Multiple USB dongles, (they arecompletely identical)

[andrasko]

Hello!

I'm trying to connect 6 usb dongles to 6 virtual machines, but I can connect only two. I think the problem is that the USB dongles are completely identical.
I am unable to connect more than two, when connecting the 3rd dongle, I get " failed to connect" , no matter which one I choose from the list of 3 identical USB devices. Then the list shows 6 identical USB devices, even though I have only 3 connected.
Could you suggest any solution to solve this problem? My goal is to have 6 virtual machines, each connected to a mobile internet dongle. ( I have 3 USB port on my laptop, and I have an USB hub with 4 lots)

Thank you for your attention,
Andreas

[scottgus1]

See USB basics and troubleshooting, especially post 9.

[andrasko]

Thanks, I'm following thoe steps, but the devices are completely identical, and I can connect only 4usb dongles to 4 virtual machines, the 5th usb I can't connet to the fifth machine. I have 6 usb sticks with completely identical details, and an usb hub with port numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2 , 3.

[scottgus1]

Right, you have only 4 unique port numbers, so you can only connect 4 identical devices. I have seen seven-port USB hubs, which may have higher port numbers, or may number like you listed above.

Another possible non-Virtualbox solution is KernelPro's "USB Over Ethernet" https://www.kernelpro.com/usb-over-ethernet.html which accounts for the hub number too. It's a pay-for server on one computer and the client apps can be inside the networked VMs. I used this at my workplace where I was IT for several years, for a program's licensing dongles, and it worked very well on identical devices.