Can't retrieve files from VirtualBox VM to Mac host

[Dushan]

Apologies for the length of this, but I was trying to present a complete
picture. I've also posted it to the VurtualBox forum.

BACKGROUND

The host OS is Mac's Snow Leopard X.6.5 running on a Mac Pro and the
VirtualBox version is 3.2.12. The guest OS is eComStation 1.2r, whose
VM file 'ecs12.hdd' was created by Parallels software, since abandoned.

Under Parallels (running then under Tiger X.4.11) a network connection
(bridged) could be created between the VM and the Mac allowing me to
read and write to the Mac from eCS. But the VM was invisible from the
Mac side, and clipboard transfers were no longer possible (I think they
once worked, for an earlier version of Parallels). Both the print ser-
ver and the Internet were accessible from the VM. Also, a small USB 1.1
thumb drive, Kingston 64 MB, was usable from eCS, but larger ones were
not.

Using VirtualBox and GuestAdditions under either Tiger or Snow Leopard,
the clipboard has been usable bi-directionally. I can also print from
eCS, though only using basic printer instructions (others, such as two
pages per sheet, are ignored). But I have not been able to establish
a network connection between the Mac and the VM, nor been able to see
_any_ USB thumb drive from eCS.

So except for text via the clipboard, I'm unable to transfer any files
to or from the VirtualBox VM. This has become a problem.

NETWORKING

Configuring the VM network to use NAT I was able, with earlier versions
of VirtualBox, to browse the Internet from ECS and send and receive
email. With the 'Bridged' configuration, neither of these was ever
successful, with one, very brief and unrepeated exception, noted below.

On a friend's recommendation I installed NetDrive onto eCS, which was
supposed greatly to streamline the whole networking process. The host
OS when this was introduced was X.6.2 I believe. Following the friend's
instructions for setting up NetDrive, at one point I was able to see the
Mac from eCS, though not the other way 'round. Thinking the problem
solved, I turned to other tasks.

When I came back to it next day (waking the computer) the VM crashed
(this is from memory, so the details are unreliable), and attempts to
restart the VM led to Trap 000e, which is described as.

TRAP000E - PAGE FAULT. The page being referenced is not present in
memory or the procedure referencing the page does not have enough
privilege to access the page.

From the command line I removed NetDrive from automatic loading, and
then eCS could boot. After a re-boot of the host OS I could re-intro-
duce NetDrive to load at boot, and the VM would come up successfully.
But I didn't try to use NetDrive to network to the Mac, for fear of
another mess.

With the release of VirtualBox 4.0.2 I installed it and booted the VM to
try NetDrive again. Exactly the same thing happens.

The situation remained unchanged through host OS upgrades to the present
X.6.5. Then I needed to print a file in eCS and discovered that most
printing options were ignored.

The friend who helped me with NetDrive can no longer get his to work
either.

USB THUMB DRIVE

To try to get the needed file into OSX I tried again to get eCS to see
the Kingston USB thumb drive. When plugged into the Mac Pro, it shows
up on the Mac desktop, and in the VM under Devices -> USB Devices it
appears up grayed out as KINGSTON USB DRIVE [0001].

On EJECTing the Kingston from the Mac, the VM tab Devices -> USB Devices
now displays the Kingston drive in black. Putting the pointer over it
brings up an information box that gives its State as 'Available'. But
it never shows up in eCS, even after invoking Refresh Removeable Media.
After this invocation, the Kingston re-appears on the Mac desktop. If
the drive is again EJECTed from the Mac, the Devices -> USB Devices tab
is inert, not showing any USB devices at all.

So I've been stymied on both the networking and USB fronts trying to re-
trieve the file(s) I need. Would those of you more knowledgable than I
please offer suggestions or instructions about what I might be doing
wrong, and what I should be doing. Note that for OS/2 (and eCS) Guest
Additions does not (yet) provide Shared Folders.

Thanks for all (desperately needed) help.

- Dushan Mitrovich

[Peter Flass]

I just spent several days(!) networking eCS on VirtualBox to the host,
in my case Linux. This was a nightmare. What finally worked for me was
to set up VboxNet as a bridged connection. I wound up assigning the
host side a static IP address, but this might not actually have been
necessary. On the client (eCS) side I specify DHCP, so VboxNet passes
the IP address through and host and the client has the address the host
thinks it has, NAT worked initially, but I finally gave up on it
because the address was outside my firewall and also I couldn't get
Samba to work.

Now everything seems to be working including Samba, but Samba is
slooooow and needs some tuning.

