USB does not pass through from Win 7 host to WXP Pro guest

[airpilot1]

Greetings:

I searched using Google "USB" "site:forums.virtualbox", and found nothing that helps with my problem.

I installed VB on my Win 7 HP laptop with 64 bit Pentium P6100 CPU. Install went perfectly. I then installed Windows XP Pro into the guest, also no problems. Mouse and keyboard transfer seamlessly, but when I plug in my old Samsung A-670 Cell Phone, for which no driver exists for Win 7, but one does exist for WXP (that's why I installed VB), the host doesn't load a driver because there is none, and the guest doesn't see the USB connected device so it can load the WXP driver.

I read the User Manual about USB Filters, but I can't seem to get a filter to work so the guest can "see" the USB connection directly, without the need for a Win 7 USB driver on the host side.

Is it possible to connect a USB device that has only WXP drivers available, using VB in a Win 7 host? If so, may I request detailed instructions?

Thanks for all the work you do.

Airpilot

[airpilot1]

More on my last posting...

I figured that, if there was just no way to "see" a usb device needing a WXP driver within the VB guest without first supplying a Win 7 driver for the host, that I would just set up a dual boot environment with Win 7 and WXP. But now I have found that for dual boot, the older WXP OS has to be installed first, so existing newer OS startup files don't get over written, so I can't do that either, because my laptop is already equipped with Win 7, and no way am I going to format and stat over with WXP.

So, now I think I'm stuck. I sure was hoping someone would respond to my last posting with the info I really need, but so far, no help.

One last option - can I boot my laptop off of an external usb drive with WXP?

PLEASE help! Thanks,


Airpilot

[mpack]

Did you install the VirtualBox extension pack in the host? You don't have USB 2.0 support until you've done that.

You should not need a device driver for the host. USB is a layered network protocol. The lowest layers deal with the mechanics of detecting connection etc. The host has to support that. The application layers which do something device specific need only exist in the guest.

[airpilot1]

Yes, I installed the VB Extension Pack when I installed VB, and reinstalled it this evening. Still the same problem - then I stumbled onto the resolution. I had to pull down and select the USB input I wanted from the Devices > USB Devices tab. After that, copy the USB info into a USB Filter, and I'm go! Too bad this info wasn't in the Users Manual - it would have saved me a lot of time! Still, the VB is great software, thanks.

[mpack]

With your talk earlier of understanding USB filters I assumed you knew that by editing a filter while the device was connected you would have the opportunity to grab the ID details from the device.

[airpilot1]

Bad assumption! I said I couldn't seem to get a filter to work, not that I understood them! In general, tutorials for newbies shouldn't assume anything. We're all dumb until educated. It's working now, so thank you for your assistance, mpack!

Airpilot.