No USB devices available to Win7/Win10 guests on Linux host [VBox 6.0.16]

[thoikix]

Hi,
I`m hoping that someone can advise me on whether the issue outlined below needs to be logged as a bug or not.

A few days ago, I updated to VirtualBox Version 6.0.16 r135674, from the VirtualBox repository. This is the latest version currently available from the repository.

I now find that, for my Windows 7 and Windows 10 guests, there are no USB devices showing when right-clicking on the USB icon in the status bar (lower right corner of the VM window).

Prior to the upgrade, right-clicking on the USB icon of both guests showed the list of available USB devices with a checkbox beside each to show/allow allocation/deallocation to/from the guest.

I have confirmed that my Linux username is a member of the vboxusers group.

I have attached a screenshot of both the Win7 and Win10 VM windows. Unfortunately I do not have the equivalent screenshots running on the previous version of VirtualBox.

Technical details of my environment are as follows:
- Host system: Lenovo Thinkpad E590 laptop, running Ubuntu 16.04.06 (Xenial)
- Virtualbox Version 6.0.16 r135674

I have searched the VirtualBox forum and bugs and found the following similar entries:
- FORUM THREAD SUBJECT: Guests on Linux Host unable to access USB devices [6.1.2]
- BUG: Ticket #19054 (new defect)

I have been unable to include any links above as this is my first forum post.

I would very much appreciate any assistance or advice.

[scottgus1]

Did you also update the Extension Pack? The EP has to match the Virtualbox version, and USB2 & 3 are in the EP.

[thoikix]

I have also attached 3 screenshots showing:
- the USB status for the Win7 guest
- the USB status for the Win10 guest
- the USB devices available on the Linux host

[thoikix]

Hi scottgus1, many thanks for your comment, but yes, I have installed the latest 6.0.16 extension pack (confirmed by checking the Extensions component of the Preferences in VBox), and 6.0.16 guest addiditions for the guest OS's (double checked by re-installing and restarting VMs).

[scottgus1]

OK, so lets go through USB basics and troubleshooting. If steps 1 through 7 cannot get your devices working, please provide the troubleshooting command outputs in step 8, as text in

Code: Select all

 tags. Also zip and post the requested vbox.log, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.

[thoikix]

Hi scottgus1, thanks again for your follow-up comment.

For background:
- the two USB devices I tend to use on my Windows guests are a CanoScan LiDE 220 scanner and a USB stick.
- originally the LiDE scanner would not work under either Windows guest VM until I managed to define a USB Device Filter.
- for the USB stick, I normally assign the device to the Windows guest "on the fly" by checking the appropriate checkbox for the USB device from the list of USB devices shown from the status bar USB icon.

I have walked through the steps in the USB basics and troubleshooting thread as you advised but, unfortunately, have been unable to make any further progress.

I have therefore collected the diagnostics recommended in Step 8 of the thread and have attached 3 zipped files.

After collecting the diagnostics, I did confirm that the LiDE scanner was usable from Linux by using the "Simple Scan" application.

[scottgus1]

Please plug in both scanner and stick and try the 'list usbhosts' command again.

I also don't see any attempt to insert the USB devices while the guest was running (I may have missed it). You do have a filter set for the scanner, did you try to plug it in while the guest was running?

[thoikix]

Hi scottgus1, I don't think you missed the attempt to insert the USB devices in the logs from my previous post. I had a quick scan through the logs before posting them, searching for any "usb" strings, and I could not see anything that indicated the USB scanner or stick had been inserted either - even though I did connect & disconnect them when the Windows guest VM was running.

Normally, when the Windows guest (Win7 or Win10) is running and I plug in the scanner to my laptop/host, the scanner makes some whirring noises when Windows recognises it and it initialises itself (it's powered by the USB port), but that did not happen when I did the test. When the USB stick is inserted, it is recognised on the Linux host and I normally right-click the USB icon on the Windows VM guest status bar to get the list of USB devices, and select the checkbox for the USB stick - the list of USB devices normally updates to indicate the device inserted in the USB port.

I have tried the test sequence again as requested with only the "VBoxManage list usbhost" command, after connecting the scanner and inserting the USB stick, i.e. with both connected at the same time.

Sequence of events I followed was:
- Closed down all Windows guest VMs
- connected USB scanner (to Linux host laptop)
- inserted USB stick (to 2nd port of Linux host laptop)
- called VBoxManage list usbhost from a terminal window (see attached image for output)

VBoxManage list usbhost output

2020-01-30 ~ 22_21_11 VBox list usbhost_ver001.png (10.08 KiB) Viewed 4204 times

- unplugged the scanner
- unplugged the USB stick
- started the Win10 guest VM from cold
- logged my Windows user into Win10 guest VM
- plugged in USB scanner to Linux host laptop (no initialisation whirring heard from scanner)
- plugged in USB stick to 2nd USB port on Linux host laptop (Linux dialogue box pops up offering to select an application to open for the USB stick)
- waited about 2 minutes
- unplugged the scanner
- unplugged the USB stick
- closed down the Win10 VM using the Windows close sequence
- saved the VBox log for the Win10 guest

