Configure NON-PASS-THRU webcam on Windows 10 guest

[MarkFoley]

I'm trying to configure a Logitech C270 USB webcam on my Windows 10 guest. I am trying to configure this directly with the Windows guest, not as a pass-thru from the Linux Host. I've successfully added the camera USB device in VBox Manager > Settings > USB. In the WIN10 guest, Device Manager tells me the latest driver for this camera is installed. When I run the Camera App the blue light on the camera itself turns on, but I (usually) only see black in the camera display window (once, there was a green box with a mottled blue stripe about 3/4 down from the top, after which the VM was hung). Also, WIN10 Settings > System > Sound shows the "Microphone (HD Webcam C270)" as the input device, but the microphone test registers nothing.

Is there a way to fix this?

Running VirtualBox 6.0.18 r136238 (QT5.6.1)

[MarkFoley]

Is a camera not doable as a direct connection to the WIN10 VM guest? If not, fine, I'll move on and use a real Windows computer for camera related task. If someone could give me a yes/no on this I'd appreciate it.

[mpack]

Nobody can give you a yes/no. For some it works, for others it doesn't. Basically, personal opinion here, if you're trying to control physical hardware then I wouldn't be using a VM, especially when said hardware is timing sensitive or high overhead.

Also you didn't provide a log, so it was impossible to offer tips that might improve performance.

[MarkFoley]

I've gone ahead and tried attaching as PASS-THRU and guess what? That works! I thought a direct access to the USB port would work better, but not at all.

So, that one is resolved, although not as a non-pass-thru, but whatever. Now I need to figure out how to get the mic attached to the camera working. If I have trouble with that, I'll post back.

THANKS!

[mpack]

I thought a direct access to the USB port would work better ...

Note for the future. In general there's no such thing as "direct access" (to hardware) from a VM. The physical hardware must always connect to a virtual interface of some kind, in this case a virtual USB controller, so there's no way a USB emulation was ever going to be more efficient than pass-through.

Btw "pass-through" is not a virtual hardware emulation, it is the Guest Additions driver talking to an extension pack plugin which uses the host hardware directly, which is why you have to install the extension pack and GAs for this to work.

I've seen all sorts of weird beliefs in this area, e.g. that raw disk access must be faster than using VDI. Wrong, raw disk access uses all the same virtual interfaces inside the VM as VDI, but also bypasses host file caching, making it slower, not faster than VDI.

[MarkFoley]

Thanks for that clarification. So noted "for the future!"