Two things you need to do in order to enable resolution changes. shared folders and usb connections to peripherals.
Install extension pack
Install guest additions
How to install extension pack
Check your version of Virtualbox. You can do this by opening it up and going to "help" and selecting "about virtualbox". You will get a splash screen that looks like this:
You will probably be the same version as mine. That is to say, 5.0.26
go back to "help" and select "virtualbox website". This will cause your browser to open at the oracle site. In there select the "downloads" link on the left hand side. It will take you to a page that looks like this:
On the second paragraph, it mentions "extension packs". you need to click on the link to the extension pack that matches your version of Virtualbox. However, I have made a direct link to two of them below, to make it easier for you.
After selecting the link, it will ask you if you want to install it. choose yes and follow any instructions.
Installing the above now means USB access will work, as will shared folders. You still need to set them up. But installing the extension pack was a prerequisite to that.
How to install guest additions
fire up your Win7 VM
go to the vb menu at the top and choose "Devices/insert guest additions CD". See below:
To add a USB device that is plugged into your host, but which you wish your VM to have access to, do the following:
fire up your VM in windowed mode
at the bottom right of the window, you will see a line of little icons displaying various devices. One of which is a little blue usb stick. right click this and choose "usb settings"
Click on the green cross to add a device. If your printer is plugged in as a USB device on your host, it will show up here as an available selection. Having once selected it, your Windows VM will then report that a new usb device has been plugged in. At which point, you would just then install the drivers in the usual way in order to make it usable in Windows. If Windows does not report it as having been seen, shut down and reboot and it should see it.
Followed everything and it all shows up correctly, but the USB still can not be seen by VB only by MATE.
Also I can not take a screen shot with VB open, like you can, to show you the problems.
If I hover over the icon, it shows no USB devices.
If I right click it shows five devices of which one is the USB stick
When I click on USB Settings, I get a popup with USB highlighted and when I click on the green cross , on the far right, it shows five devices of which one is the USB stick.
I have shut down the VM multiple times, even shut down VB and rebooted MATE all to no avail.
You can always conceivably also access a USB stick through a share. At least until the problem is solved. You set up a VM shared folder in VirtualBox that lets you access linux disk devices from Windows. It is how, for instance, I give my Windows 7 Guest read-only access to my Ubuntu-MATE home folder.
However I cannot open VBox right now. So I can’t guide you through the (simple) setup. But that’s one way to circumvent the problem temporarily until you get it to work as expected.
For some reason beyond me, adding the user via the user and groups GUI is not working at the moment, At least for Virtual Box. However, doing it the traditional way via the terminal does work.
Open a terminal and type the following:
sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers user
Where"user" is your actual user name
So, for example, mine would be:
sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers stephen
Then log out of Ubuntu Mate and then log back in. Then open Virtualbox, fire up your VM and right click the blue usb icon at the bottom right of your VM window. You should see your peripheral USB device listed. However, let me know if not.
Third, but it really does:
Can't get the picture, haven't figured out how to set hot keys in shutter yet.
But 5 devices show up with the USB as one of them.
Did you log out and then back in Fred? I am unsure if you have succeeded there or not. Can you confirm? Additionally, I have just done another vid showing how to do it. See below:
Yep, numerous times, even shut down the whole computer.
I think the problem is different than you are looking for.
Back in 57, I showed the system could see the device, but I didn't know I had to click on it.
That doesn't make any difference, because now that I did, I still can not "see" the device.
Look at the screen shot left side and you can see that it is not listed. I can't get to it.
I can't use it to transfer files into or out of the W7 VB.
)
