Issues with external USB 3.0 on WIN7 guest

[MarkFoley]

I have an external USB drive on my Linux host. I am running VirtualBox 5.1.12 and have a Windows 7 guest. I have added the Intel USB 3.0 driver per the instructions in the Manual, chapter 12.3.1. I have set the VM settings for USB to 3.0 and have selected the correct USB device. I can access the drive from the guest, but writing to it, even relatively small files, takes a very long time. I am trying to use this drive for an Acronis backup. The backup never completes and gives the error "The last backup has failed. Write Error." Examination of the backup log indicates a failure trying to write to the drive similar to the effects of insufficient power to the drive or as if the cable was disconnected during the write (which it was not). This has been consistently failing daily for a week. I have been doing this exact same thing on 3 other WIN7 (and an XP) guests for many months -- but all of them are using USB 2.0. I believe this has something to do with USB 3.0. The problem is, the host computer only has USB 3.0.

Is there something I can do?

[socratis]

Please read the following: USB basics and troubleshooting.

[MarkFoley]

I checked you link. I saw nothing there specifically related to my issues. I've run the various commands posted in your last link, shown below. Also, I've attached an image of the USB settings.

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$ su tmaher --command "VBoxManage -version"
5.1.12r112440

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$ su tmaher --command "VBoxManage list extpacks"
Extension Packs: 1
Pack no. 0:   Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
Version:      5.1.12
Revision:     112440
Edition:
Description:  USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 Host Controller, Host Webcam, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM, Disk Encryption, NVMe.
VRDE Module:  VBoxVRDP
Usable:       true
Why unusable:

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$ su tmaher --command "VBoxManage list usbhost"
Host USB Devices:

UUID:               261c4f0b-55e2-4874-9dfb-926e5f8bf7eb
VendorId:           0x0480 (0480)
ProductId:          0xa202 (A202)
Revision:           3.21 (0321)
Port:               3
USB version/speed:  3/Super
Manufacturer:       TOSHIBA
Product:            External USB 3.0
SerialNumber:       20161112007751F
Address:            sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb4/4-4//device:/dev/vboxusb/004/003
Current State:      Busy

UUID:               517dddd0-ec70-4655-b107-9a8b3a74936d
VendorId:           0x0480 (0480)
ProductId:          0xa202 (A202)
Revision:           3.21 (0321)
Port:               2
USB version/speed:  3/Super
Manufacturer:       TOSHIBA
Product:            External USB 3.0
SerialNumber:       20161115004239F
Address:            sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb4/4-3//device:/dev/vboxusb/004/002
Current State:      Available

UUID:               3b509a3e-f548-49bd-9afa-9a8ce666c7fc
VendorId:           0x046d (046D)
ProductId:          0xc509 (C509)
Revision:           25.4 (2504)
Port:               0
USB version/speed:  1/Low
Manufacturer:       Logitech
Product:            USB Receiver
Address:            sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.4/0000:05:00.0/usb7/7-1//device:/dev/vboxusb/007/002
Current State:      Busy

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$ su tmaher --command "VBoxManage list usbfilters"
Global USB Device Filters:

