virtualbox.org

I would like to use my Sentinel USB key with my VM. It see the key and identifies it as a Sentinel key but the program that uses it on the guest OS says it can't find the key.

I'm using VBox 4.0.8 on Ubuntu 11.04 with Windows 7x64 as the Guest. I have a physical Win7x64 already running that works with this security key.

I've tried having the inserting the key before starting the VM and connecting the key after the VM is running just to make sure the VM capture the key instead of the host.
I've tried installing the key's driver software in ubuntu just incase that would help. Nothing has worked sofar.

Did you try installing a filter for this device in the USB section of the VM settings? Or, did you try selecting the device from the VM window | Devices menu when the VM is running?

I see you are running VBox 4.0.8, but did you install the USB extension pack?

I tried both an empty filter and a specific filter just by selecting the device from the list. So the Vm does see the key but the program that's supposed to see it to verify my license doesn't.

Yes, I do have the extensions pack installed.

Well, if all that is correct - and if other devices such as flash drives give you no problem - then it would have to be a timing problem with the key device, i.e. the driver or app that reads from the key doesn't allow enough time from the reply through a virtualized controller. That's rather fussy timing if so, and I'm not sure that a lot can be done about it. Latencies via virtual hardware interfaces are always going to be somewhat greater than their direct native equivalents.