virtualbox.org

Hi,
I am running VB 4.1.8 on a MacbookAir Lion 10.7.2 with a Windows XP SP2 guest. I cannot get any USB device to connect to the virtual machine. It is seen by the VB Devices but the guest OS does not see them. I get the following error: Failed to attach the USB device [XXXX]. Bluetooth USB Host Controller [0038] to the virtual machine Windows XP. USB device 'xxx' with UUID {xxxx} is in use by someone else.
Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component: HostUSBDevice
Interface: IHostUSBDevice {173b4b44-d268-4334-a00d-b6521c9a740a}
Callee: IConsole {1968b7d3-e3bf-4ceb-99e0-cb7c913317bb}

I get the message when I try and connect a built in Apple Bluetooth USB controller, an external USB hard drive, a USB scanner (Cannon CR50)...

I have tried all the following solutions 1) the Windows XP fix by adding a DWORD in the USB Registry for DisableSelectiveSuspend
2) enabling and not enabling the USB 2.0 host controller in the VB Devices manager
3) adding and/or removing the filter for the device
4) plugging in the device before and after starting the virtual machine

To be clear, they are listed in the Devices in VB, just won't show up on the guest OS.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

You cannot have a host virtual machine. The host is the physical machine (MacbookAIR) on which you install VirtualBox. The host OS is OS X Lion. The virtual machine (in which you installed XP) is the guest machine and XP is the guest OS.

I'm not a Mac host user, but the following is the correct procedure on Windows hosts.

1. All guest registry settings should be returned to their original values and not messed with again.
2. Enable the USB2 controller.
3. Add a filter for the device, a blank one will usually get things going, but a specific one would be safer.
4. Plug in the device after the VM window appears. You may have to unplug and replug the device when the host USB redirection driver is first installed for that device filter.

Also: you would do really well to avoid "thrashing around", i.e. trying lots of things you only vaguely understand in the hope that one will have some magical result. That usually only makes things worse, in addition to confusing everybody who tries to understand your situation. Only do things whose effects you know and understand in advance.

I am having the exact same issue. I am trying to plug in a Programmer/debugger from ST Microelectronics. The host OS keeps registering the USB device before the guest OS can register it. When I try and register it manually (predictably) the host OS is still in control of this. I have created and removed the USB filters a few times. I have altered the filter from being just VID/PID to full details. I am making NO progress.

Any help/advice much appreciated.


Thanks.

You should be able to unmount the USB device from the host using the command line, then mount it to the guest. I need to do this for my Mac OS 10.7.3 host and Windows Vista guest. I have not yet done this, so I can't provide detailed instructions, but I believe the info is in the VirtualBox 4.1.8 manual. Tim K.