<none>

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$ su tmaher --command "VBoxManage showvminfo WIN7"
Name:            WIN7
Groups:          /
Guest OS:        Windows 7 (64-bit)
UUID:            5d32e875-c018-4e3d-bbfb-234acbcfa837
Config file:     /home/tmaher/VirtualBox VMs/WIN7/WIN7.vbox
Snapshot folder: /home/tmaher/VirtualBox VMs/WIN7/Snapshots
Log folder:      /home/tmaher/VirtualBox VMs/WIN7/Logs
Hardware UUID:   5d32e875-c018-4e3d-bbfb-234acbcfa837
Memory size:     8192MB
Page Fusion:     off
VRAM size:       256MB
CPU exec cap:    100%
HPET:            off
Chipset:         piix3
Firmware:        BIOS
Number of CPUs:  1
PAE:             off
Long Mode:       on
Triple Fault Reset: off
APIC:            on
X2APIC:          off
CPUID Portability Level: 0
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode:  message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI:            on
IOAPIC:          on
BIOS APIC mode:  APIC
Time offset:     0ms
RTC:             local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Nested Paging:   on
Large Pages:     off
VT-x VPID:       on
VT-x unr. exec.: on
Paravirt. Provider: Default
Effective Paravirt. Provider: HyperV
State:           saved (since 2017-05-19T15:26:49.825000000)
Monitor count:   1
3D Acceleration: on
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Tracing Enabled: off
Allow Tracing to Access VM: off
Tracing Configuration:
Autostart Enabled: off
Autostart Delay: 0
Default Frontend:
Storage Controller Name (0):            SATA
Storage Controller Type (0):            IntelAhci
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0):  30
Storage Controller Port Count (0):      2
Storage Controller Bootable (0):        on
SATA (0, 0): /data/VirtualMachine/WIN7.vdi (UUID: d26992a8-bc86-464b-a5c1-08543da3aa04)
SATA (1, 0): /dev/sr0 (UUID: 00445644-0000-0000-2f64-65762f737230)
NIC 1:           MAC: 08002768327E, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'wlan0', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: allow-vms, Bandwidth group: none
NIC 2:           disabled
NIC 3:           disabled
NIC 4:           disabled
NIC 5:           disabled
NIC 6:           disabled
NIC 7:           disabled
NIC 8:           disabled
Pointing Device: USB Tablet
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1:          disabled
UART 2:          disabled
UART 3:          disabled
UART 4:          disabled
LPT 1:           disabled
LPT 2:           disabled
Audio:           enabled (Driver: PulseAudio, Controller: HDA, Codec: STAC9221)
Clipboard Mode:  Bidirectional
Drag and drop Mode: Bidirectional
VRDE:            disabled
USB:             disabled
EHCI:            disabled
XHCI:            enabled

USB Device Filters:

Index:            0
Active:           yes
Name:             TOSHIBA External USB 3.0 [0315]
VendorId:         0480
ProductId:        a202
Revision:         0315
Manufacturer:     TOSHIBA
Product:          External USB 3.0
Remote:           0
Serial Number:    20161115004239F

Bandwidth groups:  <none>

Shared folders:

Name: 'tmp', Host path: '/tmp' (machine mapping), writable

Video capturing:    not active
Capture screens:    0
Capture file:       /home/tmaher/VirtualBox VMs/WIN7/WIN7.webm
Capture dimensions: 1024x768
Capture rate:       512 kbps
Capture FPS:        25

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size:      0 MB

[socratis]

I checked you link.

But you didn't read it with the appropriate attention. For example, one part in the filter creation states:

Under VM Settings » Port » USB, create a USB filter in your guest settings while the device is plugged in the host. Delete all values except Name, VendorID and ProductID.

and in another part it states:

USB3 with external drivers

• WinXP: you need to install the Renesas drivers in your Windows XP guest. The instructions are in the article "USB 3.0 support in XP guests".
• Win7: you need to install the Intel drivers in your Windows 7 guest. The drivers can be downloaded from Intel.

Did you install the Intel drivers in your Win7 guest?

[socratis]

You know what would help as well? If you searched for your previous questions: How do I add a USB device?

[MarkFoley]

Yes, I installed the driver, as mentioned in my OP. Also, I can write to the drive from the guest, but it takes a very long time, as I said. The problem is the time it takes. The backup software is timing out writing to the drive. It not that I can't access the drive at all. As I said, I've installed USB drives on 3 or 4 other WIN7 guest, no problem, but they were all USB 2.0.

[socratis]

Take a look at this thread: external usb remounts as readonly. It may contain the same characteristics as in your case. The proposed solution there was to upgrade to the latest test build (>115260). See if that helps you. Plus it contains some further information about the xHCI support in the Linux side.

[MarkFoley]

I updated to test build 5.1.23.r114517, per the link you referenced. It "helped" if you can call it that. While I didn't get a write error, the Acronis backup estimated 2 days and 10 hours to complete. I copied a 4G folder to the USB drive and it said it would take "about 1 Day". Yes, data was trickling over to the USB drive. I could see the files arriving -- slowly. I did try uninstalling and re-installing the USB from the VM. Yes, the Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver is installed.

My resolution was to give up. I removed the USB 3.0 from the VM settings, and I removed the drive itself from the 3.0 USB port and plugged it into a 2.0 port. I re-configured the VM settings accordingly and that worked. The Acronis backup took less than an hour. For me, USB 3.0 does not work on Linux host and WIN7 guest.

I don't know if anyone else is having troubles with USB 3.0 drives on WIN7 guests. If there is further interest on someone's part, the motherboard is MSI X99A SLI PLUS with Intel i7-6850K processor.