USB devices don't list

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
Ofloo
Posts: 10
Joined: 24. Aug 2019, 09:36

USB devices don't list

Post by Ofloo »

USB devices don't list, I've always been a member of the vboxusers group and yes even when i reboot !

ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Virtualbox 5.2.32

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 vboxmanage list usbhost
Host USB Devices:

<none>

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grep vboxusers /etc/group
vboxusers:x:129:ofloo

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UID=1000(ofloo) GID=1000(ofloo) groepen=1000(ofloo),4(adm),20(dialout),21(fax),22(voice),24(cdrom),25(floppy),26(tape),27(sudo),29(audio),30(dip),34(backup),44(video),46(plugdev),50(staff),113(netdev),118(lpadmin),120(scanner),127(sambashare),129(vboxusers),130(vboxsf)
EDIT:
When i do vboxmanage list usbhost as root it does show them so it is a permission issue, but aside from adding myself to the vboxusers group and refreshing that group i don't really see what i should change.

with the service doesn't seem anything strange is going on..

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# systemctl status virtualbox
● virtualbox.service - LSB: VirtualBox Linux kernel module
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/virtualbox; generated)
   Active: active (exited) since Sat 2019-08-24 10:03:58 CEST; 19min ago
     Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
  Process: 1716 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/virtualbox start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

aug 24 10:03:58 pinky systemd[1]: Starting LSB: VirtualBox Linux kernel module...
aug 24 10:03:58 pinky virtualbox[1716]:  * Loading VirtualBox kernel modules...
aug 24 10:03:58 pinky virtualbox[1716]:    ...done.
aug 24 10:03:58 pinky systemd[1]: Started LSB: VirtualBox Linux kernel module.
Ofloo
Posts: 10
Joined: 24. Aug 2019, 09:36

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by Ofloo »

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#pwd
/dev/vboxusb/001
# ls -l
totaal 0
crw-rw---- 1 root vboxusers 189, 2 aug 24 10:27 003
crw-rw---- 1 root vboxusers 189, 4 aug 24 10:27 005
crw-rw---- 1 root vboxusers 189, 5 aug 24 10:27 006
crw-rw---- 1 root vboxusers 189, 6 aug 24 10:27 007
crw-rw---- 1 root vboxusers 189, 7 aug 24 10:27 008
crw-rw---- 1 root vboxusers 189, 8 aug 24 10:27 009
that 189 is that supposed to be there, ... i've never seen a 2 groups or spaces inside groups .. ? Or whatever that 189 is supposed to be?
Martin
Volunteer
Posts: 2560
Joined: 30. May 2007, 18:05
Primary OS: Fedora other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP, Win7, Win10, Linux, OS/2

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by Martin »

That 189 is the file size. ;)
-rwxrw-r--    10    root   root 2048    Jan 13 07:11 afile.exe
?UUUGGGOOOS   00  UUUUUU GGGGGG ####    ^-- date stamp and file name are obvious ;-)
^ ^  ^  ^ ^    ^      ^      ^    ^
| |  |  | |    |      |      |    \--- File Size
| |  |  | |    |      |      \-------- Group Name (for example, Users, Administrators, etc)
| |  |  | |    |      \--------------- Owner Acct
| |  |  | |    \---------------------- Link count (what constitutes a "link" here varies)
| |  |  | \--------------------------- Alternative Access (blank means none defined, anything else varies)
| \--\--\----------------------------- Read, Write and Special access modes for ser, [G]roup, and [O]thers (everyone else)
\------------------------------------- File type flag
Ofloo
Posts: 10
Joined: 24. Aug 2019, 09:36

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by Ofloo »

right now you mention it is obvious, .. it's because it's so close to the gid that i thought wtf is that, usually it's wrapped differently. My bad.

What about the numbers behind that then 2,4, 5 ..
vboxusers 189, 2 aug 24
I figured that was the size

In the mean while i figured I'd install virtualbox 6 and see if this issue persists, .. and apparently it's just the same thing. Going to reboot to an earlier kernel see if that helps.

*EDIT: rebooting to an earlier kernel didn't do a thing.
Ofloo
Posts: 10
Joined: 24. Aug 2019, 09:36

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by Ofloo »

Virtualbox version 6.0.10 r132072

Same issue.
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5668
Joined: 14. Feb 2019, 03:06
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by fth0 »

Martin wrote:That 189 is the file size. ;)
No, it's not. ;) Character devices have no file size, but major and minor device numbers.
Ofloo
Posts: 10
Joined: 24. Aug 2019, 09:36

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by Ofloo »

Although on the other hand I'm happy to report that my system doesn't freeze any more while a vm is running and screensaver comes on, .. i used to put it in performance mode running vms, so it wouldn't go into powersafe mode, .. screensaver anyway it doesn't freeze the system any more, however can't put my finger on it but usb just doesn't work.

