VirtualBox OSE USB enabling...

[peejay1977]

Hi all, new to the forum and also to Linux after being a Windows "believer" and engineer for 14 years. Am loving Linux so far and its been a steep learning curve so far.

I have hit a problem getting USB enabled for VirtualBox OSE. I see on a simple Google search its a well documented issue but all the "fixes" seem to slightly vary, especially when it comes to what to add to which file and what group ID to put in on the fstab file.

Anyway, I am now at the point where when I launch the virtual machine, in the Devices menu I can see USB Devices listed, but when I go to it, it states no devices were found.

Any suggestions? Happy to post listings of any files required.

Many Thanks


Paul.

[noelvh]

Re: VirtualBox OSE USB enabling...

I have been using Vbox for some time now and love it. I also spent time on google to get this working and here is what I do. I have run through this a few time so to me it's not so bad.

Now I have access to my usb devices, but you have to enable them for the vm before you boot it.

Other than this I love it. I also use a share folder so i can move file between the gust os with ease.

Noel Vh

VirtualBox Software Install, and configure
[url]http://www.ubuntu1501.com/2007/12/installing-virtualbox-with-usb-support.html[/url]
Step 1: Download and Install VirtualBox


Step 2: Setup User groups & USB support
*Add yourself as a virtual box user
In a terminal type:
sudo adduser username vboxusers
You must replace userame with your user name!
Or you can do this with the GUI user manager.

*Add USB support to you fstab file
In a terminal type:
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
And paste this line to the end of your fstab
none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=1001,devmode=664 0 0

*Enable USB
In a terminal type:
sudo gedit /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh
You need to look for this section:
#
# Magic to make /proc/bus/usb work
#
#mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
#domount usbfs "" /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644
#ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices
#mount --rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb
And delete all the # shown, it should look exactly like this.

#Magic to make /proc/bus/usb work

mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
domount usbfs "" /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644
ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices
mount --rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb

Find your vboxusers number
In a terminal type:
sudo gedit /etc/group

Look for this, the number following it is your vboxusers number
vboxusers:x:NUMBER

Next you have to add a line to your /etc/fstab to allow usb mounting
In a terminal type:
sudo gedit /etc/fstab

Add this line:
none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid= enter vboxusers number HERE,devmode=664 0 0

Allow access to /proc/bus/usb/
in a teminal type:
sudo chown -R root:vboxusers /proc/bus/usb

Once you Log out or reboot, you can start VirtualBox (Applications>System Tools>Innotek VirtualBox)

Vbox mount share folder in windows guest (VM machine).
net use x: \\vboxsvr\your share folder name
The your share folder name in a folder you create in the host machine, so enter that folder name in the net use command.

[peejay1977]

Re: VirtualBox OSE USB enabling...

Thanks for the help Noelvh, I'll keep those instructions just in case. I've solved the problem by a more traditional method, I opened Virtual Box yesterday and got a prompt telling me a new update, V2.04 was available and did I want to download.

I downloaded the .deb package, uninstalled and installed this new one and hey presto, USB support from the Settings menu. Although now it doesnt say that its the OSE version.

I can now use my IPod with ITunes which is really the only thing I was missing from Windows XP.

Thanks

Paul.