virtualbox.org

To USB or not to B.
This is my question:

How do I get USB working in the Guest OS??

The situation:
Host OS - Win 7 Home Premium, 64 bit
Guest OS - Win XP Pro, SP3, 32 bit
VirtualBox - 4.0.8-71778 with Extension Pack 4.0.8r71778 installed
- note: had to use SafeMode for some reason in order to install Extension Pack in Windows 7 host
- Guest Additions have been installed in VM
The Problem - Guest OS (XP Pro) does not have access to USB devices plugged into laptop's USB 2.0 port

When in the Guest XP OS, clicking on the Host taskbar at the bottom of the screen and then mousing over on "Devices > USB Devices", nothing appears in a list of attached USB devices. Literally, nothing at all appears, not even an empty list area. See attached graphic. There's a small square that shows up beside the right menu fly-out arrow, but that's it. No USB devices are recognized or displayed for capture/pass-through into the VM.
No USB memory stick, USB mouse, webcam ... nothing.
Note: items in the Devices > CD/DVD Devices works fine and are listed, but not the USB Devices.
Also, while in the XP Pro 32 bit OS and then mousing over top of the USB icon at the bottom of the VM screen (when not in full-screen mode), the pop-up gives the following message:
"Indicates the activity of the attached USB devices: No USB devices attached"

Note: Lexar drive is a healthy FAT32 primary partition (came that way) and it is recognized in the Disk Management area of the Host.
Tried using a different USB drive (64 MB), Host sees it, VBox doesn't.

When I open VirtualBox Manager, hilite the XP Pro VM, go into its Settings and click on the USB tab, there is also nothing showing here. The VM also does not recognize any attached USB devices.
There isn't anything in a list of attached USB devices on the Host to choose from. It's like the VM doesn't recognize what's attached to the Host at all.
Have tried without filters, and also created an empty filter. No luck. Always says: "<no devices available>"
Both "Enable USB Controller" and "Enable USB 2.0 9EHCI Controller" are checked On (also tried it with the latter as Off)
(See 2nd attached graphic)
Have checked other forum items everywhere, still no solution working.
Even found this on YouTube:
How To Fix The USB Problem In VirtualBox (Win7 64Bit Host)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDAxrVzBTmM

But when I go into regedit, the key they show re/ "upperfilters" and even "lowerfilters" does not exist.
So, since there is no key to delete there to make it work, it should work, right? Nope.

Plug a USB drive into the Host, it works and I can access it.
Unplug it, launch VM and XP Pro, plug it in ... get a beep (probably from the Host), and it doesn't appear in the Guest. Nor does it show in the Host when I go back to that screen.
Also tried plugging it in before launching the VM, appears in the Host, launch VM, nothin'.

I have a Logitech USB mouse and keyboard. They work in the Guest, but they don't show up as USB devices in the list to capture and activate. They just work.
There is also a built in webcam that is described in Host Device Manager as:
- Webcam on laptop uses driver: USB2.0 UVC 2M WebCam
- found under: System > Device Manager - Imaging devices: USB2.0 UVC 2M WebCam (from Manufacturer - Azureware and Driver Provider - Sonix)
The driver is up to date. It works on the Host, but not the Guest OS.

Also tried the idea to manually install the "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\drivers\USB\filter" as per:
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=39104

Rebooted Host. Still nothing showing in the VBox Manager - XP Pro > Settings > USB tab - attached devices icon; or in the Guest OS when I launch it.

Is there a bug somewhere? What am I doing wrong, or what do I need to do in order to enable/capture USB devices in the Guest?? I'm at a loss.
Any thoughts, tips, suggestions, ideas, solutions ?

Try sharing the drive as network drive with a shared folder.

And the answer is ... to USB!

Heh, wow. Funny how answers to some of the most difficult questions can often be so simple.
That worked. Awesome, thanks stefan.
It may not be the way to get USB devices working in the VM Settings panel, and USB devices still don't show up in the Guest taskbar for capture, but for now it's a work-around that does the trick.
If someone else tries this, remember you may also have to set the permissions to "Full" in the network share instead of just "Read" so you can also write to the drive.
Thanks again, have a great day.

FYI update for others w/ this same issue.

I was checking something else out and turned off UAC in Win 7 Host and thought, hmmm ... I wonder.
So I launched XP Pro Guest and sure enough, USB devices were now recognized and able to be captured. Thus, the networked USB drive w/ shared folder is no longer necessary.

Just another option for you to test if you don't want/need UAC turned on in Win 7 and can't get USB devices recognized in the XP Guest.

Perhaps someone else may know where/how to properly set Permissions in Win 7, while leaving UAC enabled, and then still be able to see and capture USB devices in the Guest.

Ok, spoke too soon. The webcam still doesn't work in the Guest.
With Win 7 Host UAC turned off, the built-in USB2.0 webcam does show up/appear in the XP Pro Guest. When clicking on Devices > USB Devices, it shows in the list there.
In fact, also plugged in a 2nd external Logitech USB webcam, and it is also recognized and I'm able to click on and capture it in the XP Pro (32 bit) Guest OS.
They also appear in the VM Settings > USB options and I added them in with filters, and also tried it without the filters.
In the Guest System > Hardware > Device Manager, it also shows in here with properly functioning drivers under the "Imaging devices" category.


Go to use either webcam, they "initialize', the light comes on like it's about to start ... but then No. Denied.
VirtualBox aborts and crashes and closes. Every time.

Was thinking maybe the installed Extension Pack is corrupt or not working properly as I recalled I had to install it in Safe Mode originally to get it to install.
Let's try reinstalling it with Win 7 (64 bit) UAC turned off this time. Turn off UAC. Reboot. Open VBox > Preferences > Extension Packs.

Removed/Uninstalled VBox "Extension Pack 4.0.8-71778.vbox-extpack".
Tried reinstalling it. Denied. Got the following "VirtualBox Error" message pop-up:

----- -----

Failed to install the Extension Pack: C:/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.0.8-71778.vbox-extpack.
The installer failed with exit code 1: VBoxExtPackHelperApp.exe: error: Failed to rename the temporary directory to the final one: VERR_ACCESS_DENIED
('C:\PROGRA~1\Oracle\VIRTUA~1/ExtensionPacks/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-_-inst-1372'->
C:\PROGRA~1\Oracle\VIRTUA~1/ExtensionPacks/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack')

VBoxExtPackHelperApp.exe: error: Failed to delete the temporary extension pack directory:
VERR_DIR_NOT_EMPTY
('C:\PROGRA~1\Oracle\VIRTUA~1/ExtensionPacks/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-_-inst-1372')

rcExit=1

Details >

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: ExtPackManager
Interface: IExtPackManager {2451b1ba-ab1c-42fb-b453-c58433bea8c7}

----- -----

Obviously it doesn't matter if UAC is on or not. Not being a techie, really don't know what the above message means.

So two issues:

1 - Why is the Extension Pack not installing properly?

2 - Both webcams work fine in the Host Win 7 OS. Why won't USB webcams properly initialize and work in the XP Guest OS?

Update:

Extension Pack - settled for installing it in Safe Mode again ... works.
Support for USB in Guest issue, 2 options:
1 - in Win 7-64 Host - turned off UAC to allow USB drive/devices to be seen/captured in XP Pro Guest
(should clarify, UAC is set to lowest level, doesn't indicate it is actually "off". I would guess there are likely parts of it still operating and blocking various functions)
2 - or as noted above, I'll leave UAC enabled and use the USB drive in a networked and shared folder method with the Guest
Either way, no webcam in Guest. But don't really need it anyway, so no big deal.

Hope this helps some others with similar issues.