[WorksForMe] USB not working with Windows guests

[wrkbear]

I recently upgraded 3 computers to Ubuntu 18.04 and installed Virtualbox 6.03.14 along with the latest Virtualbox Extensions (for all platforms). I have 2 guest operating systems, Windows XP and Windows 7 that appear to be working perfectly excecpt for the USB available devices.

When I launch Virtualbox and before I start any guest OS, I check the settings and see that it shows that the USB 2.0 (EHCI) controller is checked and that there are 4 device filters that are also checked. When a Windows guest, is started it is unable to capture any USB device.

Left clicking the USB icon in the guest control panel (lower right) does nothing. Right clicking the icon brings up a USB popup that opens up the USB settings box which shows all 4 USB devices checked. This (mis)behavior is consistent on all three computers.

Here is what I get when I run vboxmanage showvminfo "Windows XP"

Code: Select all

Name:                        Windows XP
Groups:                      /
Guest OS:                    Windows XP (64-bit)
UUID:                        e48569be-7cc6-448a-a27e-8974de458c00
Config file:                 /home/me/VirtualBox VMs/Windows XP/Windows XP/Windows XP.vbox
Snapshot folder:             /home/me/VirtualBox VMs/Windows XP/Windows XP/Snapshots
Log folder:                  /home/me/VirtualBox VMs/Windows XP/Windows XP/Logs
Hardware UUID:               e48569be-7cc6-448a-a27e-8974de458c00
Memory size                  512MB
Page Fusion:                 disabled
VRAM size:                   16MB
CPU exec cap:                100%
HPET:                        disabled
CPUProfile:                  host
Chipset:                     piix3
Firmware:                    BIOS
Number of CPUs:              1
PAE:                         disabled
Long Mode:                   enabled
Triple Fault Reset:          disabled
APIC:                        enabled
X2APIC:                      disabled
Nested VT-x/AMD-V:           disabled
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:                        enabled
IOAPIC:                      enabled
BIOS APIC mode:              APIC
Time offset:                 0ms
RTC:                         local time
Hardw. virt.ext:             enabled
Nested Paging:               enabled
Large Pages:                 disabled
VT-x VPID:                   enabled
VT-x unr. exec.:             enabled
Paravirt. Provider:          Default
Effective Paravirt. Prov.:   None
State:                       powered off (since 2019-11-06T18:33:22.000000000)
Monitor count:               1
3D Acceleration:             disabled
2D Video Acceleration:       disabled
Teleporter Enabled:          disabled
Teleporter Port:             0
Teleporter Address:          
Teleporter Password:         
Tracing Enabled:             disabled
Allow Tracing to Access VM:  disabled
Tracing Configuration:       
Autostart Enabled:           disabled
Autostart Delay:             0
Default Frontend:            
Storage Controller Name (0):            IDE
Storage Controller Type (0):            PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0):  2
Storage Controller Port Count (0):      2
Storage Controller Bootable (0):        on
IDE (0, 0): /home/me/VirtualBox/HardDisks/K-1_WIN_XP.vdi (UUID: b4acc3db-ed26-48be-9128-e1a107ca9dca)
IDE (1, 0): Empty
NIC 1:                       disabled
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: AC97, Codec: STAC9700)
Audio playback:              enabled
Audio capture:               disabled
Clipboard Mode:              Bidirectional
Drag and drop Mode:          Bidirectional
VRDE:                        disabled
OHCI USB:                    enabled
EHCI USB:                    enabled
xHCI USB:                    disabled

USB Device Filters:

Index:                       0
Active:                      yes
Name:                        Lexmark CX317dn [0231]
VendorId:                    043d
ProductId:                   022f
Revision:                    0231
Manufacturer:                Lexmark
Product:                     Lexmark CX317dn
Remote:                      0
Serial Number:               752706946TBDF

Index:                       1
Active:                      yes
Name:                        Generic Mass Storage Device [0100]
VendorId:                    058f
ProductId:                   6364
Revision:                    0100
Manufacturer:                Generic
Product:                     Mass Storage Device
Remote:                      0
Serial Number:               058F63646476

Bandwidth groups:  <none>

Shared folders:

Name: 'smb-share:server=dlink-81029c.local,share=volume_1', Host path: '/run/user/1000/gvfs/smb-share:server=dlink-81029c.local,share=volume_1' (machine mapping), writable, auto-mount
Name: 'smb-share:server=dlink-81029c.local,share=volume_2', Host path: '/run/user/1000/gvfs/smb-share:server=dlink-81029c.local,share=volume_2' (machine mapping), writable, auto-mount
Name: 'vmshare', Host path: '/home/wayne/vmshare' (machine mapping), writable, auto-mount

Capturing:                   not active
Capture audio:               not active
Capture screens:             0
Capture file:                /home/me/VirtualBox VMs/Windows XP/Windows XP/Windows XP.webm
Capture dimensions:          1024x768
Capture rate:                512kbps
Capture FPS:                 25kbps
Capture options:             

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size: 0MB

I never had this problem on previous installations. Can someone tell me what I've missed?

[scottgus1]

Did you do this, from the manual:

2.3.4 The vboxusers Group
The Linux installers create the system user group vboxusers during installation. Any system
user who is going to use USB devices from Oracle VM VirtualBox guests must be a member of
that group. A user can be made a member of the group vboxusers through the GUI user/group
management or using the following command:

sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers username

[wrkbear]

Thank you. Yes, I did, but only after I posted the problem. And yes, I did add my username to the vboxusers group and now my USB devices are working properly. So, problem solved.

It was stupid of me not to think of this before as it had happened to me on at least 2 earlier versions of Ubuntu. But since I only upgrade every 2 years, it's easy for me to completely forget about it and then have to bother people with questions that I should have known the answer to.

But the requirement to add the user to the vboxusers group is not well presented when you install vbox, and it's one of those esoteric requirements that you only become familiar with after having to troubleshoot your system to find out why it doesn't work after following all the instructions during installation. What I don't understand is why the developers can't or don't want to fix this problem. The group vboxusers is created during the vbox installation which requires the user's password to install, so why don't they simply add the user who installed it to the vboxusers group? Is that really so difficult?

[socratis]

so why don't they simply add the user who installed it to the vboxusers group? Is that really so difficult?

Because the user that installed it isn't necessarily the user that's going to use it.

I hear you, things could improve. The installer could ask you at the end if the installation if you wanted to add @yourself to the 'vboxusers' group. It could be an option I guess, but not in my case for example, because I'm not 'root', I'm a simple user...

Marking as [WorksForMe].

PS. You might want to relax the rules for capturing the USB devices. See USB basics and troubleshooting...