An other thing I've noticed is that it isn't a permission thing any more with version 6, .. since when I su to root it used to show the devices as root user but it doesn't do that any more either.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by socratis »

@Ofloo
One thing that I didn't ask for previously, is the output of the command (from the host):
  • VBoxManage -version
Ofloo wrote:since when I su to root it used to show the devices as root user but it doesn't do that any more either.
So... now you can't even show any USB devices, even when being 'root'?
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
k-of-g
Posts: 2
Joined: 30. Aug 2019, 18:20

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by k-of-g »

I have this same issues with v6.0.10, USB devices list as root, but not as normal user. User is in the vboxusers group (and always has been). This is a new issue, but not sure if it cropped up from from v5 -> v6, or in a v6 incremental upgrade as I don't use USB devices in guests very often.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by socratis »

@k-of-g
k-of-g wrote:User is in the vboxusers group (and always has been)
Did you reboot the host after getting yourself into the 'vboxusers' group? That's mandatory.

I want to see the output of the following commands:
  • 
    VBoxManage -version
    VBoxManage list extpack
    id
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
k-of-g
Posts: 2
Joined: 30. Aug 2019, 18:20

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by k-of-g »

socratis wrote:@k-of-g
k-of-g wrote:User is in the vboxusers group (and always has been)
Did you reboot the host after getting yourself into the 'vboxusers' group? That's mandatory.
Yes, the group was set a very long time ago; but, did another reboot to try to address this issue before posting my initial comments.
I want to see the output of the following commands:
  • 
    VBoxManage -version
    VBoxManage list extpack
    id

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myname@myhost ~ $ VBoxManage -version
6.0.10_Gentoor132055
myname@myhost ~ $ VBoxManage list extpacks
Extension Packs: 1
Pack no. 0:   Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
Version:      6.0.10
Revision:     132072
Edition:      
Description:  USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 Host Controller, Host Webcam, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM, Disk Encryption, NVMe.
VRDE Module:  VBoxVRDP
Usable:       true 
Why unusable: 
myname@myhost ~ $ id
uid=1000(myname) gid=100(users) groups=100(users),5(tty),6(disk),10(wheel),11(floppy),18(audio),19(cdrom),27(video),80(cdrw),85(usb),97(input),101(plugdev),106(lpadmin),248(crontab),249(vboxusers)
Interestingly, it started working again, but I'm not sure what changed (no reboot, etc.).
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by socratis »

k-of-g wrote:
$ VBoxManage -version
6.0.10_Gentoor132055
It looks like you're using the Gentoo fork version of VirtualBox. You can either ask in their forums/channels for help, or completely remove/uninstall/delete/purge their version and install the official version from the Linux Downloads section of VirtualBox.
k-of-g wrote:Interestingly, it started working again, but I'm not sure what changed (no reboot, etc.).
When in doubt, a reboot cures 50% of the issues.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Ofloo
Posts: 10
Joined: 24. Aug 2019, 09:36

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by Ofloo »

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vboxmanage -version
6.0.12r133076
In the mean while they do list back as root but still not as user.

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vboxmanage list usbhost
Host USB Devices:

<none>

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lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS
Release:	18.04
Codename:	bionic

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cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list 
deb [arch=amd64] http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic contrib

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vboxmanage list  extpacks
Extension Packs: 1
Pack no. 0:   Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
Version:      6.0.12
Revision:     133076
Edition:      
Description:  USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 Host Controller, Host Webcam, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM, Disk Encryption, NVMe.
VRDE Module:  VBoxVRDP
Usable:       true 
Why unusable: 

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lsmod | grep -i vbox
vboxpci                24576  0
vboxnetadp             28672  0
vboxnetflt             28672  0
vboxdrv               475136  3 vboxpci,vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt

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dmesg |grep -i vbox
[   48.229672] vboxdrv: Found 8 processor cores
[   48.248157] vboxdrv: TSC mode is Invariant, tentative frequency 4007999091 Hz
[   48.248157] vboxdrv: Successfully loaded version 6.0.12 (interface 0x00290008)
[   48.450792] VBoxNetFlt: Successfully started.
[   48.452024] VBoxNetAdp: Successfully started.
[   48.453093] VBoxPciLinuxInit
[   48.454369] vboxpci: IOMMU not found (not registered)
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by socratis »

The only difference between your Ubuntu18.04, and my Ubuntu18.04-based Mint19, is the output of 'lsmod':
$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
vboxpci                24576  0
vboxnetadp             28672  0
vboxnetflt             28672  0
vboxdrv               487424  3 vboxpci,vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt
And from your "id":

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UID=1000(ofloo) GID=1000(ofloo) groepen=1000(ofloo),4(adm),20(dialout),21(fax),22(voice),24(cdrom),25(floppy),26(tape),27(sudo),29(audio),30(dip),34(backup),44(video),46(plugdev),50(staff),113(netdev),118(lpadmin),120(scanner),127(sambashare),129(vboxusers),130(vboxsf)
I see that you're running as administrator. I'm not. Can you create another user, add them to the 'vboxusers' group and try?
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Ofloo
Posts: 10
Joined: 24. Aug 2019, 09:36

Re: USB devices don't list

Post by Ofloo »

Sorry for the late answer, .. Indeed I've added a second user blah and for user blah all the devices did list.

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# id
UID=1000(ofloo) GID=1000(ofloo) groepen=1000(ofloo),20(dialout),21(fax),22(voice),24(cdrom),25(floppy),26(tape),29(audio),30(dip),34(backup),44(video),46(plugdev),113(netdev),118(lpadmin),120(scanner),127(sambashare),129(vboxusers),130(vboxsf)
# vboxmanage list usbhost
Host USB Devices:

<none>
Hate to disappoint but i don't think that my user is still admin? Same issue.
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