Post by Dushan
Apologies for the length of this, but I was trying to present a complete
picture. I've also posted it to the VurtualBox forum.
BACKGROUND
The host OS is Mac's Snow Leopard X.6.5 running on a Mac Pro and the
VirtualBox version is 3.2.12. The guest OS is eComStation 1.2r, whose
VM file 'ecs12.hdd' was created by Parallels software, since abandoned.
Under Parallels (running then under Tiger X.4.11) a network connection
(bridged) could be created between the VM and the Mac allowing me to
read and write to the Mac from eCS. But the VM was invisible from the
Mac side, and clipboard transfers were no longer possible (I think they
once worked, for an earlier version of Parallels). Both the print ser-
ver and the Internet were accessible from the VM. Also, a small USB 1.1
thumb drive, Kingston 64 MB, was usable from eCS, but larger ones were
not.
Using VirtualBox and GuestAdditions under either Tiger or Snow Leopard,
the clipboard has been usable bi-directionally. I can also print from
eCS, though only using basic printer instructions (others, such as two
pages per sheet, are ignored). But I have not been able to establish
a network connection between the Mac and the VM, nor been able to see
_any_ USB thumb drive from eCS.
So except for text via the clipboard, I'm unable to transfer any files
to or from the VirtualBox VM. This has become a problem.
NETWORKING
Configuring the VM network to use NAT I was able, with earlier versions
of VirtualBox, to browse the Internet from ECS and send and receive
email. With the 'Bridged' configuration, neither of these was ever
successful, with one, very brief and unrepeated exception, noted below.
On a friend's recommendation I installed NetDrive onto eCS, which was
supposed greatly to streamline the whole networking process. The host
OS when this was introduced was X.6.2 I believe. Following the friend's
instructions for setting up NetDrive, at one point I was able to see the
Mac from eCS, though not the other way 'round. Thinking the problem
solved, I turned to other tasks.
When I came back to it next day (waking the computer) the VM crashed
(this is from memory, so the details are unreliable), and attempts to
restart the VM led to Trap 000e, which is described as.
TRAP000E - PAGE FAULT. The page being referenced is not present in
memory or the procedure referencing the page does not have enough
privilege to access the page.
From the command line I removed NetDrive from automatic loading, and
then eCS could boot. After a re-boot of the host OS I could re-intro-
duce NetDrive to load at boot, and the VM would come up successfully.
But I didn't try to use NetDrive to network to the Mac, for fear of
another mess.
With the release of VirtualBox 4.0.2 I installed it and booted the VM to
try NetDrive again. Exactly the same thing happens.
The situation remained unchanged through host OS upgrades to the present
X.6.5. Then I needed to print a file in eCS and discovered that most
printing options were ignored.
The friend who helped me with NetDrive can no longer get his to work
either.
USB THUMB DRIVE
To try to get the needed file into OSX I tried again to get eCS to see
the Kingston USB thumb drive. When plugged into the Mac Pro, it shows
up on the Mac desktop, and in the VM under Devices -> USB Devices it
appears up grayed out as KINGSTON USB DRIVE [0001].
On EJECTing the Kingston from the Mac, the VM tab Devices -> USB Devices
now displays the Kingston drive in black. Putting the pointer over it
brings up an information box that gives its State as 'Available'. But
it never shows up in eCS, even after invoking Refresh Removeable Media.
After this invocation, the Kingston re-appears on the Mac desktop. If
the drive is again EJECTed from the Mac, the Devices -> USB Devices tab
is inert, not showing any USB devices at all.
So I've been stymied on both the networking and USB fronts trying to re-
trieve the file(s) I need. Would those of you more knowledgable than I
please offer suggestions or instructions about what I might be doing
wrong, and what I should be doing. Note that for OS/2 (and eCS) Guest
Additions does not (yet) provide Shared Folders.
Thanks for all (desperately needed) help.
- Dushan Mitrovich

[Dushan]

Post by Peter Flass
I just spent several days(!) networking eCS on VirtualBox to the host,
in my case Linux. This was a nightmare. What finally worked for me was
to set up VboxNet as a bridged connection. I wound up assigning the host
side a static IP address, but this might not actually have been
necessary. On the client (eCS) side I specify DHCP, so VboxNet passes
the IP address through and host and the client has the address the host
thinks it has, NAT worked initially, but I finally gave up on it because
the address was outside my firewall and also I couldn't get Samba to work.
Now everything seems to be working including Samba, but Samba is
slooooow and needs some tuning.

Peter, thanks for your tale of struggles. This is the first I heard of
VboxNet (I'm a neophyte in networking), so I looked it up in the VBox
user manual. It only talks about it in context of Linux, and I could
not find a file named vboxnet.sh anywhere. There are other files and
directories prepended with 'VboxNet', but I don't know what to do with them.

I guess the first question is, Is VboxNet useful on a Mac OS X host? I
would guess 'Yes', since it is included in the Mac incarnation of
VirtualBox. You were able, on Linux, to set up VboxNet as a bridged
connection, so I need to find out how to do that on the Mac.

