Fix grayed-out USB devices *without* being in vboxusers?

[hans.meine]

I think the TS can already use VB, else he won't post here with questions on how to get USB working.

Exactly. AFAICS, it is sufficient to modify the group/owner or permissions of all VirtualBox-installed files to run it, with the noted exception of /dev/vboxdrv.

BTW: The latters does not seem to react to my GROUP/MODE fiddlings in /etc/udev/rules.d/60-virtualbox.rules, so I resorted to a chmod in a boot-time script.

With USB now, I had additional problems because it does not seem to be enough to just give myself r/w permissions on the relevant /proc/bus/usb entries.

Oh, and BTW: Since I am member of multiple groups already, I could of course just chgrp everything to one of these groups. However, this would defeat the purpose of these groups, and as I tried to make clear above, my question is exactly which other files except the ones I described could need such treatment, since I already have permissions on all relevant files I know of. (AFAICS, it should not matter whether I have permissions because of being the right user, the right group - be it vboxusers or any other - or because the files simply have mode 666/777).

[Sasquatch]

Well, I have installed Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) on both my PC and laptop, and I didn't add any lines for USB in my /etc/fstab file and could use USB without issues. Checking /etc/udev/rules.d/10-vboxdrv.rules, I see two lines that you might need to change. Note that I run the latest version, 2.2.2.

Code: Select all

SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", GROUP="vboxusers", MODE="0664"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", GROUP="vboxusers", MODE="0664"

So instead of having vboxusers here, you can use a different group. That should have been said here before IIRC. Or at least a different topic.
Good luck with this.

[hans.meine]

Well, I have installed Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) on both my PC and laptop, and I didn't add any lines for USB in my /etc/fstab file and could use USB without issues.

Same here. AFAICS, this is what is called a "newer linux system" in the docs.

Checking /etc/udev/rules.d/10-vboxdrv.rules, I see two lines that you might need to change. Note that I run the latest version, 2.2.2.

Code: Select all

SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", GROUP="vboxusers", MODE="0664"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", GROUP="vboxusers", MODE="0664"

So instead of having vboxusers here, you can use a different group. That should have been said here before IIRC. Or at least a different topic.
Good luck with this.

Yeah, but as I wrote above:

... with the noted exception of /dev/vboxdrv.

BTW: The latters does not seem to react to my GROUP/MODE fiddlings in /etc/udev/rules.d/60-virtualbox.rules, ...

IOW, I tried changing GROUP and MODE, but apparently that was overwritten by the module somehow. Anyhow (even if I made a mistake or it was fixed in a newer version), /dev/vboxdrv is not the problem, since I have no problems with general VM usage at all.

[Sasquatch]

Wasn't there a topic or post here that mentioned something of adding a new rule in that folder that supersedes the old rules and permissions? It was the rules I posted, in a new file called 11-vboxdrv.rules or something.