virtualbox.org

Hi! I'm very surprised that USB-HDDs like flash disk drives and other USB-devices like CDs and DVDs are still absent as bootable devices for guest OSs in VirtualBox. Why not to add them to this list? Why I can't use my flash disks to boot and install guest OS from them?

It's very very sad.

And very, very true...
Unless one of the tree conditions above is met, things are going to stay as they are...

Socratis,

I too would like to be able to Boot from a physical USB or a virtual USB mirroring CD/DVD functionality. Many newer PCs / Laptops / Notebooks do not have an optical drive. They do however boot from USB ports. Even Windows now deploys USB disk to boot and install Windows.

How do we get this lack of functional raised is it not something that Oracle is willing to fund? If not how much effort is required and what would it cost?

yours

Neill Rutherford

Code can be contributed, and the Virtualbox source code is available for perusal. Cost would be the time the code contributor uses, but there would be no pay except the accolades of those who would use the contributed code (and maybe a reference on the contributor's résumé).

I don't think it's ever going to happen. VirtualBox USB2 and USB3 support is closed source code, so there's no way I can see to let the open source BIOS use it. Like a PC from the noughties there is no USB support in the BIOS, so USB devices don't come alive until after the guest OS has booted - which obviously precludes booting from a USB device.

Happily, it's not a big deal, as there are plenty of workarounds. For example, mapping the USB device to a raw VMDK. Or copying the USB HDD image to a VDI image. Or mapping the USB drive to an ad hoc ISO drive, or copying the USB contents to a bootable CD. Or downloading the ISO version from the original website. Etc etc.

mpack wrote:VirtualBox USB2 and USB3 support is closed source code, so there's no way I can see to let the open source BIOS use it

But EFI is both on the open-source side, and on the USB2/3 support side. Just saying that if someone were to invest their time/energy/resources, it would be best if they were to focus on the EFI part and not the BIOS part...

EFI already has working USB boot support, only the legacy BIOS doesn't support it and this will very likely stay that way unless someone contributes a patch for it.