Windows VM won't recognise external hard drive

General Help
1

I have successfully set up my Windows 10 VM and installed the Spice Guest tools, but it won't recognise my external hard drive. I've tried searching online for solutions but I don't understand any of the answers and I can't find any of the things they suggest I click on in either Zorin or Windows. I'd like an answer in plain English that I can understand to put this right!

2

Are you using Virtual Box? I prefer virt-manager as you can redirect USB connections on the fly:

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1 Like
3

I think so - I used "Boxes" from the applications on Zorin. If I've already done this, is it possible to change to virt-manager if that's what you'd advise? As always with all this Linux stuff, everything I change is brand new territory and I'm still in kindergarten!

4

I don't know about Boxes in respect of how it creates VM images and whether they can be imported to virt-manager.

According to Brave A.I. you can:

" Yes, GNOME Boxes images can be imported into virt-manager because both applications use QEMU disk images and the underlying KVM/QEMU virtualization stack.

  • Automatic Discovery : Since GNOME Boxes creates user-level virtual machines by default, they often appear automatically in virt-manager if you connect to the "QEMU/KVM User Session" rather than the default system session.

  • Manual Migration : If the VM does not appear, you can create a new virtual machine in virt-manager and manually attach the existing disk image files, which are typically located in ~/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images/ .

  • Flatpak Limitation : If you are using the Flatpak version of GNOME Boxes, the virtualization stack is sandboxed within the container, making it difficult or impossible to access the socket or images from external tools like virt-manager without workarounds.

AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts."

I have only ever imported .vhd images from Virtual Box which is what I did when I migrated from FerenOS to Devuan.

Just a tip about using virt-manager. Don't use the default location the virt-manager uses, which is /var. This can soon fill up if creating multiple images and lead to a non-bootable system.
Instead create a folder in /home. You can call it whatever you like. You should also create a backup of your VM's in a different folder should the current VM you are using become crippled.

5

Thanks. Please see my reply to you on the other thread. Everything is now up and running with Virtual Machine Manager. I checked the var folder in home and it only has one folder - app - and Virtual Machine Manager isn't in there.

6

I'm a bit concerned about this /var business. If I look at the var folder in "home," there's nothing in it that relates to the VM. However, in the Virtual Machine Manager settings it does say the default folder is var, but it doesn't allow you to change it. If I create a new folder in "home" how do I get it to put stuff in there? You say I should create a backup of the VM in a different folder - do you mean a different folder to var, or a different folder to the new one I have to set up? Not clear how to do any of this!

7

I will try and get round to doing a video to show you, but I am in the throes of modifying a text voluntarily for a QTVI in another part of the country for one of their students who needs a book in Font 48.

8

Thank you very much, Swarfendor! It sounds as if you are very busy at the moment. No worries - I'd be grateful for help with this when you have time. I hope your current project goes well - it sounds a worthy cause!