VirtualBox - trying to get USB devices to work [Win 7 under Kubuntu]

[Tom_ZeCat]

I upgraded the memory in my laptop from 4 GB to 8 and have now installed VirtualBox in Kubuntu and Windows 7 Ultimate under VB. So far so good. I gave 4 GB to each operating system. Now Windows 7 runs under VB, but so far I have not been able to get the USB devices (thumb drives and external hard drives) to work. The DVD drive does work.

I searched online and found that I needed to install Guest Additions (done, which btw would only install in Safe Mode) and VirtualBox Extensions pack (done). So far so good.

Here's the video on the topic that I found:

According to the video, I need to add my user name (tommy) to the group named “vboxusers.” The video is of regular Ubuntu, not Kubuntu. In it he adds his user name to vboxusers via the built-in system utility “Users and Groups.” Looks simple enough, but Kubuntu doesn't have this. I hit Alt+F2 and typed in “user” and found the User Manager. The menu popped up, but unfortunately, I'm not finding tool for adding my user name to a group. I wondered if maybe Kubuntu has a separate tool for managing groups, so I hit Alt+F2 and typed “groups.” No luck. I found no tool for managing the groups.

So I searched online some more. I found that I thought would enable me to add my user name to this vboxusers group:

sudo gpasswd -a tommy vboxusers

Unfortunately, that didn't work. When I go into VirtualBox's settings, intending to add the USB devices, I get the same error message as before:

VirtualBox is not currently allowed to access USB devices. You can change this by adding your user to the "vboxusers' group. Please see the manual for a thoroughly confusing and hairpullouting explanation.

It looks like this thing is going to finally work if I can just figure out how to add my user name to vboxusers in Kubuntu. It's obviously different from how it's done in Ubuntu.

Is someone knows, I would greatly appreciate a heads up. Thanks.

[Snowhog]

Alt+F2 and type kuser. Or, System Settings > System > KUser

[ronw]

Installing VB from the virtualbox repo does this for you; maybe the Ubuntu version doesn't.

Snowhog's suggestion is a good one. I don't have kuser installed; you might not either and need to install it. I like how KRunner offers "Install kuser" as an option.

You can also manually edit /etc/group and add yourself. This is what mine looks like:

$ grep vbox /etc/group
vboxusers:x:122:ronw

[Tom_ZeCat]

Yeah, KUser was not installed. I installed it from the Synaptic Package Manager. (Muon has been buggy lately.) At first it didn't work. I got popup error messages. After the reboot it worked okay.

Now ... one problem solved and another created. It failed to mount most of my devices. Out of 5 thumb drives that I use, it only successfully mounted two and it failed to mount my external hard drive. My mouse (a wireless Microsoft laser mouse) also quit working within Windows, but kept working in Kubuntu.

When I first start Windows, I get this:


I'm using two USB hubs because this laptop only has 3 USB ports. The hubs work perfectly in both Kubuntu and when I boot straight to Windows. This is a dual boot Kubuntu/Windows 7, at least until I get Win 7 working and set up under VB. I really hope I can keep using these hubs. This laptop simply doesn't have enough USB ports to do what I want to do. The two thumb drives that worked were plugged into one of the hubs.

[Tom_ZeCat]

Another update:
I think I found the problem. In the VB Manager, under Settings ==> USB, "Enable USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller" was not checked. I checked that and booted back into Windows and it now recognizes the two devices I have plugged in, a thumb drive and an external hard drive. I'll try in a bit with more devices. This problem is likely solved. I'm posting this so all may benefit, including people using search engines.