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I have installed virtualbox on XP64, created a VM and installed XP32 in it. Even though I specified 3 USB devices in the Settings, the USB mouse is not working in the VM.

I get a frozen mouse pointer and the mouse is not available at all on the host. Pressing the Host key does not do anything. What is more, I do not gain access to the mouse even after I shut the VM down.

In fact, the behavior of the host key is erratic. It's supposed to be Right Ctrl, but sometimes e.g. during the XP32 installation I am told I pressed it even though I did not.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

The USB mouse cant be shared through guest and host. Make USB Filters for really needed USB Hardware for the Guest, but not for Mouse and Keyboard.

Does this mean that:

(a) I don't have keyboard in VM?
(b) the usb mouse won't work even in the host when there is no filter?

Also, I created filters for the USB hard drive and flash drive and I did not see them available in the VM.

The guest keyboard and mouse are shared with the host. Creating a USB filter for them will yank them from the host and cause a lot of problems. Just leave them out of the selected filters in the guest USB section.
Other devices and be added in Windows by selecting to use USB/USB2 and leaving off the filters.
Then in the guest you go to the device tab and select the USB device you want to use.
Windows will load the drivers for it and then you can use them.

I got you.

However, I still got a problem. I removed the filters for the disks, but when I selected the hard disk from Devices nothing happened. How do I access the device in Windows on VM, My computer does not show it?

When I went to the bottom and clicked on the USB icon and selected the disk VB said it can't attach it because it was busy with previous request.

I guess I can't tell how I can use the device once I ask for it.

In some cases you need to add a blank filter (The one with the blue dot) in the usb section and then start the guest.
Unplug the device and plug it back in for the guest to get focus and it should show up after that.

Did all that, no luck.

When the VM comes up I get a prompt (in the host, i think) that it found new USB hw and let it install the VB driver. But the drive still does not show up in My Computer in VM -- that's where I expect it, no? And the bottom icon says no USB device attached.

Try Shared Folders instead of USB Access.

OK, after a few more tries I got access to the USB drive, although it seems shaky.

Now I am having a hard time connecting the HP all-in-one printer. It installs the sware then it prompts to connect the USB cable. But whether I attach it from Devices or not, the VM does not continue the installation.

I tried to connect the printer wirelessly, but it prompts to temporarily connect the USB cable, so I am back to square one.

You need to connect to the printer as a network printer. That way you can print from the host and the guest. HP has a real problem working in a virtualizer. At least that is what the people tell me.

The host is XP64 and there is no printer driver for it, so I cannot print from it. That's precisely why I need the XP32 VM, to install the 32bit printer driver and print.

There are 2 install modes for the printer in XP32: USB and wireless. And even the wireless mode requires to temporarily connect the printer to a USB port. I can't attach the printer via Devices before then, and so the VM does not recognize it.

How do I set a printer as a network printer before I even install the driver?

incidentally, I cannot shut down the VM, I gotta go into task manager and kill 3 tasks.

This is beginning to sound bad. I ran into the exact problems that you are on my 32 bit Vista and finally gave up and stopped trying to use USB all together.
I found that I could share everything that I needed to write to and print by using the network.
Add to this that my blood pressure went back to normal as soon as I figured out that USB in the 32 bit Windows environment as host using VBox was just not worth it.
I do however have another PC with Ubuntu as host and the USB works flawlessly in Windows and Linux guests.

Now this is just my opinion so you go ahead and see if you can make it work. Just remember that not all are able to get it to work properly in Windows as host.

I am willing to try the network way -- I have a home wireless network via an ATT router/gateway with 2 laptops sharing an internet connection.

But I have not found any guide on how to set the printer as a network printer. Do you know where I could find one?

Also, as I stated earlier the HP driver installation requires temporary USB connection.

You should be able to share the printer on the host and then when you start the guest go to printers and select to install a network printer.
Make sure that you have the Bridged mode selected in the network configuration of the guest and it should pull the drivers from the host.
You will not be able to use all of the benefits of the all in one but you will be able to print.