VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Solaris hosts.
guyverdh
Posts: 25
Joined: 7. Jan 2011, 23:02
Primary OS: Solaris
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP 32Bit

VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by guyverdh »

I last posted the vbox.log in my previous thread titled "VBox 4.0.0 on Solaris 11 Express - RIM Device / Bluetooth" - viewtopic.php?f=11&t=37858

Today I was working with an NTFS usb hard drive that I attached to the Solaris 11 host, then mapped into the VBox Guest (Windows XP 32Bit, SP3, etc).

During the middle of copying files off the HD down through the VBox share to the Solaris host, the drive just went away. The usb devices list no longer showed the drive, while the Solaris host still showed it attached.
Attachments
VBox.log
Log file during the session where the usb hard drive disappeared.
(83.63 KiB) Downloaded 46 times
drkirkby
Posts: 17
Joined: 4. Aug 2009, 19:15
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 11
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Solaris 10

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by drkirkby »

I'm running
OpenSolaris Development snv_134 X86

and have found that VirtualBox 4.1.6 has no USB available to any guest. I'm thinking of going back to VirtualBox 4.1.4, where it was working.

I think this is a general problem on Solaris - not just Solaris 11, which I'm not using.

Were there any USB related changes made between 4.1.4 and 4.1.6, which might have effected VirtualBox.

I happen to have installed a Windows 7 virtual machine, for the first time, but I doubt installing that would screw up the USB to my XP virtual machines.
Ramshankar
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 793
Joined: 7. Jan 2008, 16:17

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by Ramshankar »

Between 4.1.4 and 4.1.6 there have been NO Solaris specific USB changes in the code. And in the USB EHCI code I can't remember any real changes.

@ Original poster:
The log attached here doesn't show any USB devices being attached to the VM at all (except the VUSB HID which isn't relevant in this bug). Seems this isn't the matching VBox.log for the failed USB session.
Oracle Corp.
bqbauer
Posts: 159
Joined: 14. Dec 2008, 22:04

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by bqbauer »

drkirkby wrote:I'm running
OpenSolaris Development snv_134 X86

and have found that VirtualBox 4.1.6 has no USB available to any guest. I'm thinking of going back to VirtualBox 4.1.4, where it was working.

I think this is a general problem on Solaris - not just Solaris 11, which I'm not using.

Were there any USB related changes made between 4.1.4 and 4.1.6, which might have effected VirtualBox.

I happen to have installed a Windows 7 virtual machine, for the first time, but I doubt installing that would screw up the USB to my XP virtual machines.
In 4.1, you have to be a member of the group "vboxuser" to use USB devices. But if you had it working in 4.1.4, this shouldn't be the issue. I'm running 4.1.6 with Solaris 11 and so far I haven't discovered a problem.

Approximately how much data was the original poster copying when the device disappeared? I'd be willing to try the same. A test of a couple GB worked for me fine.
guyverdh
Posts: 25
Joined: 7. Jan 2011, 23:02
Primary OS: Solaris
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP 32Bit

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by guyverdh »

The volume was approximately 120gb. It ran for the better part of 30+ minutes.
Makes me wonder if the OS on one side or the other decided to *idle* the drive.
But with all the other issues I'm having with USB devices, I'm not going to rule out anything.
bqbauer
Posts: 159
Joined: 14. Dec 2008, 22:04

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by bqbauer »

I've been running a similar test for about two hours (so far) without issue. I've got a large directory of ISO images on my Solaris 11 host mounted by the XP guest as a VB shared folder. Then I connected a USB drive (NTFS) to the host and attached it to the guest as a USB device. I started copying from the shared folder to the USB drive using only the XP guest to do so. I think this is what you were doing, but moving the data in the opposite direction. I didn't have an external NTFS formatted drive with data, so I'm putting the data onto it instead of copying from it. I'll try moving the data in the other direction once this copy is finished.
bqbauer
Posts: 159
Joined: 14. Dec 2008, 22:04

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by bqbauer »

I've now had an NTFS USB drive connected to my Solaris 11 host for 10+ hours, and also that entire time it has been "connected" to my XP guest as a USB device. The first five hours were spent with the XP guest copying data from a VB folder share to the USB drive (as described previously). That went off without a hitch. Now I'm copying the other direction--from USB NTFS drive to shared folder. The latter process has been running for about 4.5 hours and so far there have been no disconnects or problems.

I'm wondering if it could be your host's resources, or perhaps if you're connecting the USB drive to an underpowered or faulty hub device? What are the host & guest specs? Could it be an AV or annoying Symantec product getting in the way? Perhaps try a different drive or different host if one is available. My configuration is as follows:

Host:
i7-2600 CPU (3.4GHz)
16GB memory
2x1TB SATA3 drives in a ZFS mirror.
Solaris 11
VB 4.1.6
ZFS ARC capped at 8GB

Guest:
1x CPU, not capped
2GB memory
XP SP3
Immunet 3.0.5 AV (ClamAV for Windoze)
Fixed size 2GB paging file
guyverdh
Posts: 25
Joined: 7. Jan 2011, 23:02
Primary OS: Solaris
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP 32Bit

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by guyverdh »

Core i7 620m - 2 Core 2.66Ghz
8GB RAM
Lenovo T510 Laptop
Solaris 11
VB 4.1.6
VB USB Extension Pack installed
My userid is in vboxuser group
500GB FDE drive (encrypted)


Windows XP SP3
VB 4.1.6 Extensions installed
McAfee Corporate AV / Endpoint Security / HIPs installed
bqbauer
Posts: 159
Joined: 14. Dec 2008, 22:04

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by bqbauer »

So I tried again on a different host (also Solaris 11), different XP SP3 guest, and with a different USB drive. This host is older--a Core2 Quad Q6600 and with 8GB memory. Still no issues with the USB.

