Failed to access the USB subsystem

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Solaris hosts.
Post Reply
gu99roax
Posts: 18
Joined: 20. Aug 2010, 19:36
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Win XP x64, Win7 x64, Win Server 2008 x64

Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by gu99roax »

I fist installed VirtualBox 3.2.14 to run a virtual machine and everything worked fine but some authentication that I failed to set up. So I decided to upgrade to 4.1.8 but then error messages with the USB Proxy Services started to appear. The performance of the virtual machine was now crap so I decided to revert back to 3.2.14. The problem is that the errors still remain despite the reversion, the network settings are now messed up and the machine is still slow. I did delete all xmls (both global and the machine's xml files) but that didn't help.

The error I get appears whenever I enter the Settings for my virtual machine and the error message is:

Failed to access the USB subsystem Could not load the Host USB Proxy service (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).
Details (1 of 2):
Result Code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x00004005)
Component Host
Interface IHost {35b004f4-7806-bfa8-d1208adba7e5}
Callee IMachine {5d9212cb-a5c0-48b7-bbc1-3fa2ba2ee6d2}
Details (2 of 2):
Result Code E_ACCESSDENIED (0x80070005)
Component Console
Interface IConsole {6375231a-c17c-464b-92cb-ae9e128d71c3}

I could not find any entries related to this error in the VBox.log or /var/adm/messages. The FAQ and the manual pages don't give any clue on how to resolve this issue.
gu99roax
Posts: 18
Joined: 20. Aug 2010, 19:36
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Win XP x64, Win7 x64, Win Server 2008 x64

Re: Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by gu99roax »

I also get errors when trying to add or remove "Host-only" networks in the Virtualbox - settings window. VERR_ACCESS_DENIED and NS_ERROR_FAILURE in details ensue.

The command

# chmod a+rw /devices/pseudo/vboxusbmon\@0\:vboxusbmon

appears to have resolved the issue with the USB proxy. I also removed the SUNWvbox package, everything in ~/.VirtualBox and ~/VirtualBox\ VMs and rebooted the system before I re-installed the 3.2.14 package and manually reconfigured my virtual machine. I made sure that all peripherals and (virtual) share paths were correct. That fixed the sluggishness of the VM and the networking issues that I had with this VM.

Regarding the Host-Only window I got confused because it said "DHCP server" and I thought it would make VBox act as a DHCP server on my network messing with my router. Now I understand that Host-Only merely means a local virtual network that is not visible to the router or any other computer on the physical network.
Ramshankar
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 793
Joined: 7. Jan 2008, 16:17

Re: Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by Ramshankar »

Please do not chmod a+rw the USB monitor device. Instead, add yourself to the vboxuser group.

P.S. It's documented in the manual.
Oracle Corp.
neerajblr
Posts: 9
Joined: 28. Oct 2009, 14:38
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Solaris 10

Re: Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by neerajblr »

I am using solaris 11 as a base OS and Virtual Box 4.1.8 on top of it.
My guest OS is UBUNTU (i think its 10).

While getting into the Settings of any Guest OS (UBUNTU, OEL) i am getting error
Failed to access rhe USB subsystem
Could not load the Host USB Proxy service:
VERR_ACCESS_DENIED

I (user "neeraj) is executing VirtualBox and he is member of vboxuser group as shown below:-
$ cat /etc/group | grep vbox
vboxuser::100:neeraj

Any help is appreciated.

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

Re: Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by Ramshankar »

What is the output of "groups" and "ls -l /dev/vboxusbmon" ?
Oracle Corp.
neerajblr
Posts: 9
Joined: 28. Oct 2009, 14:38
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Solaris 10

Re: Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by neerajblr »

# groups
root other bin sys adm uucp mail tty lp nuucp daemon

# ls -l /dev/vboxusbmon
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 41 2012-02-02 22:37 /dev/vboxusbmon -> ../devices/pseudo/vboxusbmon@0:vboxusbmon

Important
=========
It seems to be resolved.

Recently i installed updates on Solaris11 and this issues started after that.
I did few things as listed below:-

usermod -G vboxuser neeraj #found somewhere in the forum
un-installed the exetension pack as well VirtualBox
re-installed the Virtualbox and extension pack

It didn't resolved , seems to be waiting for the RE-BOOT of solaris (base OS).
after the reboot i don't see that error as reported by me earlier.

thanks a ton
Ramshankar
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 793
Joined: 7. Jan 2008, 16:17

Re: Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by Ramshankar »

neerajblr wrote:# groups
root other bin sys adm uucp mail tty lp nuucp daemon
Shows you're not yet part of the "vboxuser" group... relogin. You don't need to reboot, you just need to relogin for it work. This has already been mentioned in the User Manual.
Oracle Corp.
hmassmann
Posts: 3
Joined: 28. Nov 2012, 12:09

Re: Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by hmassmann »

Hi everyone,

This is my first post. I need some advice regarding a Solaris host that is showing the same error. My problem is that the vboxuser group does not exist after the installation of VirtualBox. Manually creating the group (I read that this is not the crrect way to try and fix I know) and adding my users to it does not solve the problem. (I installed and added root to this group as per User Manual.)

I'm running the latest version downloaded from the main site. 4.2.4-81684.

I've also removed it and installed an older version but no joy : 4.1.22r80657
bash-3.2# ls -l /dev/vbox*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 35 Nov 28 10:29 /dev/vboxdrv -> ../devices/pseudo/vboxdrv@0:vboxdrv
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 33 Nov 6 12:21 /dev/vboxflt -> ../devices/pseudo/clone@0:vboxflt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 33 Nov 6 12:21 /dev/vboxnet -> ../devices/pseudo/clone@0:vboxnet
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 36 Nov 6 12:21 /dev/vboxnet0 -> ../devices/pseudo/vboxnet@0:vboxnet0
as you can see I have no file called vboxusbmon in /dev/.

I've created the group manually but I've also read in this thread that this is not the way to fix it.

Here is my system info:
bash-3.2# cat /etc/release
Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 s10x_u10wos_17b X86
Copyright (c) 1983, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Assembled 23 August 2011
bash-3.2# uname -a
SunOS <hostnamexxx> 5.10 Generic_147441-19 i86pc i386 i86pc

Any help with this please?

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

Re: Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by Ramshankar »

VirtualBox support for host USB devices does not work for Solaris 10 hosts. You need Solaris 11
Oracle Corp.
hmassmann
Posts: 3
Joined: 28. Nov 2012, 12:09

Re: Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by hmassmann »

Thanks, that explains it then :D .

Appreciate the time taken to reply.
hmassmann
Posts: 3
Joined: 28. Nov 2012, 12:09

Re: Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by hmassmann »

I forgot to ask though; do you know why the installer does not create the vboxuser group during the install?
Ramshankar
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 793
Joined: 7. Jan 2008, 16:17

Re: Failed to access the USB subsystem

Post by Ramshankar »

hmassmann wrote:I forgot to ask though; do you know why the installer does not create the vboxuser group during the install?
That is because the vboxuser group is currently only applicable for USB & USB monitor device accesses from the VirtualBox process and on Solaris 10 since it is not supported the vboxuser group is meaningless.
Oracle Corp.
Post Reply