hellow . I am using a Acer Aspire One 722 netbook, running Windows 7 home OS. I have virtual box version 4.3.18 r96516. Linux Mint 17 is the guest. I am not getting any error messages. When linux Mint is running as the guest , it is getting no wifi signal. Mint seems to be running ok . One message says that the graphics card is not recognized. The wifi card on the windows side is working. How do I configure virtual box or linux mint 17 to see my wifi card ?

Side note: The computer I am using right now is an old Dell with no hard drive. I am using a 2 Gb flash drive with the exact same Linux Mint 17 ISO. My point being that this is a virtual box configuration problem and not a linux Mint 17 problem. Virtual Box says that their software works for 95% of computeres out there. So I guess my computer is the 5% statistical anomaly. So any one out there know how to configure virtual box so that linux mint 17 guest can receive a wifi signal?

Welcome to LinuxQuestions.

In a nutshell a guest can not use a wireless adapter or any built in device directly unless it is USB. The caveat is if the guest has direct control of the USB device it is then unavailable to host.

You can configure a virtual network adapter that uses the hosts wifi adapter. This looks like a decent tutorial.

https://blogs.oracle.com/fatbloke/en...in_virtualbox1

As above. The guest should be given a virtual network adaptor in NAT or Bridged mode which the guest OS, in this case Mint, will see as a cabled network adaptor (some kind of Intel by default).

It may be possible to use a usb wifi adapter if you want.

The normal solution is to let windows connect, then your nat connected client will receive connection over it's internal virtual nic to the real windows wifi.

I can confirm that is possible -- but the USB adapter cannot be used by the host OS, only the guest. It may be necessary to allow the USB adapter to be used by the guest in the VirtualBox settings then it is just a matter of installing the relevant drivers in the guest in the usual manner. I have had a Belkin USB wirelss G adaptor working with both Linux and Windows guests (seperately, the device is used exclusively by only one OS) on a Debian host just fine.

Have you enabled 3D in Virtualbox Settngs Menu ?

True, any usb so far is only a one OS attached device. Some modern systems can share more and more hardware between clients and hosts but that is more advanced than most people have or use.

I generally use a VM for the express purpose of bypassing the hassle of installing drivers. Most vm's are very common hardware and supported in many distro's as clients.

to the linuxquestions community . Thank you for your responses. 12-12-14 fri I responded to your communications and hit the post reply button nothing happened. My newbyness is showing. I tried your suggestions and it is still not getting wifi signals

The guest OS, Linux, does not and will not get WiFi signals. The Guest OS thinks it is attached to the network using an Intel Ethernet card with cable attached (if you leave things as default).
So, you should set your Linux virtual machine up to use the wired ethernet port. If you have left everything else as default and Windows is attached to the wireless network and, from there, the internet then the Linux guest should also be able to connect to the internet.

to the linuxquestions community, particularly in this virtualization forum, I thank you for your input. But another problem developed. My Acer will not boot.This is surreal.I have other linux and Windows and hardware questions and problems. Would it be best that I bring them up in other forums? Or bring them up here?

If your actual machine will not boot then, yes, it is better to start a new thread, possibly in hardware. Though this is, perhaps, not the best place to ask for help with a Windows boot issue if that is the case.

It's free to start a new topic.

Personally I like threads that are simple from start to finish without confusing changes in issues.

At the top of this thread it says "Please Mark this thread as solved if you feel a solution has been provided" My Acer computer is not running virtual box successfully. It is obvious to me any way. The management of this website did not put a button to click, saying the problem is too difficult and everyone wants to quit. What did MichaelK quote,""If you begin with the notion that something is impossible, then it obviously will be for you." - Unknown. What comes to my mind is , "All things are possible to those who believe or understand". Mark 9:23, in the bible. If you guys do not want to continue this discussion that is your prerogative. I do not like the word ,can't. I still am going to try untill I exhaust all my options or I become discouraged. I try to solve one problem and two others come up in the process. I have goals and other problems pop up. I would like to use your database of experience. You probable have more linux and virtualization knowledge than I . So after I post this, I shall check back in a day or so if there is any response or not.

My next steps are to attempt to virtualize the computer I am using right now (the old Dell, windows XP,no hard drive antiquated BIOS system) and to get a diagnostic ISO program onto the Acer.

I have been running this Dell on a LinuxMint 17 32 bit live usb flash drive. No hard drive. 1 GB memory. When system usage gets to around 500 MBs it freezes, using the live flash drive. I installed the Mint OS to another 8GB Toshiba flash drive, so it acts like a regular system except for the USB BUS lag. That is to be expected. So it is acting like a usb OS with a persistance drive. I also encrypted the harddrive/flashdrive and the home folder.When I first boot up the computer, I punch in two different passcodes. One for the encrypted flashdrive, and the second one to access the computer itself. While surfing the internet the memory usage went up to 750 MBs and it frooze. I think because of multi program conflict in the USB pipline.

My question /problem is , when I tried to install virtual box on this Dell, the command line comes up , I punch in the command for installation, and it asks for the logon passcode and when I attempt to put it in , the keyboard keys do not work. I still have access to the mouse, so that I can move the Terminal page around. And it did not freeze.I wonder if the disfunctional terminal has something to do with the encrypted flashdrive access.Or would you say what I am trying to accomplish is impossible period.

Let me now try to figure out where we are.

"been running this Dell on a LinuxMint 17 32 bit live usb flash drive"

"freezes, using the live flash drive"

"Mint OS to another " Persistence

" multi program conflict"

Somehow this all gets to this problem. "keyboard keys do not work" when trying to install virtualbox to something. (doesn't really solve this keyboard question)

1. You should be running full installs of an OS to usb drives. Any live image will bork on virtualbox. It needs to change the kernel and you can't do that in a live boot no matter if you have persistence.

Make a real install to a usb and then try installing virtualbox via software manager. Configure it per your OS if needed by running scripts or changing user permissions.

Are you sure the keyboard is frozen? Passwords are not echoed in a terminal window i.e. no '*' are displayed.