hi,

Has anyone tried using Slackware 13.1 (32 bit, with all the latest patches) with VirtualBox 4.0.4 and managed to get USB working on a Windows XP guest? I can't seem to get the XP guest to detect an external USB hardrive I attach whatever I do. The slackware (host) correctly detects the external USB hardrive and will mount it, but the guest OS will not detect the device (regardless of whether or not it is mounted by linux).

I have enabled USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller in the USB settings part of VirtualBox, and have created a filter that should allow the external hardrive to be seen, but the "Devices" menu when running the virtual machine reports "State: Unavailable" for all my USB devices (I'm using USB keyboard & mouse but these map to PS2 in the VM and therefore work).

Reading the VirtualBox documentation, I'm not sure if their description of how USB is setup on linux matches with how it is setup on Slackware (since there are difference between the distros). All my /dev/ devices connected with VirtualBox are owned by root and in the vboxusers group, as is my user account also in the vboxusers group - so that should work. But the documentation also states "VirtualBox can only proxy to virtual machines USB devices which are not claimed by a Linux host USB driver." It would appear my external USB hardrive is claimed by the usb-storage driver. Could this be the problem, if so how do I get the usb-storage driver to let VirtualBox get control of the device?

Any ideas appreciated, thanks,
Stu

I gather you're using the non-free version of VirtualBox, but can you confirm that? The OSS version doesn't support USB.

However, they have changed it recently.

There is no longer an OSS version and a proprietary version. There is just one version and it is OSS, but the USB2 hub controller requires an add-in that is under the PUEL licence.

1 members found this post helpful.

As mentioned above, you need the extensions installed.
After downloading you have to open Virtualbox, go to File->Preferences and then click on the Extensions menu and install them.

I am running the "Oracle" version of VirtualBox, and I have installed the EHCI extention.

I just tried running VirtualBox as "root" and guess what, the Windows guest detects my external USB hardrive!

Me thinks there must be something wrong with the permissions of USB devices on my linux host, but what to check?


S

Problem FIXED!

Following one of the links in Zordrak's post I have changed the USB permissions and I can now see my external USB hardrive in the guest OS - even when I'm running VirtualBox as a normal user.

S

Hehe.. I didn't realise that was your problem, or I'd have given you the direct link. Those links aren't part of the post, they're my signature

Just for anyone else hitting this thread looking for help, this is the link:

Slackware-13.1 and VirtualBox USB