[Solved] Trouble Running Guest Only For Netgear Wireless Adapter

[Tuppo]

Sorry, I was able to upload both. Must have accidentally tried to upload the unzipped versions. As I said in the previous post, I'm not clear whether that .vbox file is what you are after. Please advise.

[socratis]

Now the picture is a lot clearer. You're trying to use the USB filter with the Realtek 802.11ac WLAN Adapter:

<DeviceFilter name="Realtek 802.11ac WLAN Adapter [0200]" active="true"
    vendorId="0846" productId="9052" revision="0200" manufacturer="Realtek "
    product="802.11ac WLAN Adapter " serialNumber="00e04c000001" remote="0"/>

At the same time, you have setup a NIC that's set to Bridged over a Realtek card:

<Adapter slot="1" enabled="true" MACAddress="08002750671B" type="82540EM">
  <DisabledModes>
    <InternalNetwork name="intnet"/>
    <NATNetwork name="NatNetwork"/>
  </DisabledModes>
  <BridgedInterface name="Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller"/>
</Adapter>

Now, I'm not sure if that's the same card or not, doesn't look like it.

I want you to read the thread: USB basics and troubleshooting, all of the posts. In there you'll learn about the proper way to define a USB filter, and the proper way to insert a USB device, as well as (the most inportant part), USB devices cannot be shared. So, it's either your host or your guest.

If on the other hand you want to go with Bridged-over-WiFi, you need to select that Realtek WiFi device, as the "Attached to" device, and forget about USB altogether. Mind you that Bridged-over-WiFi might or might not work, it depends on the combination of hardware and software, it's not guaranteed.

[Tuppo]

Hi Socratis,

I found an article online about a USB wireless adapter someone used with a VM that was able to accomplish what I want, so I ordered it. It's from J5Create, model JUE303, and I received it today. Like my Netgear device it uses the exact same Realtek driver. That is indicated in the driver name unlike with Netgear.

Like the Netgear device, this device can only be shared between the host and guest, which, of course, doesn't concur with how USB devices are supposed to work on Virtual Machines, but I think with wireless USB adapters this rule doesn't apply. With an Ethernet USB adapter, the Ethernet cord is how the device accesses the internet, but with a wireless it's more complicated in that there is no single source, but rather SSID options; therefore, I think because of this complex configuration I've hit a wall for good, regardless of what was said in that article.

I've looked through the article about USB Basics, and I have done everything I can, so I'm going to give up.

Also, the Bridge over WiFi option resulting the same; the Guest and the Host shared the resource.

Thank you for all your help. You've been great.

Tuppo

[socratis]

this device can only be shared between the host and guest, which, of course, doesn't concur with how USB devices are supposed to work on Virtual Machines, but I think with wireless USB adapters this rule doesn't apply

I'm afraid you're wrong. There's not a single USB device that I've seen that can be shared. No way on this side of the universe that you can have two controllers for a single USB device. No way!

With an Ethernet USB adapter, the Ethernet cord is how the device accesses the internet

If you're using Bridged mode, not if you're capturing the USB device. Please get the facts straight, you're adding more confusion to an already confusing thread.

To summarize, there are two ways that you can get network access from a USB device:

• Capture the USB device: The guest sees the USB device like any other USB device. In this case a network device and treats it accordingly (if there are drivers available). The host does *NOT* see the device, can't use the device, doesn't have a chance of having network through that USB device.
• Use Bridged network mode: In that case, and if it's allowed by the drivers/hardware, the USB device stays with the host, but because it's like any other network adapter, you can use Bridged mode to piggyback on that network device. If it's a USB-to-WiFi adapter, it might not work, for reasons explained elsewhere.

[Tuppo]

Hi Socratis,

It's true that the Guest and Host don't share any of my other USB devices, and that's why this has been a real head-scratcher to me.

If anyone else on the forum has had success with a Wireless USB network adapter running a VirtualBox, please chime in and give me the details of how you did it before Sunday when I return my items to Staples and Amazon.

Oh yes, I do have a tech guy local to me who knows about these things that might be able to give me hands-on support. I forgot about him. If he can't get it to work, then no one can. I'll let you know how that comes out, and if it does not work, then I can provide his explanation why that could be.

Thanks again Socratis. It's been fun. I love these tech sites.

Tuppo

[socratis]

If anyone else on the forum has had success with a Wireless USB network adapter running a VirtualBox, please chime in and give me the details of how you did it

Yes, I have in the past, and I just repeated it again right now, with your exact scenario; Win10-64 host, Mint 19 guest.

I have a Realtek RTL8188EU WiFi adapter with VendorID:ProductID of 0BDA:8179. I setup a USB filter for the WiFi card in my "Mint 19" VM. From the Win10 host (chopped output for brevity):

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage showvminfo "Mint 19"
...
Index:                       23
Active:                      yes
Name:                        Realtek 802.11n NIC
VendorId:                    0bda
ProductId:                   8179
Revision:
Manufacturer:
Product:
Remote:                      0
Serial Number:

I disabled WiFi in my Win10 host to make things easier. I was going to capture the USBS-to-WiFi adapter in any event, so I didn't care if I had WiFi on the host, I couldn't have WiFi after I captured the USB device. Then I simply started the VM, and the USB device was auto-captured by the VM. From the Win10 host (chopped output for brevity):

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>VBoxManage list usbhost
Host USB Devices:
...
UUID:               8a69d98a-5cc1-4420-a173-058808f696ac
VendorId:           0x0bda (0BDA)
ProductId:          0x8179 (8179)
Revision:           0.0 (0000)
Port:               6
USB version/speed:  2/High
Manufacturer:       Realtek
Product:            802.11n NIC
Address:            \\?\usb#vid_80ee&pid_cafe#5&10ef021e&0&6#{00873fdf-cafe-80ee-aa5e-00c04fb1720b}
Current State:      Captured

And from the Mint 19 guest:

$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:8179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 80ee:0021 VirtualBox USB Tablet
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

I was able to connect to my wireless router after that with no problems whatsoever.

This is a textbook example of how to capture a USB device. I really don't understand what's not working in your case, and given your notion that USB devices can be somehow shared, I suggest you re-read a couple of times the USB basics and troubleshooting thread, all of the posts.

[Tuppo]

Thanks Socratis, I'll talk to that tech guy and get back to you. Also, I'm running Windows 7 Home.

[Tuppo]

Yay! It's working. The missing piece to the puzzle is I didn't know to install the network adapter driver in the VirtualBox. The tech guy said it took some time to try out different drivers in order to get the right one, so it's for the best I had a professional work on it.

I am happy.

Thank you!

[socratis]

The missing piece to the puzzle is I didn't know to install the network adapter driver in the VirtualBox

I think you mean in the guest...

Glad you got it going. Marking as [Solved].