Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
Lighthouse7491
Posts: 6
Joined: 27. Jul 2020, 23:25

Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by Lighthouse7491 »

My MBP does not passthrough my Internal Bluetooth USB to the VM. When I attempt to connect it with any VM, it reports that it could not find the USB with the uuid, but instead of the bluetooth's uuid, it prints my Mac's keyboard uuid. I tried the bluetoothHostControllerSwitchBehavior command, but it did not work. I am running Mojave 10.14.6, VBox 6.1.12 r139181.
Attachments
usblist.zip
List of usbs.
(1.24 KiB) Downloaded 31 times
VBoxSVC.log.zip
Logs
(2.41 KiB) Downloaded 32 times
scottgus1
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Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by scottgus1 »

Carefully go through USB basics and troubleshooting. If you finish all the steps 1-7 and cannot get your USB device into the guest OS, carefully post the outputs of the commands in step 8 as text in

Code: Select all

 tags, not screenshots. Zip and post the log step 8 calls for, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.

One thing that really needs to be seen right off: very often a USB device set up in the most stable way per the above tutorial needs to be unpluggable. If you cannot unplug your Bluetooth adapter you might not be able to get it into the Virtualbox guest.
Lighthouse7491
Posts: 6
Joined: 27. Jul 2020, 23:25

Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by Lighthouse7491 »

I attempted the troubleshooting, but the issue wasn't resolved. Here is the logs.
VBoxManage Info.zip
(3.34 KiB) Downloaded 41 times
VBoxSVClog.zip
(2.43 KiB) Downloaded 29 times
scottgus1 wrote:If you cannot unplug your Bluetooth adapter you might not be able to get it into the Virtualbox guest.
The adapter is built in the system, but it is on the USB bus. Because of this, I was able to use it in a VM before.
scottgus1
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Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by scottgus1 »

Your Ubuntu guest does not have the USB filter that the tutorial recommends, and we will also need the Vbox.log after you make the USB filter then attempt to start the guest.
Lighthouse7491
Posts: 6
Joined: 27. Jul 2020, 23:25

Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by Lighthouse7491 »

The USB filter does not work either. There is also no notification that it failed.
Attachments
VBoxManage Info V2.zip
(3.33 KiB) Downloaded 37 times
VBoxSVCV2.log.zip
(2.43 KiB) Downloaded 16 times
scottgus1
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Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by scottgus1 »

You have implemented a good USB filter, now. Just VendorID & ProductID, matching the Bluetooth controller.

Though I believe you when you say it does not work, there is still no zipped vbox.log provided to show what exactly happens inside the guest environment.

You might have to do some host OS tweaking to have a chance to get this device to be available for the guest OS:
USB basics and troubleshooting wrote:Uncapturable
These are USB devices that are captured by the host with a daemon or service (e.g. Bluetooth controller). Not only you can't make the on-the-fly option work, but you can't even get it to work with a filter, unless you disable the host service/daemon.

Common problems
Error: Busy with a previous request (VERR_RESOURCE_BUSY)
The error means that something else (most probably the host) is using the device. Take a look at the "Basics - Device categories" and see which category your device falls under and take appropriate action: eject it, uncapture it, stop the service/daemon that uses it\, unplug it and create a filter.
From the above, the only option I see you having, since you cannot unplug the device, is to stop the Bluetooth drivers/service on the host OS. Then maybe the guest can use it. (FWIW I don't know how to do this on a Mac.)

If this does not work, your only option may be to get a separate USB Bluetooth adapter.
Lighthouse7491
Posts: 6
Joined: 27. Jul 2020, 23:25

Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by Lighthouse7491 »

Oh! Sorry about that, I misinterpreted what log should be used. Here.
VBox.log.zip
(30.62 KiB) Downloaded 33 times
I'll attempt to unload some Bluetooth services, and also downgrade to VBox 5.
scottgus1
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Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by scottgus1 »

Lighthouse7491 wrote:downgrade to VBox 5.
Where did you see this advice? I am not sure this will help. The functions of USB attachment are the same between 5.y.x, 6.y.x and 6.1.12 that you are running now.

The log does not show the USB bluetooth device being attached.
Lighthouse7491
Posts: 6
Joined: 27. Jul 2020, 23:25

Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by Lighthouse7491 »

I think I found the reason.

Code: Select all

014435.208921 VBoxSVC@(null): IOUSBUserClientLegacy::start: missing entitlement com.apple.bluetooth.control
It's MacOS Security, not VBox. Everytime I try to passthrough the device, this shows in the console (not the logs).
scottgus1 wrote:Where did you see this advice? I am not sure this will help.
I thought about it (and you are definitely correct lol.)
scottgus1 wrote:The log does not show the USB bluetooth device being attached.
Idk why. It had the USB filter on.
scottgus1
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Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by scottgus1 »

If Mac OS is blocking the USB device being borrowed, then that should(?) be why Virtualbox can't borrow it.

How to fix this further I can't say, I'm definitely no Mac guru. Try web-searching something with site:forums.virtualbox.org added to the search terms to see if this has come up before in the forums.
multiOS
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Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by multiOS »

The simplest way to simulate unplugging/plugging-in the bluetooth connector would probably be to use the Bluetooth switch in the Mac's System Preferences:

As a test:

- Shut down the VM
- Turn off Bluetooth in the MacBook Pro's System Preferences
- Restart the VM and, when acitve, swith on Bluetooth on the Mac.
Attachments
Screenshot 2020-07-28 at 15.38.31.jpg
Screenshot 2020-07-28 at 15.38.31.jpg (28.91 KiB) Viewed 19629 times
Lighthouse7491
Posts: 6
Joined: 27. Jul 2020, 23:25

Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by Lighthouse7491 »

Thanks multiOS and scottgus1, but it still didn't work.

I think the only thing I can do now is submit a bug report.
vdeolali
Posts: 1
Joined: 24. Nov 2020, 16:24

Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by vdeolali »

Was there a resolution to this? I am not able to see my MBP's bluetooth in a win10 guest. I am using 6.0.24 VirtualBox on MBP with MacOS Catalina 10.15.7
mpack
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Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by mpack »

Frankly, it's not a bug so raising a bug report will do nothing. Nor will there ever be a "resolution".

VirtualBox can't capture the BlueTooth controller because the host is already using it. My guess is that a Mac uses BlueTooth as a system bus.

AFAIK it has never been possible in VirtualBox to capture individual BT devices. If you capture the Bluetooth controller USB device then the host naturally loses all BT functionality, which of course is blocked by MacOS.
multiOS
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Re: Mac Bluetooth won't pass through

Post by multiOS »

@vdeolali

The best resolution would probably be a bluetooth usb dongle. Not a major expense and far more flexible, although you could try to borrow one first for testing.
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