[SOLVED] USB on Windows XP guest, Ubuntu host

[Drew5316]

I have Windows XP guest in Vbox on an Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server. I can't seem to get the USB working -- no USB devices e.g. memory sticks, external hards -- and have read the manual and recent forum posts, but none has lead me to the solution. In the Windows XP guest, if a USB device is plugged in, I cannot see it in the Device Manager.

I made sure, per the virtualbox manual, that the USB device is *not mounted* by the Host OS.

I believe I have the extensions pack correctly installed:

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$ VBoxManage list extpacks
Extension Packs: 1
Pack no. 0:   Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
Version:      4.1.6
Revision:     74713
Description:  USB 2.0 Host Controller, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM with E1000 support.
VRDE Module:  VBoxVRDP
Usable:       true
Why unusable:

I have a single empty USB filter set up:


With not much info in the filter details:


So the next area of concern is the users, and this is where I'm not entirely clear as to which user belongs in the vboxusers group...

The hierarchy is something like this:

A. Ubuntu user: Drew (also a member of vboxusers Ubuntu group)
A.1. Virtualbox Users: admin, vboxDrew
A.1.a. Windows XP user: xpDrew

If I start a VM from the CLI, I *must* be logged in as Drew.

So which "user" needs to be set up in the vboxusers Ubuntu group: Drew (already a part of it); vboxDrew; or xpDrew?
Does the password in Ubuntu user need to match the password in Virtualbox users or WinXP user logins?

Thanks,
Drew

[Perryg]

It should not matter if the usb device is mounted or not in Linux.

Post the results of id in a host terminal under the user that installed and uses VirtualBox.

[Drew5316]

Post the results of id in a host terminal under the user that installed and uses VirtualBox.

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$ id
uid=1000(Drew) gid=100(users) groups=4(adm),24(cdrom),27(sudo),29(audio),100(use            rs),102(mysql),105(ssh),107(shellinabox),111(sambashare),112(vboxusers)

Is this what you were looking for...?

Drew

[Perryg]

Yes,

Now remove the filter (delete) from the guest settings while the guest is shut down.
Then start the guest and click on the Devices tab at the top and then the USB and see if something shows up there. If so click one and see if it mounts the device.

[Drew5316]

Now remove the filter (delete) from the guest settings while the guest is shut down.
Then start the guest and click on the Devices tab at the top and then the USB and see if something shows up there. If so click one and see if it mounts the device.

OK, let's see if I did this correct...

1. Deleted Empty Filter
2. Started VM
3. After logging in to Guest OS, went to VM Details, USB Settings, and clicked "Add Filter from Device", which brought up a list of 4 USB devices currently plugged in to the hardware:

4. Selected [0100], which is a 4GB USB flash memory stick
5. Clicked on "Edit Filter" to get "USB Filter Details":

Did not edit anything, just opened it for the sake of communication detail. Hit [ Cancel ] to close the USB Filter Details and [ OK ] to close out the USB Settings dialog
6. In Windows XP Guest, did not see the memory stick show up. Looked at the Device Manager:


Thoughts?

Thanks,
Drew

[Perryg]

Let's try this again.
You have deleted the filter. That's good.

• Now start the guest
  at the top of the guest window you should see the devices tab. Click that.
  Read down the list and you will see USB. Put your mouse pointer on the USB and a fly out should pop out and show all the available USB devices.
  Click on one (not the keyboard or mouse) and see if it loads in the guest.

[Drew5316]

Whoops... I think we ran into a discrepancy between the Vbox GUI and the PHPVirtualbox webui. I'm running vbox on a headless server and hooked up PHPvirtualbox as a web front end:


However, your description got me pointed in the right direction -- the VBoxManage section of the user manual:

8.12 VBoxManage controlvm
VBoxManage controlvm <vm> usbattach and usbdettach make host USB devices visible to the virtual machine on the
fly, without the need for creating filters first. The USB devices can be specified by UUID
(unique identifier) or by address on the host system.

You can use VBoxManage list usbhost to locate this information.

