Ubuntu
virtualbox-ose package

How can I acces to my wireless adapter with an Ubuntu running on a Virtual Box?

Asked by mark kihill

I run an Ubuntu using a Oracle java virtual box. from there I can not find my wireless adapter to perform macchanger etc. Is there anyone know or is it even possible?

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Eliah Kagan
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Best Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#1

Oracle VirtualBox (which has nothing to do with Java) provides its virtual machines with virtual network adapters. So long as the host operating system is successfully connected to the Internet, guest systems can access it as well.

The virtual network adapter of your virtual Ubuntu system has its own (virtual) MAC address, which is not the same as the MAC address if your physical computer's physical wireless adapter. Running macchanger on your Ubuntu virtual machine won't enable you to change the MAC address on your physical computer's wireless adapter.

[(meta information, feel free to ignore) Since this question is fundamentally about the capabilities of VirtualBox virtual machines, I'm changing the package it's about from gnome-terminal to virtualbox-ose. Although the host machine running VirtualBox in this situation is probably a Windows system and probably not running the Open Source Edition, virtualbox-ose is the package that this topic relates to most.]

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Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#2

It occurs to me that there is one case where you might be able to effectively use macchanger from within VirtualBox on a physical wireless network adapter. If the wireless adapter is a USB device, then you should be able to attach it "directly" to the virtual machine. In this case, only the Ubuntu system in the virtual machine, and not the system running on the host machine, would be capable of using the wireless adapter (so the virtual machine would be connected to a network, but outside the virtual machine, you wouldn't have network connectivity, at least not through that adapter). VirtualBox Open Source edition does not have this capability (but the proprietary edition is freeware). See http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch03.html#id321700.

If you do this, it would probably be possible to share the guest system's network connection with the host system. Then it would be as if the guest (virtual) system were a computer with wireless, and the host (physical) system were a computer without wireless getting its network connection through the guest system. If your wireless adapter is a USB device and you want to try and set that up but need help, please feel free to post again.

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mark kihill (milo-2318) said : 		#3

Thank you for your complete answer.

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Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#4

If you have no further questions or need for assistance on this issue, you can mark this Question as Solved.

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mark kihill (milo-2318) said : 		#5

Thanks Eliah Kagan, that solved my question.