USB Flash drive locking up Win XP Guest

[SirGak]

Helping my brother install Virtual Box on his Win 7 PC. We're installing Win XP as the guest OS. Everything is fine until we try to use a USB 2.0 Flash Drive.

In short, we have a locking-up problem.

We boot Win 7 PC. Then we start Virtual Box. We set a USB Filter to recognize the USB Flash Drive, which it does. Then when we start the Win XP Guest, it gets to the Win XP Desktop. We insert the USB Flash Drive, and the Mouse pointer freezes, and ALT+TAB does not work (so as to get to the Win 7 visible in the background). Win 7 is still working, but we just can't get access to it. (Kaspersky's Security is running just fine in the background). The only way to unlock the system is to power off the machine (CTRL-ALT-DEL doesn't work, either).

A solution is needed for this. Thanks in advance.

[loukingjr]

With the VM fully shut down, right click its icon in the VirtualBox Manager, select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" to a zip file. Attach the zip here.

[socratis]

We set a USB Filter to recognize the USB Flash Drive, which it does.

Tell me more about this "filter" that you created. In full detail with the exact fields that you filled in.

What you can also do, is to open a Command Prompt window. Navigate to the VBox installation directory (typically "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\"). Run:

   VBoxManage showvminfo "<YourVM>"

and post the output.

[SirGak]

With the VM fully shut down, right click its icon in the VirtualBox Manager, select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" to a zip file. Attach the zip here.

Here is the log in zip format. Thanks.

[loukingjr]

Can you run your XP guest without the flash drive plugged in, shut the guest down and post a new vbox.log? The one you posted isn't complete.

BTW, all the settings for your XP guest are set at the bare minimum. Try increasing the guest RAM to 1024MB and the VRAM to at least 32MB.

I see this in the log…

00:00:26.522471 OHCI#0: Lagging too far behind, not trying to catch up anymore. Expect glitches with USB devices

Change the USB controller to EHCI in the guest and USB Filter settings.

[loukingjr]

Sorry I worded that poorly. Just make sure EHCI is enabled in the USB settings for the guest.

[SirGak]

Can you run your XP guest without the flash drive plugged in, shut the guest down and post a new vbox.log? The one you posted isn't complete.

BTW, all the settings for your XP guest are set at the bare minimum. Try increasing the guest RAM to 1024MB and the VRAM to at least 32MB.

I see this in the log…

00:00:26.522471 OHCI#0: Lagging too far behind, not trying to catch up anymore. Expect glitches with USB devices

Change the USB controller to EHCI in the guest and USB Filter settings.

The USB was already on the EHCI controller. We increased the RAM to 2048 MB and the VRAM to 64 MB.

We then ran the Win XP Guest -- and it locked up right away, no USB Flash attached. We brought it up again, and deleted the USB filter this time around -- and it still locked up. An error message reports that the Virtual Machine is reporting that the Guest OS does not support mouse pointer integration. Might that be involved in the problem?

Here is the log we were able to collect (due to the lock-up, I don't know if it is complete).

[loukingjr]

It sounds like something is wrong with the copy of XP you installed. Where did the .iso come from and can you try reinstalling it?

[SirGak]

It sounds like something is wrong with the copy of XP you installed. Where did the .iso come from and can you try reinstalling it?

It's an original XP disc. We can try reinstalling the XP.

[loukingjr]

well hopefully it's not damaged.

There is one other thing. There have been a couple of reports of problems with certain AMD CPUs. I'm not sure if that's the problem though.

[loukingjr]

I didn't notice this until now. You have the VirtualBox application on the F: drive? VirtualBox needs to be on the C: drive.

[socratis]

VirtualBox needs to be on the C: drive.

[Citation needed]

[loukingjr]

VirtualBox needs to be on the C: drive.

[Citation needed]

Search for one.

[Perryg]

Actually it simply needs to be installed from the host. During install time you can place it where ever you like. I understand the confusion though but installing from the host places the DLLs where they need to be.

Disclaimer: at least up to and including Windows 7 which is the last Windows OS I used.

[loukingjr]

Actually my thought was it was installed on the C: drive and the app moved to the F: drive.

plus as mpack has mentioned numerous times, Windows has a bad habit of changing drive letters for external drives, USB flash drives etc. so not the best idea to install an application to one. I suppose the F: drive in this case could be another internal drive. Waiting on the user to hear.