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$ VBoxManage list usbhost
Host USB Devices:

UUID:               b024a76c-e015-4a13-afe6-6781718b046d
VendorId:           0x046d (046D)
ProductId:          0xc517 (C517)
Revision:           56.16 (5616)
Manufacturer:       Logitech
Product:            USB Receiver
Address:            sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb2/2-1//device:/dev/vboxusb/002/002
Current State:      Busy

UUID:               012c18c0-1190-4dba-8067-1a07d48629f4
VendorId:           0x0764 (0764)
ProductId:          0x0501 (0501)
Revision:           0.1 (0001)
Manufacturer:       CPS
Product:            CP550HG
Address:            sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.1/usb3/3-1//device:/dev/vboxusb/003/002
Current State:      Busy

UUID:               aeac5e85-1c25-4995-9c94-b270db6dc029
VendorId:           0x1058 (1058)
ProductId:          0x071a (071A)
Revision:           32.25 (3225)
Manufacturer:       Western Digital
Product:            My Passport 071A
SerialNumber:       575850314535315956463232
Address:            sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.2/usb1/1-6//device:/dev/vboxusb/001/004
Current State:      Available

UUID:               248fadb4-33ae-407b-9845-33c6ad3fddd6
VendorId:           0x13fe (13FE)
ProductId:          0x3e00 (3E00)
Revision:           1.0 (0100)
Manufacturer:
Product:
SerialNumber:       07BB08013C4864B7
Address:            sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.2/usb1/1-4//device:/dev/vboxusb/001/005
Current State:      Available

The two "Available" devices are the ones we are interested in, at the moment. I just copied the UUID, and entered them in the CLI:

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$ VBoxManage controlvm sanjuan usbattach aeac5e85-1c25-4995-9c94-b270db6dc029
$ VBoxManage controlvm sanjuan usbattach 248fadb4-33ae-407b-9845-33c6ad3fddd6

...and we can verify the result by listing the host usb devices again (other devices cut from list intentionally):

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UUID:               aeac5e85-1c25-4995-9c94-b270db6dc029
VendorId:           0x1058 (1058)
ProductId:          0x071a (071A)
Revision:           32.25 (3225)
Manufacturer:       Western Digital
Product:            My Passport 071A
SerialNumber:       575850314535315956463232
Address:            sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.2/usb1/1-6//device:/dev/vboxusb/001/004
Current State:      Captured

UUID:               248fadb4-33ae-407b-9845-33c6ad3fddd6
VendorId:           0x13fe (13FE)
ProductId:          0x3e00 (3E00)
Revision:           1.0 (0100)
Manufacturer:
Product:
SerialNumber:       07BB08013C4864B7
Address:            sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.2/usb1/1-4//device:/dev/vboxusb/001/005
Current State:      Captured

Here the "Captured" state is what tells us it was attached correctly. Off to the guest (WinXP in this case) and I had to install a device driver, but no big deal. The USB devices are now showing up in the WinXP Device Manager, and are accessible through a Windows Explorer.


Thanks for all the help, Perryg. Good to get one more item off the check list.
Drew

[Jeba]

Hi perryg,

I started this thread viewtopic.php?f=7&t=47834 earlier. Don't think i'm flooding the forum by chiming in to so many discussions. You'd get an idea about what my problem is when you go through the topic.

When i searched so many threads in this forum i found this thread to be fit to post my question.

Here are my results.

$id
uid=618138843(jebagna-1069) gid=618136065(domain^users) groups=618136065(domain^users),0(root),128(vboxusers)

$/usr/bin/vboxmanage list extpacks
Extension Packs: 1
Pack no. 0: Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
Version: 4.0.4
Revision: 70112
Description: USB 2.0 Host Controller, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM with E1000 support.
VRDE Module: VBoxVRDP
Usable: true
Why unusable:

But still in my windows 7 guest it is showing couldn't install the USB software though the states are in "captured" mode.

Tried adding to root group and created empty filter also. But nothing helped. Any comments?

Update : However when i activate my USB device (Transcend thumb derive or iPhone) in VB it disappears from Ubuntu 11.04. Does this give you any additional clues?

[Perryg]

@Jeba,
Actually it would be better to continue this Conversation at your other topic because this one is marked solved.
In the meantime I would install version 4.1.8 and the extension pack that matches. There has been some work in the USB area and it might help a lot.
I will tag your other post so it shows up for me when you add content.

You will need to remove the OSE version from the repo first and install from the VirtualBox.org download to be able to get full support here though. The repo versions uses the source code of VirtualBox and change things to fit their needs making it impossible for us to know what they have changed/done. Your guests will remain intact and be picked up with the new install, but I always tell everyone to backup first, as you should be doing anyway.