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I have a Windows 7 VM running in VirtualBox, on Ubuntu 12.10. I have a couple of problems that I'm thinking might be related, but I have no idea how to figure out the root problem.

  1. Whenever it installs updates, it takes forever to install and power down
  2. I have tried to install drivers (from those included in Windows) on a couple of devices, and the operation has timed out.

Any pointers or suggestions on how to figure out what's wrong would be great!

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    "it takes forever" - How long is this? I mean, on a regular hard disk drive on a VM it can take 2+ hours for me to install updates for Windows 7, then SP another hour, etc. And "the operation has timed out" <-- what operation? what window did that appear? In Windows, from VirtualBox? Please clear up some vague parts of your question.
    – gertvdijk
    Jan 16, 2013 at 23:04

2 Answers 2

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In regards to the updates, it could just be how long it takes. I've had updates take up to 1 hour on my netbook with 7 before, and I know of people who have had much longer.

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You can't usually install drivers for real hardware in a Virtual Machine.

Windows 7, when installed under VirtualBox can't access, for example, the real graphics card or network card, it can only access a "virtual" or "emulated" one. If you try to install the real drivers for your hardware it will time-out, as it can't find them. But you should install the "Guest additions", this package contains all the drivers needed for the virtual hardware.

Sometimes, you can access the real hardware, it usually happens when you connect USB devices directly to the Virtual Machine, or when using some special advanced configurations. In those cases you need (and can) install the real drivers.

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