Can't use RDP and USB 2.0 on 4.1 anymore

[t_heit]

Hello,

I'm running several virtual machines with different versions of Windows >= XP on my Solaris machine that has VirtualBox 4.0.10 installed. The VMs are running under their own user account "vmtest" who as only user rights, i.e. no roles assigned apart from one that allows the user to start the VMs via SMF. So far everything works fine. Today I decided to upgrade to the recently released 4.1.0, and now I have several problems:

1) I can't connect to a VM by RDP anymore although the actual extension pack is installed.
2) Starting the VirtualBox GUI, choosing a VM and clicking on "Settings" results in a warning dialog:

Failed to access the USB subsystem.
Could not load the Host USB Proxy service: VERR_ACCESS_DENIED.

Details:

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x00004005)
Component:   Host
Interface:   IHost {dab4a2b8-c735-4f08-94fc-9bec84182e2f}
Callee:      IMachine {5eaa9319-62fc-4b0a-843c-0cb1940f8a91}

3) Trying to install the extension pack using the "vmtest" user doesn't work (correctly):

Failed to install the Extension Pack /export/home/thorsten/Downloads/Programme/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.1.0-73009.vbox-extpack.
The installer failed with exit code 1: VBoxExtPackHelperApp: error: Unable to locate 'pkexec'. Try perform the operation using VBoxManage running as root.

Details:

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component:   ExtPackManager
Interface:   IExtPackManager {3295e6ce-b051-47b2-9514-2c588bfe7554}

Even after I installed the extension pack as root, neither does RDP work nor does the warning dialog concerning USB disappear. (BTW: What is "pkexec"?!?)

4) Trying to reinstall the extension pack as "vmtest" doesn't work:

Failed to install the Extension Pack /export/home/thorsten/Downloads/Programme/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.1.0-73009.vbox-extpack.

The installer failed with exit code 1: VBoxExtPackHelperApp: error: Failed to set directory permissions on '/opt/VirtualBox/ExtensionPacks': VERR_ACCESS_DENIED

rcExit=1.

Details:

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component:   ExtPackManager
Interface:   IExtPackManager {3295e6ce-b051-47b2-9514-2c588bfe7554}

BTW, I wasn't asked for a root password in that case...


Although the GUI says the pack is installed it seems to me to be not the case.

Anyone else here having the same problems?


PS: I'm using VirtualBox 4.1.0 under Solaris 11 Express.

[Ramshankar]

http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/9261

[t_heit]

Thanks for the hint. On my first attempts that didn't help.

After I completely uninstalled VirtualBox, removed the extension folder, and then reinstalled everything, it seems to work. Very strange...

[Ramshankar]

You need to logout after adding yourself to the 'vboxuser' group and re-login for the changes to take effect.

[t_heit]

I was logged in using my normal user account which has nothing to do with the one I'm using for VirtualBox. Instead I opened a new terminal window and su'ed to that user. Before starting the VirtualBox GUI and after adding that user to the vboxuser group I ensured that there were no more running processes owned by that user, but it simply didn't work for whatever reason.

Anyway, I finally got it working after a complete removal and reinstall.

[ch.eick]

Hi together,

I have nearly the same problem.

Oracle Solaris 11 Express b150
VirtualBox 4.1.0
Extensions 4.1.0
WinXP and Win7 guest systems; all patches installed

Running VB in the global zone, I'm able to choose the USB device:
/etc/group
vboxuser:username1,username2

That's fine insofar.

The problem starts by running VB in zone. I configured
snip
add device
set match=/dev/vboxdrv
end
add device
set match=/dev/vboxusbmon
end
snip

and also in /etc/group
vboxuser:username1,username2

The guest installation it self is running fine, but I'm not able to give an USB device to the guest.
The message is "no device available"

After installation and configuration a zone halt/boot was done.

Any comment is welcome
regards
Chris

[Ramshankar]

Has USB ever worked from a zone? I'd be surprised if it ever did.

You've given access to /dev/vboxusbmon from the zone, which is fine. But that's only one part of the problem. VBoxUSBMon is a monitor driver that manages filters and talks to the actual USB client driver, which is VBoxUSB. For every device captured by VirtualBox, the client driver creates a device node via which the VM process talks to it and the USB device. This device node will end up somewhere in /devices/, depending on how your USB hardware is configured. There is no single, fixed location for them.

To grant access to a VirtualBox-captured USB device from a zone you will need to add the exact path to the device node created by the VBoxUSB client driver when the device is plugged in/captured by it. Check the syslog (/var/adm/messages), iirc, I might be printing the captured device node path there. Unfortunately, you will have to manually configure your zone for every device, plus plugging the USB device into a different USB port would make it inaccessible as the device node path will change.

[ch.eick]

Hi Ramshankar,

thanks for your quick answer, I will try/check it tomorrow, because I'm short on time today.

And regarding to your question, it must be possible to use USB out of a zone. There is a short
description in the manual and a couple of threads in some forums.

regards
Chris