Copying files from Windows 95 guest to Windows 7 host

[Steven Kant]

I am trying to do the same thing on a host machine running Windows 7 for a VM running Windows 95. I can add SMB to the host, I have set up sharing in Win95 and shared a folder. The VM has the Host-only adaptor turned on. All of the suggested steps work fine, but neither machine can see the other one.

Any ideas on what I could be missing?

(mod edit: split from Copying files from Windows 95 guest to Windows 10 host - sg)

[BillG]

You do not need to add SMB1 to Windows 7. It has it by default. It is only later versions of Windows 10 which have SMB1 disabled (and a good thing too).

You should not have any major problems with Windows 95. I don't have any Win 95 guests, but everything back to 98SE works fine here.

How are you trying to do the sharing? How is the guest networked to the host? Host Only is not great for Windows file sharing. If your host is on a LAN, bridged works fine.

Remember that this is using the old NT and earlier style file sharing with Netbios names and the computer browser service. You need to be in the same workgroup and it can take a while for a new machine on the LAN to appear in the browse list. Let it sit for a while.

[mpack]

Well, Windows 95 gives you very little help configuring a network connection, and getting all the little bits mutually consistent. So, I hope you followed a good guide. Windows didn't really give much help on that before Win98 (see the South Park movie), and IMHO it wasn't really effective before XP - but that's on my personal timeline, I don't know how well NT4 and Win2K worked because I skipped them.

[ghr]

In my VirtualBox experience SMB file sharing will work with "any" MS OS version as long as you take the latest version of each generation: DOS 6, NT 3.5, NT 4, Win 3.1x, Win 95, Win 98SE, Win 2k etc. Note that you will have to configure your host accordingly for older protocols, Windows hosts as well as Linux ones. Follow BillG's hints about workgroups and patience, and keep in mind that a firewall can also be in the way (but if that is the case you can normally find traces in your firewall log). I prefer a host-only interface for safety reasons, and don't forget to enable DHCP. For MS OS'es (e.g Win 95) the Resource Kits provide lots of information.

[Hunterr]

If the files are small enough one can add them as email attachments and download them on target machine. It should be simple enough. Or am I missing something?

[mpack]

It should be simple enough. Or am I missing something?

I'd say so, yes, like getting a modern email server to talk to Windows 95, even getting working email client software could be a challenge. And there are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy easier ways to get a file out of Win95 than that, for example buy an archiving tool that supports VDI or any of the other container formats VirtualBox supports. That's assuming you can't get the SMB share thing to work.

[scottgus1]

an archiving tool that supports VDI

Free 7zip opens VDIs and extracts files to the host.

[Steven Kant]

You do not need to add SMB1 to Windows 7. It has it by default. It is only later versions of Windows 10 which have SMB1 disabled (and a good thing too).

You should not have any major problems with Windows 95. I don't have any Win 95 guests, but everything back to 98SE works fine here.

The computer is a Win7 Professional version, but it is not connected to anything but a home router. I have tried both Host-Only and Bridged for the guest adapter, but the result is the same. I have let it sit and restarted both the VM and the Host, but I don't see any connection. I am expecting to be able to browse to the guest from the host, or vice versa, in the network neighborhood, but neither machine can see the other. The Win 95 VM should also be able to see a printer on the home network. Network dIscovery and file sharing appear to be turned on for both guest and host. The guest and host are in the same workgroup.

I am wondering if the Win7machine is expecting to be on a network in a domain, and then it is not logged in to the workgroup.

[mpack]

@Stephen Kant:
Please take your question to another topic. The OP did not ask about Windows 7, and your problem is not remotely similar: the OS's in question are about 14 years apart and don't even share a common base.

[Steven Kant]

You do not need to add SMB1 to Windows 7. It has it by default. It is only later versions of Windows 10 which have SMB1 disabled (and a good thing too).

You should not have any major problems with Windows 95. I don't have any Win 95 guests, but everything back to 98SE works fine here.

How are you trying to do the sharing? How is the guest networked to the host? Host Only is not great for Windows file sharing. If your host is on a LAN, bridged works fine.

Remember that this is using the old NT and earlier style file sharing with Netbios names and the computer browser service. You need to be in the same workgroup and it can take a while for a new machine on the LAN to appear in the browse list. Let it sit for a while.

I have figured out one problem: TCP/IP was not installed on the VM. When I do this, the machines are now visible to each other. I still cannot access a shared file on the guest; I can share it with a password and I can see a shared folder from the host, but when I access it from the host, it says the password is wrong. I wonder what user name it is expecting.

[scottgus1]

Split to a different thread per Mpack's comments above: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=99254#p481443