32bit Color in Windows 2k on VirtualBox - No Guest Additions
If you have ever wanted to get more than 16 colors in Windows 2000 on Virtual Box this is the post for you. Now as most of you know there are plenty of drivers to get 256 colors in Windows ME, Windows 95, and Windows 98. But for some reason it is hard to find one for Windows 2000. Well that problem I have solved for you today, not only will you get 256 colors, you will get 32bit color and a higher screen resolution in Windows 2000 on Virtual Box. Lets start.
First we need to download the driver files. Download the ISO from this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3rNYiscWrzlak5mSW5oeG9xd1U/view?usp=sharing. Since I have already compressed the driver into an ISO file we can now load it into the VM.
Start your Windows 2000 Virtual Machine and then click the "Devices" tab, then "Optical Drives". Now click "Chose disk image...". Select wherever you downloaded the ISO.
Now we can install the driver. Get to your Windows 2000 desktop and right click "My Computer". Now click the "Hardware" tab and click "Device Manager".
Now find and double click "Video Controller (VGA Compatible)". Get to the "Driver" tab. Click "Properties" and then click "Update Driver".
A "Upgrade Device Driver" Wizard should open. Click "Next". Leave the default option and click "Next" again. Uncheck everything but the "Specify a location" option. Click "Next". A new window should open.
Click "Browse". Click "My Computer" then the
drive. There should be three files: VBoxGuest, VBoxMouse, and VBoxVideo. Double click on the "VBoxVideo" file. Then click "OK". Click "Next". A Microsoft digital signature window will come up, ignore this and click "Yes". The Wizard may ask you for "VBoxVideo.sys" so click "Browse" and select the file. You are now done!
As you may have noticed the screen resolution has already increased. To enable 32bit color get to you desktop and right click. Then click "Properties" and the "Settings" tab. From the list click "True Color (32 bit)". You can also adjust the screen resolution at this time. Once you are done click "Apply". Oh yeah.
And there you go. If you need help or have a comment make sure to tell me below. Also I have tested this on a real copy of Windows 2000 on a real machine, it does not work so don't bother.
First we need to download the driver files. Download the ISO from this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3rNYiscWrzlak5mSW5oeG9xd1U/view?usp=sharing. Since I have already compressed the driver into an ISO file we can now load it into the VM.
Start your Windows 2000 Virtual Machine and then click the "Devices" tab, then "Optical Drives". Now click "Chose disk image...". Select wherever you downloaded the ISO.
Now we can install the driver. Get to your Windows 2000 desktop and right click "My Computer". Now click the "Hardware" tab and click "Device Manager".
Now find and double click "Video Controller (VGA Compatible)". Get to the "Driver" tab. Click "Properties" and then click "Update Driver".
A "Upgrade Device Driver" Wizard should open. Click "Next". Leave the default option and click "Next" again. Uncheck everything but the "Specify a location" option. Click "Next". A new window should open.
Click "Browse". Click "My Computer" then the
drive. There should be three files: VBoxGuest, VBoxMouse, and VBoxVideo. Double click on the "VBoxVideo" file. Then click "OK". Click "Next". A Microsoft digital signature window will come up, ignore this and click "Yes". The Wizard may ask you for "VBoxVideo.sys" so click "Browse" and select the file. You are now done!
As you may have noticed the screen resolution has already increased. To enable 32bit color get to you desktop and right click. Then click "Properties" and the "Settings" tab. From the list click "True Color (32 bit)". You can also adjust the screen resolution at this time. Once you are done click "Apply". Oh yeah.
And there you go. If you need help or have a comment make sure to tell me below. Also I have tested this on a real copy of Windows 2000 on a real machine, it does not work so don't bother.
Comments
Because you have to install it as a whole new program and the availability of the driver I can not confirm. So frankly this way is less complex.
This post is about how to get better graphics in Windows 2000. Not really anything else. If you want to make a tutorial for Additions and other driver boosts please do.
But for normal users, yes they should simply install the Virtual Box Guest Extensions instead.
Also, I'll just mention that Virtual Box still does not emulate a specific model of video card. So with Windows 9x and many other OSes one would need to use a vesa driver such as VBEMP or Scitech Display Doctor otherwise they will be stuck with basic IBM VGA.
The proper way is by installing the additions. This is a workaround. There's nothing wrong with presenting a workaround as long as you advertise it as such.
How is installing guest additions complex? You just run the installer and click next and every time you see a driver security warning just click "yes". I can except you for doing this on a Windows 9x OS or Windows NT 3.x but in Windows NT 4 and later NT OSes the drivers are a button away in the "install guest additions" option when you've finish insatlling your OS.
Your article helped me a lot! Thank you very much.
Thanks for posting this! Very easy to install!
I would recommend using guest addons over this, as discussed above… 3 years ago. But if you can’t get it to work or don’t want to use guest addons this method works fine.
Anywhoo - and even though this solution will only benefit those who don't have guest additions installed - for posterity I've uploaded the ISO to archive.org.
Included a ZIP of drivers too.
https://archive.org/details/32bit-color-in-windows-2k-on-virtual-box-no-guest-additions