Windows 7: Virtual machine doesn't see external CD/DVD drive

Hey all,

So I finally got a virtual machine working on my laptop, and its running very well . I use VirtualBox, and installed the Guest Addons. I have XP Pro SP3 (fully updated) running with the settings of a 30GB HDD and 1GB RAM, sure, it could be faster, but it works just fine (doesn't lag, etc.). I decided that I want to install Office on the virtual machine, so I plugged in my external ASUS CD/DVD drive, inserted my Office CD, and went to My Computer in the virtual machine to find that it doesn't detect the drive.

Is there a way to get the machine to detect the drive? A driver I need to install?

Thanks for the help !

If you select the Virtual Machine and click on "Settings", select "Storage" and on the right hand side, click on the little CD Icon and choose the appropriate letter for your external USB drive. If for some reason it does not show up under there, then you would have to click on USB and click on the USB icon with the green plus sign on it and then select yout external CD/DVD drive.

If it does not show up in the Storage section and you do not have a USB section, then you probably need to install the Extensions Pack. Assuming you have the latest version, go to Downloads - VirtualBox and download and run and install the Extension pack from there and USB should then show up.

Great, thanks for the quick help!

I really appreciate it !!