virtualbox.org

Hi all,
I need some help with this problem:

I have a new HP dv5t 1000, with the built-in Webcam/mic. I'm running Ubuntu 8.10 as host and Virtualbox 2.1.0 with XP sp3 as guest; USB, CD, soundcard, wireless, etc all work fine in the guest XP.

The webcam works fine in Ubuntu (checked with Skype 2.0 for Linux), but I get nothing in the Virtualbox XP, although the built-in mic seems to be working with Google voice and video chat, no webcam is detected.

The webcam is not in the windows system device list, legacy drivers are there. Also, and I think it's related, Skype for Windows will load and then crash after a few seconds.

I'm not sure if this is a Virtualbox issue, an Ubuntu issue, an XP/Vista issue (the HP dv5t is sold with Vista and all drivers and support on HP's site relates to Vista only - There is little XP support and no Linux support to be found.

Needless to say I do not have the Vista restore partition anymore.

Any ideas? Please let me know if I have not provided enough info for a diagnosis.

Cheers
Aussie

Is the webcam connected to the USB hub of the machine or not? If it's not (check with lsusb), then there is no way to get it working in VB. Keep in mind, that even if you get it working properly (i.e. installed) you probably won't get a good video. The video is likely to be black, as the USB speed is not all that great for webcams. If you search the forums for webcam, you will see more issues with them.

Thanks for your reply.

results of lsusb:
Bus 008 Device 002: ID 0408:03ba Quanta Computer, Inc.
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0bda:0158 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Mass Stroage Device
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

I assume the Quanta Computer Inc entry is the one. as the bus links to the webcam (checked with Device manager.)

Not sure where to go from here...
Aussie

To go further, you just have to enable USB on the VM settings, add a filter for that device and see if the Guest picks it up.

Thanks for your time and help Sasquatch!!!
It's not easy being 'green'!

Following your advice, I'm reading the manual and following the instructions... I understand the filters dialogue, and can ID vendor and product with the hex codes. I am having some trouble sourcing the exact info about my hardware, but I think that's typical of HP and I'm sure I will eventually find the info I need...

There are still a couple of things which are unclear, most notably this paragraph:

On Linux hosts, VirtualBox accesses USB devices on Linux through the usbfs file system. Therefore, the user executing VirtualBox needs read and write permission to the USB file system. Most distributions provide a group (e.g. usbusers) which the VirtualBox user needs to be added to. Also, VirtualBox can only proxy to virtual machines USB devices which are not claimed by a Linux host USB driver. Please refer to the Driver= entry in /proc/bus/usb/devices to see which devices are claimed.

I'm especially unsure about the bold bits above...
So far I've not had any luck in getting any USB to function (YET!)

Cheers
Steve

See the VirtualBox FAQ for the USB help. What the manual also states, is that the Host should not have the device in use. So if the webcam works on the Host, you have to unload it's modules so it's no longer in use by the Host, then you can add it to the VM.