4.1.20 vboxadditions in windows 2000 questions

[stealth]

They installed. But in the windows vm (running my host PCLOS) they are there and the VM OS says they are starting rather than saying they started. I am guessing that in that state the ability to use the bidirectional clipboard tool is non-existent. The manual for 4.1.20 vbox additions says they work in any version of windows 2000. What do I need to do to get the tools to actually start?

What I am trying to figure out is how to get the clipboard sharing to work between my host PCLOS and my guest windows 2000.

It was real easy getting it to work between my host PCLOS and my guest PCLOS after I got the vbox additions installed and working.

permissions and security are non-existent in windows. There isn't any kind of vbox group like the vboxuser group in the host Linux and vboxsf in the guest Linux.

EDIT It originally was supposed to say 4.1.18 but now 4.1.20 has come out and it is doing exactly the same thing. Apparently the vbox additions are only partially started. It seems only the mouse, keyboard, video and folder sharing work but nothing else. The only thing that I can't get working that I want is the clipboard sharing.

[Old-Polack]

They installed. But in the windows vm (running my host PCLOS) they are there and the VM OS says they are starting rather than saying they started. I am guessing that in that state the ability to use the bidirectional clipboard tool is non-existent. The manual for 4.1.20 vbox additions says they work in any version of windows 2000. What do I need to do to get the tools to actually start?

What I am trying to figure out is how to get the clipboard sharing to work between my host PCLOS and my guest windows 2000.

It was real easy getting it to work between my host PCLOS and my guest PCLOS after I got the vbox additions installed and working.

permissions and security are non-existent in windows. There isn't any kind of vbox group like the vboxuser group in the host Linux and vboxsf in the guest Linux.

EDIT It originally was supposed to say 4.1.18 but now 4.1.20 has come out and it is doing exactly the same thing. Apparently the vbox additions are only partially started. It seems only the mouse, keyboard, video and folder sharing work but nothing else. The only thing that I can't get working that I want is the clipboard sharing.

Just created a Win2K VM, to which I added the Guest Additions. Rebooted the VM as per request. Opened Wordpad, selected the most readable of the ugly fonts offered, then typed a test line and copied it.

Opened Kwrite, pasted the copied line from Wordpad. Typed a new line in Kwrite, copied it, then pasted it into Wordpad. Ended with a third line from Wordpad to Kwrite, then took screenshot of both. In Win2K I saved the file as Test-page.txt



I didn't do anything other than what I said above.

I shut down the Win2K VM, added the same shared directory I use for the Linux VMs. Booted the Win2K VM and mapped the share to drive E:

I opened the Test-page.txt file in notepad this time, added a line and saved it as Test-page2.txt, then copied it to the E: drive.



In the host, I open the Share directory...



...click on Test-page2.txt, and it opens in Kwrite.



I can now pass files between the VM and the host. Again, nothing fancy, it just works as it should.

When you ask how to start the Guest Additions, the question has no real meaning, because you don't start them, as such, you just use them. They are not separate applications, they are features of the VM itself. If the VM is running, so are the Guest Additions.

[stealth]

Okay! Thanks OP. I tried what you did and it does work.

The reason I was talking about it in starting mode and not started is because in the win vm under start > settings > control panel > admin tools > services there is virtualbox guest additions service and in status is says starting rather than started. But apparently that doesn't matter.

Virtualbox just keeps getting better and easier to use. I remember trying to do some of this a long time ago and could not figure it out and could not find the answers in any documentation and no one on the www.virtualbox.org forum would tell me anything. I was able to do what I needed to do so I stopped trying to figure it out until now.

I don't thing I have anymore questions from the past. Thanks for helping me solve this mystery that has been hanging around for a while.

The documentation seems to be a lot better than it use to be. Maybe I won't have anymore questions.

[Old-Polack]

Okay! Thanks OP. I tried what you did and it does work.

The reason I was talking about it in starting mode and not started is because in the win vm under start > settings > control panel > admin tools > services there is virtualbox guest additions service and in status is says starting rather than started. But apparently that doesn't matter.

Virtualbox just keeps getting better and easier to use. I remember trying to do some of this a long time ago and could not figure it out and could not find the answers in any documentation and no one on the www.virtualbox.org forum would tell me anything. I was able to do what I needed to do so I stopped trying to figure it out until now.

I don't thing I have anymore questions from the past. Thanks for helping me solve this mystery that has been hanging around for a while.

The documentation seems to be a lot better than it use to be. Maybe I won't have anymore questions.

Just FYI, the only reason I need a Win2K VM is that my scanner doesn't have Linux drivers. In the VM, I can install the Windows drivers from the CD that came with the scanner, along with the included scanning application. The scanner works beautifully in Windows, and I can even do editing of the scans there, with the MGI Photo Suite application. When I want to get serious with the scans, I move or copy them to the share folder, then move them again to their new home on the host. Serious work is then done with the Gimp.

I'd rather have proper Linux drivers for the scanner, but this at least makes the scanner usable, with a minimum amount of extra fuss.

[stealth]

That is similar to me keeping a win vm around so I can use my CAD software that doesn't work in Linux and doesn't have an acceptable replacement in Linux. Plus my customers want copies of the work in that software's native format. That forces me to keep using it. If it wasn't for that one software package windows would not even be a VM on my computer. I have been using Linux for ten years. I would have stopped using windows ten years ago if it wasn't for the CAD software. For most of those ten years I have been using PCLOS. Switched from Fedora just when PCLOS 2003 came out.

Thanks to your help it is a lot easier to move data with copy and paste when I have to share info and ask questions of my customers while I am doing the work for them. I use to do a lot more CAD work than I do now.

All my other work for other customers is all done in or with Linux. Including converting them from windows to Linux and then providing support and training.