Your NAT result is consistent with a comment I read (IIRC) that NAT does
not play well with Samba.

I wish I could find a really detailed description of how to manipulate
VirtualBox' networking configuration so it could be made to work easily
and reliably from any platform. The VB User Manual is sorely deficient
in that regard, IMO. Anyone know of such a source? Or maybe it does
not exist because VB is not yet sufficiently developed.

Thanks again.

- Dushan

Post by Peter Flass

Post by Dushan
Apologies for the length of this, but I was trying to present a complete
picture. I've also posted it to the VurtualBox forum.
BACKGROUND
The host OS is Mac's Snow Leopard X.6.5 running on a Mac Pro and the
VirtualBox version is 3.2.12. The guest OS is eComStation 1.2r, whose
VM file 'ecs12.hdd' was created by Parallels software, since abandoned.
Under Parallels (running then under Tiger X.4.11) a network connection
(bridged) could be created between the VM and the Mac allowing me to
read and write to the Mac from eCS. But the VM was invisible from the
Mac side, and clipboard transfers were no longer possible (I think they
once worked, for an earlier version of Parallels). Both the print ser-
ver and the Internet were accessible from the VM. Also, a small USB 1.1
thumb drive, Kingston 64 MB, was usable from eCS, but larger ones were
not.
Using VirtualBox and GuestAdditions under either Tiger or Snow Leopard,
the clipboard has been usable bi-directionally. I can also print from
eCS, though only using basic printer instructions (others, such as two
pages per sheet, are ignored). But I have not been able to establish
a network connection between the Mac and the VM, nor been able to see
_any_ USB thumb drive from eCS.
So except for text via the clipboard, I'm unable to transfer any files
to or from the VirtualBox VM. This has become a problem.
NETWORKING
Configuring the VM network to use NAT I was able, with earlier versions
of VirtualBox, to browse the Internet from ECS and send and receive
email. With the 'Bridged' configuration, neither of these was ever
successful, with one, very brief and unrepeated exception, noted below.
On a friend's recommendation I installed NetDrive onto eCS, which was
supposed greatly to streamline the whole networking process. The host
OS when this was introduced was X.6.2 I believe. Following the friend's
instructions for setting up NetDrive, at one point I was able to see the
Mac from eCS, though not the other way 'round. Thinking the problem
solved, I turned to other tasks.
When I came back to it next day (waking the computer) the VM crashed
(this is from memory, so the details are unreliable), and attempts to
restart the VM led to Trap 000e, which is described as.
TRAP000E - PAGE FAULT. The page being referenced is not present in
memory or the procedure referencing the page does not have enough
privilege to access the page.
From the command line I removed NetDrive from automatic loading, and
then eCS could boot. After a re-boot of the host OS I could re-intro-
duce NetDrive to load at boot, and the VM would come up successfully.
But I didn't try to use NetDrive to network to the Mac, for fear of
another mess.
With the release of VirtualBox 4.0.2 I installed it and booted the VM to
try NetDrive again. Exactly the same thing happens.
The situation remained unchanged through host OS upgrades to the present
X.6.5. Then I needed to print a file in eCS and discovered that most
printing options were ignored.
The friend who helped me with NetDrive can no longer get his to work
either.
USB THUMB DRIVE
To try to get the needed file into OSX I tried again to get eCS to see
the Kingston USB thumb drive. When plugged into the Mac Pro, it shows
up on the Mac desktop, and in the VM under Devices -> USB Devices it
appears up grayed out as KINGSTON USB DRIVE [0001].
On EJECTing the Kingston from the Mac, the VM tab Devices -> USB Devices
now displays the Kingston drive in black. Putting the pointer over it
brings up an information box that gives its State as 'Available'. But
it never shows up in eCS, even after invoking Refresh Removeable Media.
After this invocation, the Kingston re-appears on the Mac desktop. If
the drive is again EJECTed from the Mac, the Devices -> USB Devices tab
is inert, not showing any USB devices at all.
So I've been stymied on both the networking and USB fronts trying to re-
trieve the file(s) I need. Would those of you more knowledgable than I
please offer suggestions or instructions about what I might be doing
wrong, and what I should be doing. Note that for OS/2 (and eCS) Guest
Additions does not (yet) provide Shared Folders.
Thanks for all (desperately needed) help.
- Dushan Mitrovich

[Marcel Müller]

Post by Dushan
I guess the first question is, Is VboxNet useful on a Mac OS X host? I
would guess 'Yes', since it is included in the Mac incarnation of
VirtualBox. You were able, on Linux, to set up VboxNet as a bridged
connection, so I need to find out how to do that on the Mac.

Run the following command from the command line while the VM is in
shutdown mode:

VBoxManage modifyvm name_of_your_vm --nic1 bridged --bridgeadapter1
en0_or_whatever_the_physical_network_device_of_macos_is_called

This configures bridged networking for your VM.