I got to thinking--if you're on a laptop, have you tried going into your BIOS & disabling any power saving features to see if perhaps it is quiescing the USB or something else?
guyverdh
Posts: 25
Joined: 7. Jan 2011, 23:02
Primary OS: Solaris
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP 32Bit

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by guyverdh »

All power management already disabled.
Speedstep disabled.
solaris 11 service (power) disabled.

USB attached devices still time out, go away then come back randomly.
bqbauer
Posts: 159
Joined: 14. Dec 2008, 22:04

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by bqbauer »

Dunno what else I can offer. Not a developer--just a user like you trying to help duplicate the problem. I've tested on the Solaris 11 systems I have at my disposal that also have XP VMs. Can't reproduce your problem on those. If you have anything else on which to test, I guess I'd suggest that. Maybe you can throw something together temporarily for further testing. Could be that particular laptop & Solaris can't get along for USB. My t420s ThinkPad has Windows 7 because not until Solaris 11 was the hardware reasonably supported, otherwise I'd have tested on my laptop for you.

Perhaps Ramshankar, who is a VB developer (pretty sure) has something?
drkirkby
Posts: 17
Joined: 4. Aug 2009, 19:15
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 11
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Solaris 10

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by drkirkby »

bqbauer wrote:
drkirkby wrote:I'm running
OpenSolaris Development snv_134 X86

and have found that VirtualBox 4.1.6 has no USB available to any guest. I'm thinking of going back to VirtualBox 4.1.4, where it was working.
In 4.1, you have to be a member of the group "vboxuser" to use USB devices. But if you had it working in 4.1.4, this shouldn't be the issue. I'm running 4.1.6 with Solaris 11 and so far I haven't discovered a problem.

Approximately how much data was the original poster copying when the device disappeared? I'd be willing to try the same. A test of a couple GB worked for me fine.
You are getting me thinking now, perhaps it was not working in any 4.1.4, I just never noticed it. I thought it was working in 4.1.4, but can't swear to it.

I just logged into the host remotely and found I was NOT in the vboxuser group, which could explain the issue. It's not possible for me to remotely test this though - I need to be on the console to use the virtual machine, not 50 miles away.

Dave
drkirkby
Posts: 17
Joined: 4. Aug 2009, 19:15
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 11
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Solaris 10

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by drkirkby »

bqbauer wrote:
drkirkby wrote:I'm running
OpenSolaris Development snv_134 X86

and have found that VirtualBox 4.1.6 has no USB available to any guest. I'm thinking of going back to VirtualBox 4.1.4, where it was working.
In 4.1, you have to be a member of the group "vboxuser" to use USB devices. But if you had it working in 4.1.4, this shouldn't be the issue. I'm running 4.1.6 with Solaris 11 and so far I haven't discovered a problem.

Approximately how much data was the original poster copying when the device disappeared? I'd be willing to try the same. A test of a couple GB worked for me fine.
You are getting me thinking now, perhaps it was not working in any 4.1.4, I just never noticed it. I thought it was working in 4.1.4, but can't swear to it.

I just logged into the host remotely and found I was NOT in the vboxuser group, which could explain the issue. It's not possible for me to remotely test this though - I need to be on the console to use the virtual machine, not 50 miles away.

Dave
Ramshankar
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 793
Joined: 7. Jan 2008, 16:17

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by Ramshankar »

Sorry I've been swamped at work with other higher priority issues. Just had a quick peek at this thread.

If you're not in the vboxuser group you won't be able to list or attach any USB devices in the first place. If a USB device is already attached and works, then goes "offline" temporarily and re-appears it's definitely not because of the vboxuser group permissions. If you had no USB devices available at all with 4.1.6 then yes the first thing to check is to make sure you're part of the vboxuser group and to re-login for the changes to take effect.

As mentioned before, the log attached here doesn't show any signs of USB device disconnects (only vusb HID mouse attached). So I can only speculate...

Anyway, when I can squeeze-in some time I'll try to instrument a debug build with flood logging. I'll have to think a bit which parts needs to log what, and it might take me a while to get around to doing it & uploading the test build due to my focus on other tasks at the moment.
Oracle Corp.
guyverdh
Posts: 25
Joined: 7. Jan 2011, 23:02
Primary OS: Solaris
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP 32Bit

Re: VB 4.1.6 on Solaris 11 11/11 - USB Devices

Post by guyverdh »

That's fine.

In the mean time, I intend to build a standard Windows XP SP3 client sans corporate overhead to see if it sees the same issues.
Who knows what my corporate overlords are doing to the registry through domain enforced registry changes and McAfee anti-everything gunk.

I'll get back to this as soon as I can. This is tied to the other VB 4.0.0 on Solaris 11 entry. And yes, the logs aren't showing devices coming or going which is odd.
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