VirtualBox Installation and Required Extras

[kesetyan]

Hi,

I am running Xubuntu 20.04.2 from an external usb hdd. This has proved reliable and allows me to dual boot it with Linux Mint 20.1 which is installed on the desktop computer to which the hdd connects.

I have a Canon Canoscam 4200F flatbed scanner, which although old, works well. However there are no drivers for Linux. I can run it from Windows 7 which I have dual booting with Linux Mint on another desktop but would like to have it available in the other system. I have an installation cd of Windows XP Professional so tried installing VirtualBox and adding XP to it. That worked to a point but I obviously had missed something because I could not get XP to find the scanner which was connected by usb cable (the Canon drivers and software had been successfully installed into XP). Also I could not move any data files between the guest operating system (XP) and the host (Xubuntu). In addition XP did not recognize any usb memory sticks - it did recognize the desktop DVD drive from which XP had been installed and it allowed me to read data files from cds and dvds but not to edit them or use drag and drop.

I had found things a bit confusing from the beginning so it is very likely I've missed something important. I installed VirtualBox via the Synaptic File manager where I found several VirtualBox related items listed and believe I installed the following three which I thought were necessary: virtualbox 6.1.16 base binaries, virtualbox-ext-pack 6.1.16 and virtualbox-qt 6.1.16 qt based user interface. Since having only partial success with my virtualbox installation I removed it completely from my system via Synaptic and cleared residue manually. I would like to have another go soon so would appreciate advice. I want to be able to run XP Professional (with networking/internet disabled of course), be able to run my scanner and be able to move and edit data files between XP and the host system. Hopefully this is possible if I install the right components and set up VirtualBox appropriately.

Thanks.

[tea for one]

You will need to install Virtual Box Guest Additions after you have created the VM

https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch...guestadd-intro

[howefield]

Thread moved to the "Virtualisation" forum.

[SeijiSensei]

I follow the instructions on the VirtualBox site to use the Oracle repository. My installation is always up-to-date, and I don't have issues with compiling the kernel module.

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linu...xdistributions

The current Extension Pack is here: https://download.virtualbox.org/virt...8.vbox-extpack

[kesetyan]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies.

I've had another go and I did use Synaptic again as I did this before seeing your advice 'SeijiSensei'. I installed virtualbox 6.1.16 base binaries, virtualbox-ext-pack 6.1.16 and virtualbox-qt 6.1.16 qt. After I installed XP I installed VirtualBox Guest Additions as advised by you ' tea for one'. I am now stuck at this point as I cannot fathom out how to manage settings to allow communication between the host system and XP in the virtual system so that I can move and share datafiles. I have not yet installed the Canon drivers for the scanner as I suspect that there is more I need to do to enable XP to recognize it is plugged in and on.

I've looked online for advice but what I find is difficult for this near eighty year old to follow.

@howefield thanks for moving my original post to this more appropriate forum. Sorry I did not notice 'Virtualisation' in the listed forums - I was looking for 'Software', couldn't see that and chose 'General'.

[ajgreeny]

You need to install the guest additions in the VirtualBox system itself, then after booting to XP go to the Devices menu of the guest window and choose "Insert Guest Additions CD" or similar words.
That should open up a dialogue in XP asking if you want to install the additions. Follow the prompts to do so then reboot XP.
In the rebooted XP you will again need to go to the Devices menu -> USB and look for the scanner in the list of USB devices available.

[kesetyan]

Thank you ajgreeny - I've tried what you have suggested but I am still struggling. As yet I have not added any software or drivers to XP so I have not attempted to test the scanner. I am still trying to get VirtualBox to communicate with the host system and external usb storage connected to the host. One thing I tried that did work was to do a screenshot of XP via the 'View' dropdown menu and 'Take a screenshot'. That process opened the host file system window and allowed me to select a location for the snapshot within the host. What I cannot yet do is create a file within XP and save it or copy it to a host folder. If possible, I would like to see all connected usb devices and the host system listed in the 'My Computer' window in XP.

[SeijiSensei]

If you have the Extension Pack installed, you'll have access to "Shared Folders" in the Settings for the virtual machine. It will allow you to specify a directory on the host machine that you can access from the virtual one.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Vi.../SharedFolders

I've found USB connectivity pretty hit or miss.

[ajgreeny]

If you have the Extension Pack installed, you'll have access to "Shared Folders" in the Settings for the virtual machine. It will allow you to specify a directory on the host machine that you can access from the virtual one.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Vi.../SharedFolders

I've found USB connectivity pretty hit or miss.

^^^^+1^^^^
This is one of the several reasons why I have now stopped using VBox apart from an old and very occasionally useful VM of Windows XP 32 bit which will not run in KVM/QEMU. What little I know of Windows 10, which is very little as I no longer use Windows, it is much speedier in KVM than VBox; in the latter I found it almost unusable when trying it using the totally legal method to test Windows as a VM shown at https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspo...irtualbox.html. I later converted that downloaded .ova file to a qcow2 file which is the KVM/QEMU VM filetype and it's that which I boot occasionally just to remind myself how great it is to be using Linux.

In order to get full screen, USB and shared folders to work in VBox you must install the guest additions from the extension pack which you added to the VBox application, into the guest. Without that being done, none of those things will work at all.

For all other VMs I now use KVM/QEMU which is a great deal faster and smoother running with fewer of the problems of that I did find in VBox.
There is no need, using KVM/QWEMU, to have additional utilities to get shared folders, USBs, etc, etc, to work. For shared folders I now use ssh between host and guest or vice-versa which is much better and I think is more secure.

[kema77]

A good way to share files between host and guest is to set up a shared folder from the settings menu for your XP VM within the Vbox Manager. However you must first enable sharing for the host directory that you want to share. That can be done from the right click menu in Ubuntu. (right click on the desired directory, select 'properties' and then 'Local Network Share') You do not have to give it the same permissions that I did here. You might be prompted to install additional files.
Screenshot from 2021-02-26 08-47-26.png


Then from the settings menu in the VirtualBox Manager for the XP machine choose 'Share Folders'. Choose the folder that you just enabled sharing for. You can leave the mount point blank. The VM should auto-mount the directory and have it appear under "Network" in Windows Explorer. Enable auto-mount.
vm-sharing.png

Finally, you might have to restart the VM.

This procedure worked for me with Ubuntu 18.04 as host and Windows 7 as guest. I installed Virtualbox using Oracle's Ubuntu version.