Yes, I have tried a post on the VirtualBox forums, but they just don't seem as clever as the people here; and I've found some Virtual Box questions on LinuxQuestions.

The issue with Mandriva 2007.1 (Dell GX260; i586) and VirtualBox 1.5 on guest WinXP: "device not available or already in use". I'm a member of group vboxusers, but I don't know about the usb group. Here is what I received from a usb check, any help would be greatly appreciated:

One other possible bit of help, this is what I receive when I try to start VirtualBox with root:

[phillip@localhost Desktop]$ VirtualBox
Cannot create/open directory '/tmp/.vbox-phillip-ipc/ipcd'
Abnormal termination.

AND.. I cannot open VirtualBox from the Main Menu, here I get the error:

Failed to create the VirtualBox COM object.
The application will now terminate.
Callee RC: 0x80040154



[root@localhost Desktop]# VBoxManage list usbhost
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 1.5.0
(C) 2005-2007 innotek GmbH
All rights reserved.

Host USB Devices:

UUID: 11630c08-bc6b-4b6c-82aa-806bead97fda
VendorId: 0x045e (045E)
ProductId: 0x0040 (0040)
Revision: 3.0 (0300)
Manufacturer: Microsoft
Product: Microsoft 3-Button Mouse with IntelliEye(TM)
Address: /proc/bus/usb/001/003
Current State: Busy

UUID: 088629b3-40c9-4199-51ae-35aa11a9a923
VendorId: 0x04b8 (04B8)
ProductId: 0x012a (012A)
Revision: 1.0 (0100)
Manufacturer: EPSON
Product: EPSON Scanner
Address: /proc/bus/usb/004/004
Current State: Captured

[root@localhost Desktop]# VBoxManage list usbfilters
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 1.5.0
(C) 2005-2007 innotek GmbH
All rights reserved.

Global USB Device Filters:

<none>

[root@localhost Desktop]# VBoxManage list vms
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 1.5.0
(C) 2005-2007 innotek GmbH
All rights reserved.

Name: XP Windows
Guest OS: Windows XP
UUID: e7721fb5-6d6b-4bf1-b08e-03402945289a
Config file: /root/.VirtualBox/Machines/XP Windows/XP Windows.xml
Memory size: 192MB
VRAM size: 8MB
Boot menu mode: message and menu
ACPI: on
IOAPIC: off
Time offset: 0 ms
Hardw. virt.ext: off
State: running (since 2007-10-01T07:03:06.517000000)
Monitor count: 1
Floppy: empty
Primary master: /root/.VirtualBox/VDI/XP Windows.vdi (UUID: 65bc969a-b179-4f30-5b9c-65a7db391c61)
DVD: Host drive /dev/cdrom
NIC 1: MAC: 080027452712, Attachment: NAT, Trace: off (file: <NULL>)
NIC 2: disabled
NIC 3: disabled
NIC 4: disabled
UART 1: disabled
UART 2: disabled
Audio: enabled (Driver: Null)
Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
VRDP: disabled
USB: enabled

USB Device Filters:

Index: 0
Active: yes
Name: EPSON Scanner [0100]
VendorId: 04B8
ProductId: 012A
Revision: 0100
Manufacturer: EPSON
Product: EPSON Scanner
Serial Number: <NULL>

Shared folders: <none>


[root@localhost Desktop]# VBoxManage list systemproperties
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 1.5.0
(C) 2005-2007 innotek GmbH
All rights reserved.

Minimum guest RAM size: 4 Megabytes
Maximum guest RAM size: 2000 Megabytes
Maximum video RAM size: 128 Megabytes
Maximum VDI size: 2097151 Megabytes
Default VDI filder: /root/.VirtualBox/VDI
Default machine folder: /root/.VirtualBox/Machines
VRDP authentication library: VRDPAuth
Hardware virt. extensions: no

user "philip" is root? Downgrade to 1.4.0, it has way better USB support.

have a nice day, bye

I use 1.5 and USB works fine.
I downloaded the user manual from the VirtualBox site and I found the procedure to allow the access to the usb.
It's a permission issue.