Post by Dushan
Your NAT result is consistent with a comment I read (IIRC) that NAT does
not play well with Samba.

Yep. The node behind the NAT can't open visible ports in listening mode.

Post by Dushan
I wish I could find a really detailed description of how to manipulate
VirtualBox' networking configuration so it could be made to work easily
and reliably from any platform.

VBoxManage: http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch08.html

Networking: http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch06.html
...bridged: http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch06.html#id367761

This was enough for my purpose.


Marcel

[Marcel Müller]

Post by Dushan
From the command line I removed NetDrive from automatic loading, and
then eCS could boot.

Netdrive/samba is highly buggy and unstable. If it works for you, be
lucky. If not, throw it away as far as you can. It will compromise your
system.

I use eCS (quite old version 1.05) just now in VBox 3.2.12 (and earlier
versions too). Networking was just fine from the first second. I am
using bridged mode, because SMB B-Nodes (like eCS) dislike NAT. And of
course there are dozens of other problems with dual NAT (the internet
connection uses NAT too).

No idea abut Mac hosts. Mine is Linux (debian Lenny with backport kernel).
The eCS VM is stable for many weeks. This is definitely better than I
have ever seen on real hardware (the same installation!). The clipboard
works with eCS guests (but unfortunately not with Ubuntu guests).

Did you analyze at which point the networks is broken. Does TCP/IP work
(arp, ping)? What about lantran.log? Is only SMB not working? There are
several samba versions with broken OS/2 support out. I heard that the
newer 3.5 are totally broken. I am using 3.2.something.

Which network card do you emulate? The default AMD one? This works, but
is incredibly slow. Switch to the Intel E1000. eCS ships with a driver
(E1000.OS2).

Post by Dushan
On EJECTing the Kingston from the Mac, the VM tab Devices -> USB Devices
now displays the Kingston drive in black. Putting the pointer over it
brings up an information box that gives its State as 'Available'. But
it never shows up in eCS, even after invoking Refresh Removeable Media.
After this invocation, the Kingston re-appears on the Mac desktop. If
the drive is again EJECTed from the Mac, the Devices -> USB Devices tab
is inert, not showing any USB devices at all.

Maybe you mac exclusively locks the device.

Post by Dushan
Note that for OS/2 (and eCS) Guest
Additions does not (yet) provide Shared Folders.

I know, and I would wonder if this will change.
I think you should look for the networking. This is used by almost any
user and well tested. Check whether you have a problem with the
virtualization or some other networking problem at higher protocol
levels like SMB.


Marcel

[Dushan]

Post by Marcel Müller

Post by Dushan
From the command line I removed NetDrive from automatic loading, and
then eCS could boot.

Netdrive/samba is highly buggy and unstable. If it works for you, be
lucky. If not, throw it away as far as you can. It will compromise your
system.
I use eCS (quite old version 1.05) just now in VBox 3.2.12 (and earlier
versions too). Networking was just fine from the first second. I am
using bridged mode, because SMB B-Nodes (like eCS) dislike NAT. And of
course there are dozens of other problems with dual NAT (the internet
connection uses NAT too).
No idea abut Mac hosts. Mine is Linux (debian Lenny with backport kernel).
The eCS VM is stable for many weeks. This is definitely better than I
have ever seen on real hardware (the same installation!). The clipboard
works with eCS guests (but unfortunately not with Ubuntu guests).
Did you analyze at which point the networks is broken. Does TCP/IP work
(arp, ping)? What about lantran.log? Is only SMB not working? There are
several samba versions with broken OS/2 support out. I heard that the
newer 3.5 are totally broken. I am using 3.2.something.
Which network card do you emulate? The default AMD one? This works, but
is incredibly slow. Switch to the Intel E1000. eCS ships with a driver
(E1000.OS2).

Post by Dushan
On EJECTing the Kingston from the Mac, the VM tab Devices -> USB Devices
now displays the Kingston drive in black. Putting the pointer over it
brings up an information box that gives its State as 'Available'. But
it never shows up in eCS, even after invoking Refresh Removeable Media.
After this invocation, the Kingston re-appears on the Mac desktop. If
the drive is again EJECTed from the Mac, the Devices -> USB Devices tab
is inert, not showing any USB devices at all.

Maybe you mac exclusively locks the device.

Post by Dushan
Note that for OS/2 (and eCS) Guest
Additions does not (yet) provide Shared Folders.

I know, and I would wonder if this will change.
I think you should look for the networking. This is used by almost any
user and well tested. Check whether you have a problem with the
virtualization or some other networking problem at higher protocol
levels like SMB.

Marcel, thanks much for your very informative replies. Now to digest
them and read the URLs you provided. About time I learned a bit about
networking instead of relying on help.

- Dushan