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USB Filters not showing Port number?

Posted: 27. Apr 2017, 15:14
by scottgus1
The "port" space of the USB filter is not showing anything, making usage of USB devices with same vendorid, productid, and revision numbers, etc. difficult to sort and use.

If multiple USB devices containing different data but having identical Virtualbox USB filter information need to be reliably distributed to specific guests, the VB USB filter can't distinguish which USB device to use and sends all of them into the first guest available. Inserting another dongle into the host immediately sends the new dongle into the first guest, requiring further finagling to get the dongle into the next desired guest. Or if by chance the second guest was started first, it would not be known which of the dongles was in the guest, if not all of them at once. In either case further manual manipulation is needed after the guests are started to figure out which dongle to put in which guest.

If the port space showed which USB port the desired device was plugged into, and was filterable, then as long as the device is continually used in the same port, the VB USB filter will be able to distinguish them and filter them into the desired guests automatically.

Anyone know why the port number isn't populating?

(I put a bugtracker defect post about this, then it occurred to me maybe one of the gurus already knows...

Re: USB Filters not showing Port number?

Posted: 27. Apr 2017, 16:03
by mpack
The port number is not something you can filter on. It's like your current location: it isn't part of your identity.

Re: USB Filters not showing Port number?

Posted: 27. Apr 2017, 16:23
by scottgus1
I wonder why they have it there then? Maybe it's just not been programmed?

Re: USB Filters not showing Port number?

Posted: 27. Apr 2017, 16:35
by mpack
AFAIK it just tells you where the device is now. It might be somewhere else in 5 minutes time, but it will still be the same device.

Re: USB Filters not showing Port number?

Posted: 27. Apr 2017, 16:36
by scottgus1
Hmm, at the time that I put the device in and try to make a filter the port box never shows anything for me. Does it show anything on your end?

Re: USB Filters not showing Port number?

Posted: 27. Apr 2017, 16:40
by mpack
No, 5.1.20 shows me an empty box.
 Edit:  "VBoxManage list usbhost" also shows me 0 for the port number of all devices present just now. The port number has always confused people - maybe the feature is on its way out. 

Re: USB Filters not showing Port number?

Posted: 27. Apr 2017, 16:43
by scottgus1
OK, that's what I see too, thanks. I'll leave it in the hands of the developers then.