USB key not captured by Ubuntu guest on XP host

[yon]

Hi all,

Environment:
Host: Windows XP 32 bits on Lenovo T400 laptop, VirtualBox 3.0.10 r54097.
Guest: Ubuntu Karmic 9.10 i386, Linux guest additions installed as described in the user manual.

Actions:
Plugging a USB key, then starting Ubuntu guest.

Problem:
The USB key is not seen by Ubuntu : no device /dev/sdb listed by the disk manager, neither by the command line "fdisk -l".

Note: when I plugged the key, XP emitted a sound, and a new drive appeared in the Windows explorer... Later, Ubuntu running, I right-clicked on the USB icon from the bottom tab, and selected the USB flash memory device (I also have a PS/2 + USB mouse). XP emitted again the same sound, and the letter drive disappeared from the Windows explorer... but still no USB key device seen by Ubuntu. Then I unselected the USB key device from the bottom tab, and a dialog box appeared with an error message (see below, the first part of the message is in French. Translation : failed to attach the USB device USB flash memory [0110] to the virtual machine Ubuntu).

By the way, when plugging the USB key (before running the Ubuntu guest), Windows indicated that a new hardware was found (vbox driver if I remember)... but then, the Windows XP new hardware wizard appeared (?). I closed the wizard without installing any driver (I read somewhere that it was not necessary, since Windows correctly mounted the drive), and Windows claimed that a problem occured while installing a new hardware ! Weird, isn't it ?

I read some similar problems on the forum... Is there still an issue with USB detection on Linux guests when using VirtualBox on Windows hosts ?

Thanks in advance for the help,
Yon