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I have Window XP and Windows 7 as guest systems running on VirtualBox on an Ubuntu 16.04 host. Both guest systems were working perfectly until I updated my Ubuntu and my VirtualBox to 5.2.22. Since then, my Windows 7 guest works perfectly, but my Windows XP disables my mouse and keyboard immediately when it starts to open up. Windows XP finishes opening up complete with sound, but keyboard and mouse no longer function so that I cannot change workspaces or open a terminal to examine log files or terminate VirtualBox and it becomes necessary to hard reboot the system. All the configuration parameters appear identical for the two guests.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Provide a VM log file. With the VM fully shut down, right click it in the GUI. Select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" (no other file) to a zip file. Attach the zip here.

Problem identified and workaround developed. The problem is apparently in one of the USB interfaces.

On my system, VBox identifies 3 USB devices when it lauches, 1 printer, 1 generic mass storage device and 1 Logitech receiver. Under the "settings -> USB" menu (before launching the Windows guest), I enabled USB 2.0 and removed the filters for all 3 USB devices. After starting the Windows guest, all 3 USB devices show up under the "devices -> USB settings" menu, but they are unchecked. At that point, Windows XP works fine. Now if I check the boxes for the printer and the mass storage devices, Windows continues to work properly and I can connect to my printer and any USB flash drives that I mount. But if I check the Logitech receiver box, the mouse and keyboard freeze and the entire computer becomes unusable, forcing me to do a hard reboot.

The mouse and keyboard inputs are integrated with the host and guest so that both operate seamlessly between the two. However, both are Logitech wireless devices operating off the same USB receiver. I am guessing that checking the USB Logitech receiver box is setting up a conflict between the USB interface and the integrated mouse/keyboard interface.

So the workaround is simply unchecking the Logitech receiver box in the USB settings menu. If I'm correct in diagnosing the problem, it would seem to me that VBox developers would recognize that conflict and disable the USB mouse/keyboard interface when using the integrated mouse/keyboard interface.

wrkbear wrote:it would seem to me that VBox developers would recognize that conflict and disable the USB mouse/keyboard interface when using the integrated mouse/keyboard interface.

Why would they do that? It's up to you to install the correct drivers in a guest OS, not VirtualBox.

See the howto area and search the forums for discussion of USB3 support in XP through Win7 guests.