USB devices aren't presented to guest OS Windows

[Volans]

I am a newby with a problem.

I use Virtualbox to run WIndows XP in a Fedora 9 system. What is happening is that I can't access any kind of USB device. I mean, Virtualbox shows the USB device (it's recognised) and I can see it (the type of device) but the device presence isn't transmitted to Windows. It exists to Linux and to Virtualbox, but not for windows. :S

I checked "Device manager" in the guest system and USB drivers are there, so why isn't the device presented to the guest OS? I needed that to exchange files between guest-host, since I have an USB HD, and I can't put file sharing working...


Thank you!

[baloo56]

Hi Volans,

I am far from an expert in VirtualBox as I just loaded it today on top of Ubuntu Hardy Heron. The installation of VirtualBox and WinXP went very smoothly and the only problem I had was no active USB ports on the WinXP Guest. I could see them Grayed Out but they were not active. I added the VirtualBox Guest additions but it was two posts that I found while researching the problem that got me up and running. Please check out following posts, skip down to the section on USB Setup and note their is duplication in the posts. However, pay particular attention to the addition to the /etc/fstab/ file in "Hardy Heron, using USB devices" post that was the final step that got me up and running. I realize that you are running Fedora 9 but this should give you some insight into what is required. Regards.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=242936
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=770745

[Dhiren.Hulkhoree]

Hi

This is what I tried and it worked (I using F9 host):

create a new group 'usbusers'
add yourself to this group
modify file /etc/fstab by inserting the line below :
none /sys/bus/usb/drivers usbfs devgid=503,devmode=664 0 0

Note: the devgid number (here 503) should correspond to your devgid for your 'usbusers' group

then mount -a;

restart Vbox; this should work ( it's almost a pleasure to hear the sound when you connect and disconnect a usb device)

For me windowsxp (guest) recognised my devices (flash disk, scanner) but my mouse pointer has disappeared; I need to use keyboard to shutdown windows; to get mouse pointer back in Fedora9 I disconnected and reconnected the mouse. Let me know if you find a solution. Thanks