Win10-2020-01-30-22-27-54.zip

Win10 VM guest log

(31.38 KiB) Downloaded 9 times

- saved the VBoxSVC.log

VBoxSVC 2020-01-30_222700.zip

VBoxSVC log

(3.28 KiB) Downloaded 10 times

The only other thing I can think of is:
- there may be a bug with Version 6.0.16 r135674 of the VBox code, or
- any other software Ubuntu package updates may have somehow affected the operation of the VBox code

If all else fails, I can try reverting to the previous (working) version of VBox which was installed, which was 6.0.14 (or 6.0.12 before that). I can't claim to be an expert in the intricacies of Ubuntu package management, and it would take me a little time to attempt, but I would certainly be happy do try that if neessary.

[thoikix]

As part of investigating how to revert (under Ubuntu) to a previous version of VirtualBox, I started up Synaptic package manager and noticed that the Ubuntu repository now includes VirtualBox version 6.1.2-135662.

The version that I had originally installed from the Ubuntu repository was 5.1.38-122592, but in order to install later versions of VB I added the VBox repository https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian to my list of package repositories.

So another option which would be open to me would be to upgrade to version 6.1.2-135662 - although that may not cure my issue and could potentially cause even more issues.

[scottgus1]

The guest log does not appear to show any extra USB devices being attached, that I saw. The svc log has a lot of thi, which looks telling:

09:23:01.174180 nspr-8   Failed to open "/dev/vboxdrvu", errno=13, rc=VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_ACCESSIBLE

I wonder if the 'u' means USB? I would not know how to find out, unfortunately. I don't see such in my Windows 10 host's svc log.

I was hoping to see a 'vboxmanage list usbhosts' output. Try to get one. Also save these logs, they might be helpful if a Bugtracker ticket becomes necessary.

Try downgrading back to the working version you had before, see if you can get the USB devices to work again.

[thoikix]

Hi scottgus1,

Many thanks again for your feedback.

I did have a quick internet search for "vboxdrvu", but did not really find anything very useful. I did notice that the device /dev/vboxdrvu is owned by user root and is a member of group root. There are other devices which are owned by user root and are members of the vboxusers group. Perhaps /dev/vboxdrvu should be in the vboxusers group rather than the root group, but I decided not to pursue that angle.

Ubuntu device permissions

2020-02-05 ~ 20_53_30 device permissions v2.png (27.79 KiB) Viewed 4107 times

I created an Ubuntu 16.04.6 VirtualBox VM to test the removal of the VirtualBox software package and installation of the previous working (for me) version, which was 6.0.14-r133895.

I downloaded the VBox software package virtualbox-6.0_6.0.14-133895_Ubuntu_xenial_amd64.deb from https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/6.0.14/. I also downloaded the Extension Pack and Guest Additions modules from the same location.

For anyone who is interested the VBox removal and reinstallation were done as follows:

Code: Select all

    sudo apt-get remove virtualbox-6.0
    sudo dpkg -i virtualbox-6.0_6.0.14-133895~Ubuntu~xenial_amd64.deb

The second dpkg command should specify the full path name of the .deb package, or alternatively use cd to change to the directory containing the .deb file and just use the module name - which is the approach I adopted.

I used Tools, Preferences, Extensions from the VBox application window to install the Extension Pack, and from within my Win7 and Win10 VMs I mounted the Guest Additions .iso file and executed the VBoxWindowsAdditiones-amd64.exe file to install the Guest Additions.

When I restarted my Win7 and Win10 VMs and right-clicked the USB icon in the VM window status bar, it correctly showed the available USB devices.

This screenshot shows the Win10 VM showing the available USB devices:

Win10 USB devices

2020-02-05 ~ 20_20_54 USB devices v2.png (32.31 KiB) Viewed 4107 times

This screenshot shows the Win10 VM with a ScanDisk USB stick plugged in and assigned to and usable from the Win10 VM:

Win10 USB devices - USB stick plugged in

2020-02-05 ~ 20_22_17 SanDisk USB stick v2.png (33.97 KiB) Viewed 4107 times

So, in summary, it looks like VirtualBox version 6.0.16-r135674 has introduced a bug in the handling of USB devices compared to version 6.0_6.0.14-133895.

[scottgus1]

Looks like there could be a new bug. It might already be reported on the Bugtracker, or you could report it.

[thoikix]

Hi scottgus1,
Thanks again for your latest post.

I had a look through the Bugtracker, but I couldn`t see any bugs which described this issue, so
I have raised a new bug #19296 at https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/19296.

In the meantime, I will continue to run with VBox 6.0.14 instead of 6.0.16, although I`m feeling a bit adventurous now and may try upgrading to VBox 6.1.x and see if the issue persists at that version!

I would just like to thank you for all of your feedback and assistance since the start of this thread, it is very much appreciated - and it`s been a bit of a learning experience for me too!