VirtualBox

[Tins]

Is anyone else using VBox on a Mac? I use it, and usually it works fine, but no matter what I do I can't get it to recognize my USB on the host. Tried all the help stuff I can find. Guest machines are Win 7 64 bit and Win 10 ditto. About the only thing I can think of is that my Mac is 12 years old but runs Sonoma via patch and graphics accel. This makes BootCamp a non option.
Clues anyone?

[simonmelb]

Yes I’ve used it a bit on 2 Mac laptops and works fine with Win7 guest OS. My current Mac is a 2015 MPP running the last official OS it supports and I did stock standard VMWare install. So no tricks I’m aware of.

i just shut down the guest OS, go into settings for the VM and make sure usb in on.

Then when the vm is running go to the VMware settings menu for that vm and select the usb item ( eg usb drive) to activate it which grabs it from the host os and turns it on for the guest os.

[Tins]

Yes I’ve used it a bit on 2 Mac laptops and works fine with Win7 guest OS. My current Mac is a 2015 MPP running the last official OS it supports and I did stock standard VMWare install. So no tricks I’m aware of.

i just shut down the guest OS, go into settings for the VM and make sure usb in on.

Then when the vm is running go to the VMware settings menu for that vm and select the usb item ( eg usb drive) to activate it which grabs it from the host os and turns it on for the guest os.
Thanks Simon. I guess all I can try and do is try again. Or boot into Big Sur or Catalina and try again there.

[Tins]

I created a new vm. Meant a clean install of w10. Seriously, I don't know why people put up with that crap. nag nag nag. ad ad ad. AND it took ages. I only need the crap for one thing. I've had enough of ms nagging me for one day, verifying I'm a human etc. it's MY computer, Gates, not yours.

Ahh, back in the real world. Go to sleep, iMac. I promise to turn the awful thing off tomorrow.

[BradC]

For "temporary install" virtual machines, I grab a "trial" copy of Microsoft Windows 10 LTSC. No "store" or any nagware, just enough OS to install whatever bit of windows software I need at the time and good for 90 days. The install process is easy, so I just spin one up when I need it (like last night to install a firmware update on a new Ricoh printer).