VirtualBox and the USB flash drive -

[Bill Oliver]

On Thu, 1 Aug 2013, Bill Oliver wrote:

>
> I can read and write to a flash drive without problems.  It worked out of the 
> box for me.  I tried to post a screenshot, but it got held up in moderation. 
> In the old versions of VirtualBox, USB  support was in the "guest additions" 
> package, as I remember, but I haven't had to install that for some time.  I 
> can't remember if you are using the virtualbox.org package or the one in the 
> repositories, but you may have to install the exension pack.  See: 
> https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads.  But I gotta say that I didn't 
> have to do this when I installed it using apper.  It just worked out of the 
> box.
>
> billo
> -- 
>

One more note.  As I've mentioned before, I do a full wipe and installation periodically on my machines.  This can be a hassle if one is left re-installing other virtual OSs as well.  I have found that, with VirtualBox, I can simply back up the ./.VirtualBox directory and the "VirtualBox VMs" directory, and then copy them back into my home directory after the reinstall of Linux.  It works great.  That way I don't waste hours installing two or three operating systems whenever I install the base Linux.  The only problem I've had was a mild graphics incompatibility when moving from an AMD chipset to an Intel one.  That took some surgery to the XP registry, though I don't remember exactly what I did any more.

Anyway, if you are re-installing XP every time you install Linux, and you don't want to do it, then there's an easier way.

billo