Virtual XP is not detecting new hardware

[pip4]

For some unknown reason, I cant get my virtual machine to detect USB devices or COM ports.
I have tried on XP and Windows 7 with same result.

I am running 32Bit XP on a Lenovo W510 I7

Any ideas ?

[mpack]

First, please correct your profile - you are almost certainly using the PUEL version, since I doubt you compiled the open source edition (OSE) to run on your Windows host. For the record, the OSE version does not support USB - but that's a red herring since you are using PUEL.

On PUEL: Make sure you installed USB support. Make sure USB is enabled in the VM settings. Add a blank USB device filter. Make sure to not plug in the USB device until after the VM has finishing booting up. You should get a prompt that the host wants to install a driver (*), so let it - this is a kind of filter driver specific to that USB device. Now unplug the device and shut down the VM. OK, from now on you can just start the VM and plug in that specific device when it has booted up, and it should be recognized just fine. You need to do this separately for each device.

(*) This dialog box prompt can be confusing. It may pop up centered inside the guest window, making you think it's a message from the guest, and wonder what driver it's asking for. In fact it's a message from the host, and you only need to click "ok", since the necessary driver will be found in the VBox program files folder.

[pip4]

So - i have updated to the correct version

The USB support is on and i have tried with blank and dedicated filters
but VirtualBox is not detecting any USB devices.

COM ports are not detected either.
I have tried with "not connected" and "Host" but nothing is detected.

It seems that the physical machine is not installing drivere to support
VirtuaBox

I have tried to uninstall an reinstall with no luck.

[mpack]

COM ports are not detected either.
I have tried with "not connected" and "Host" but nothing is detected

Are these USB serial ports or built in to the host?

If you create a virtual serial port in VM settings then it must be detected (this doesn't need anything on the host to work first), provided you tell the Windows guest to search for new hardware (fixed serial ports are not plug and play). You must then associate the virtual serial port with a physical serial port on your host (e.g. you can associate your guests COM1 with your hosts COM4 - or whatever). If you associate the guest COM1 with "Not connected" then you are going to face obvious difficulties in communication...

I haven't forgotten your USB problem, but the answer I've already given is a complete description of what works for me and many others.

[pip4]

It is onboard/builtin COM ports but they dont showup in VirtualBox

A search for new hardware does not find them either and a manual install fails due to
missing hardware.

I have it running smoothly on an older PC, but on this new PC it is not going very well

[mpack]

It is onboard/builtin COM ports but they dont showup in VirtualBox

Can you please be a little clearer than that? COM ports never "show up in VirtualBox", but I assume you mean they don't show up in the guest. And by "native" you are saying this has nothing to do with your earlier USB question, i.e. these are not USB serial adapters.

Not showing up in the guest is hard to believe. They should show up if they are enabled, even if they aren't connected to anything on your host. I'll need evidence for this. Please show me a pictures of the following :-

• The "Serial Ports" settings section of your VM - showing that the serial port is enabled, identified by guest as COM1 and connected to host COM1.
• The list of devices in "Ports" branch of your host device manager - showing that COM1 exists.
• The list of devices in "Ports" branch of your guest device manager (I would also like to you to try Control Panel | "Add Hardware" inside the guest before grabbing this pic) - showing that COM1 does not exist despite the above.