Getting a wireless USB card to work

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
Post Reply
Kokimura
Posts: 3
Joined: 20. Oct 2015, 20:47

Getting a wireless USB card to work

Post by Kokimura »

I would like to setup Kismet with a wireless adapter on my VirutualBox guest Linux Ubuntu OS. My host OS is OS X version 10.11.
I have read that it is impossible for VirtualBox to recognise the built in Airport wireless card and I purchased the ASUS USB-N13 USB wireless card.

The drivers for that USB adapter are outdated and there are no drivers for OS X 10.11. When I plugin the USB I can see it appearing in About my Mac -> System Report -> USB. When I boot up my guest OS which is Ubuntu Linux and I do lsusb and iwconfig I do not see the wireless adapter listed there which means that the Guest OS does not see it.

My question is is it possible to get the usb wireless adapter to work with my Linux Guest OS without a proper driver for my Mac which is the host OS and if it is possible how?
If it is not possible if you have any ideas on what driver to install to get it to work for MAC OS X 10.11 or if you have a suggester alternative USB wireless adapter please let me know.

Thanks!
Kokimura
Posts: 3
Joined: 20. Oct 2015, 20:47

Re: Getting a wireless USB card to work

Post by Kokimura »

To answer my own question:
1. It turned out that it is not necessary to have the USB driver for the host OS installed thus I did not need to setup the driver from my dongle on the Mac.
2. I had to upgrade to VBox 5.0.
3. After I started my guest OS on the VBox I went to Devices and my Asus USB adapter appeared there. I clicked on it so that a little tick appeared.
After that I was able to see the dongle on my linux. Even the driver was already present in the Kernel and I did not have to build and install it.

After so many lost hours I am rethinking again the cost of owning a mac. I struggle to get even simple things to run there.
Many thanks to the VirtualBox team for the excellent job on the USB support.
loukingjr
Volunteer
Posts: 8851
Joined: 30. Apr 2009, 09:45
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: just about all that run

Re: Getting a wireless USB card to work

Post by loukingjr »

You select USB devices the same way on Windows and Linux hosts so I'm not sure how much harder it is on Macs.
OSX, Linux and Windows Hosts & Guests
There are three groups of people. Those that can count and those that can't.
Kokimura
Posts: 3
Joined: 20. Oct 2015, 20:47

Re: Getting a wireless USB card to work

Post by Kokimura »

It is probably the same.
I was frustrated with the Mac when I tried to setup the Asus USB driver for it because I thought that VirtualBox needed the driver in order to recognize it.
I spent a lot of time and I could not even do it in the end. Luckily VritualBox did not require for the host to have the driver and I was able to acomplish what I wanted.
Post Reply