, wake up call, whatever you want to call it, sure. But an insult? You need to calibrate your insult sensitivity measuring device I'm afraid...