so is it a known bug that virtualbox kills usb wifi on host?

jinchoung · Post by **jinchoung** » 13. Jun 2008, 01:34

howdy,

so i've been doing searches for this to find out if there is a solution but there doesn't seem to be any. is this a known bug?

i'm running winxp sp3 as my host.

basically:

when i start virtualbox... just LAUNCH the app before i do a single thing... my internet connection on my host dies. i'm using a belkin usb wifi dongle...

it dies so immediately that when vb asks you to register, it won't even let that go through.

actually, that was my first hint that something was wrong.

if i close out of virtualbox and restart my web connection, i can get it back but any attempt to restart the connection while virtualbox is up is futile.

so is this a known issue? is there any workaround?

thanks much.

jin

p.s. otherwise vb works unbelievably well! no slowdown or halting interaction like in qemu. very nice!

Post by **sandervl** » 13. Jun 2008, 09:44

Discussion continued here: http://virtual-box.org/ticket/1712

(for future reference)

jinchoung · Post by **jinchoung** » 13. Jun 2008, 09:52

ah thanks for linking... i neglected to do so.... yup, that's me!

jin

p.s. re: your question, no, i never tried ising the usb device inside the guest because the host connection disconnected before i could even start (or make a new!) a virtual device. as i said, it kills the connevtion just by launching the vb app. thanks.

jinchoung · Post by **jinchoung** » 14. Jun 2008, 23:28

update:

i decided to give the VMWARE PLAYER a try as well and while my usb wifi remains connected when i launch vmware player, it disconnects as soon as i start a vm.... and when i stop the vm, my wifi comes back.

this seems to be an across the board problem with vms... except, oddly enough, for qemu.

but i mention elsewhere but qemu really is too slow and halting to use....

jin

Post by **sandervl** » 15. Jun 2008, 10:38

A possible temporary workaround (if you don't care about USB in VMs) is to reinstall VBox without the USB driver. For some reason it is interfering with your USB network device.

jinchoung · Post by **jinchoung** » 15. Jun 2008, 10:43

thanks.

actually, i think i'm going to bite the bullet and just run a network cable....

dang, ever since i've tried to run linux (virtualbox is a late discovery for me actually.... this saga begins with the simple thought, "ooooo, i'm gonna try ubuntu hardy dual boot with my xp"), it has be a unending nightmare of trying to get my dang usb wifi dongle to work!

so i ordered a network cable for $5 and i'm gonna just string it up.

i have no doubt that virtualbox as well as ubuntu and other linux distros will just be absolute heaven now....

thanks much.

jin