I can't get USB working

[jcgsykes]

I'm trying to be able to use a USB pen drive in a Kubuntu virtual machine. It is apparently 'captured' but every time I try to attach it, I get the error message "Failed to attach the device SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro to the virtual machine Kubuntu 2. USB device... is busy with a previous request. Please try again later."

These are the details:

Result Code:
E_INVALIDARG (0x80070057)
Component:
HostUSBDevice
Interface:
IHostUSBDevice {173b4b44-d268-4334-a00d-b6521c9a740a}
Callee:
IConsole {0a51994b-cbc6-4686-94eb-d4e4023280e2}

Does anyone know what the problem is?

[mrhobbeys]

I think this is still a common problem try this;

Shutdown the VM and then make sure a filter is set for the USB
Start the VM with the USB in
unplug the USB
Plug in the USB
If it captures then don't do the next part

Unplug again and restart the VM
Once on plug it in again

That will work sometimes for me but I do not use it often enough to remember exactly what to do.

[Perryg]

That's one way for sure, but the way that most people get this to works is:

• In the settings for the USB device on the guest. Enable both USB1 & 2 but do not put in a filter.
  Then Start the guest and once you are logged in click the devices tab at the top and go to USB and click on the device there.
  This will load the drivers and you should then have the USB drive on your desktop.

The problem is the Windows host does not like to load the USB device drivers as you are loading the guest. It can at times throw and error closing the VBoxsvc. and yes it is a common problem.

PS: if you want to use the filter be sure that you use a blank filter. If not you will cause the error that crashes the service. After that the filters work until you reboot the host.

[RichardRoe]

If your Host-OS is Windows 7*64 then you will not be able to use ANY USB device.
I got no information when this one will be fixed.
Virtual Box seems to work fine with Windows Vista*64 but not with Windows 7*64.
The interesting part of it is that VMWare Workstation 6.5 doesn't show any big problems with USB, neither on Vista*64 nor on Win7*64.
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 has no problems with most USB devices except - my expeience - with Aladdin USB dongles.
Plus, M$ Virtual PC 2007 shows extremely bad performance of the guest OS.