VirtualBox locks drives on Windows 8.1 Enterprise

BrianVirtual

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Location
Cardiff
I have been using VirtualBox in Windows 8.1 Enterprise.
Whenever I mount the CD/DVD Drive with a disk in there to the Drive Controller mapped VirtualDrive,
Even after completing the reads and installs from it and deleting the VirtualDrive,
The CD/DVD drive gets locked. Even quitting from VirtualBox does not seem to free up the drive to simply eject the media... I am forced to fully reboot Windows to be able to eject the media ....
Have to resort to Windows brilliant solution of simply having to do a complete OS Restart ...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Enterprise
Hi there.

I'm not a big fan of VBOX. Go for VMware player - it's STILL free for individuals. Rrelease 6 is probably better than rel 7 if you want to run W10 as a VM but otherwise works brilliantly.

Uninstall VBOX additions on the VM and simply convert the VM to VMware format via the FREE conversion tool. Install VMware tools on your VM after powering it up.

BTW this tool is also a great way to "Virtualise" a running physical machine too (usually called a P2V conversion).

VMware vCenter Converter: P2V Virtual Machine Converter | VMware United Kingdom

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
I have been using VirtualBox on 8.1 Enterprise for a month or so most recently.
I have W10 running in one VM, Linux Mint in another.

The only issue I have run into is mounting usb storage devices. They are very flaky under Linux. If I mount them as shared folders, then it is okay, tedious, but okay. Slower though.

Windows in a VM isn't giving any problems yet other than gfx support.

I do find that VBox gives a MUCH user better experience for Desktop use than VMPlayer. ***

(***) I am going to go give a new copy of vmplayer a test though as it may have changed since I used it last. ;)
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W2012, W10, W8.1, W7, LMint, LUbuntu,
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    i7-3770
    Motherboard
    Dell
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVidia GeForce GT 640
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Sophos or AVG depending on my mood and the OS I boot into.
Well my experience ist the following: Virtualbox ist great if you just want to have a look at virtualization or if you just need a virtual machine to complete a certain task. But if you are seriously into virtualization VMWare Player or even the paid version (VMWare Workstation) are far better options. There are just too many bugs and disadvantages in Virtualbox. Hardware graphics acceleration ist poor, the locking of DVD drives ist just an ordinary phenomena, USB devices work poorly at best or in many cases not at all... I used to work with Virtualbox too but then I stumbled upond a very cheap offer to buy a VMWare Workstation 11 license (for 100 Euro) and now I'm glad I made that decision. It's just so much more complete than Virtualbox.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Update 1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    self built
    CPU
    AMD FX-8350
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7 Rev. 3
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Zotac GTX 770 Amp 2 GB
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    GDATA Internet Security
Hey guys, im new here. i just wanna know if there's a way i can get my music in VM, for some reason, my USB drives, CD drives and hard drive partitions are not accessible...would be nice to have some music while im working.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 technical preview
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Flex 14
    CPU
    Intel core i5 4200
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce 720
    Browser
    Internet Explorer
    Antivirus
    Windows Defe nder
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