Arch Linux

SiegeMachine

Member

Registered: 2009-03-26

Posts: 157

VBox USB again...[solved]

I know a lot of people have this problem, but I have done everything that I have seen come up and I still can not make it work.

I have virtualbox_bin version 3.1.0-1
I have tried with an empty filter, and I have tried adding a filter specific to the usb I want to use. I know that the USB passthrough works because I can see my printer show up in USB and its got the checkmark that its selected.  I have added the line to my /etc/fstab, vbox runs fine and I have the module build for this kernel.  I've got the usb plugged in before starting virtualbox, and tried plugging it in after.  I've got it mounted on my host computer and when it isn't mounted.  I've tried with a couple of different USB sticks and no matter what they all show up greyed out in the USB menu.  I'm totally out of ideas

It appears to be a vbox issue as no matter what OS I try running in virtual box (I have chromium-os and WindowsXP installed on Vbox drives) and they are always greyed out.  It instantly detects when I plug something in too, but as always it is greyed out.

Last edited by SiegeMachine (2009-12-14 22:04:52)

Deuterium

Member

Registered: 2009-09-26

Posts: 50

Re: VBox USB again...[solved]

What version of VirtualBox are you using? from what i know, only the Proprietry version (Not OSE) supports enabling the USB to pass through (dunno about the printer deal though).  also, maybe try mounting the usb's in Arch?

#mkdir /mnt/usb
#mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb

SiegeMachine

Member

Registered: 2009-03-26

Posts: 157

Re: VBox USB again...[solved]

lol not to be rude but try reading my post

mandog

Member

From: Peru

Registered: 2008-09-17

Posts: 218

Re: VBox USB again...[solved]

Use this link http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/VirtualBox and this link http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/VirtualBox.
you must have vbox guests installed in in the guest system,
This is taken from the wiki.

First in order to make USB available for use to the virtual machine you must add this line to your /etc/fstab:

none /proc/bus/usb usbfs auto,busgid=108,busmode=0775,devgid=108,devmode=0664 0 0
you may need to change 0664 to 0666 it gives less security but does work

Then tell mount to reread /etc/fstab:

# mount -a

108 is is the id of the group which should be allowed to access USB-devices. Change it to the id of your vboxusers group. You can get the id by running:

$ grep vboxusers /etc/group

Restart Virtualbox and click the USB tab in the settings of the virtual machine and select which devices are available to your pc on boot. If you wish your virtual machine to use device that you have just plugged in (assuming the virtual machine has booted already), go to the VirtualMachine screen go to Devices → USB Devices and select the device you wish to plug in the virtual PC.

note from me
Make sure you have the correct group id 108 is for vbox it needs to match the one in your fstab,

This is my fstab it is a old  entry 2years that still seems to work for me remember this is from my host arch install not vbox and where it is entered I also use the same entry in Debian.
#<file system>   <dir>       <type>      <options>    <dump> <pass>
/dev/sda8       /            auto     defaults,noatime,nodiratime 0     1
/dev/sda9       /home        auto     defaults,noatime,nodiratime 0     2

   usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=108,devmode=0666 0 0

none            /dev/pts    devpts      defaults        0     0
none            /dev/shm    tmpfs       defaults        0     0

Last edited by mandog (2009-12-14 08:16:22)

---

I'm dyslexic Please do not complain about puntuation or spelling and remember most dyslexic people have above average iq.

SiegeMachine

Member

Registered: 2009-03-26

Posts: 157

Re: VBox USB again...[solved]

Yea I've tried all that before you posted it and I've tried it all again, I dunno why but they are all still greyed out, nothing seems to work =\ It detects stuff as soon as I plug them in and things but it just wont let me use them

Last edited by SiegeMachine (2009-12-14 09:24:07)

mandog

Member

From: Peru

Registered: 2008-09-17

Posts: 218

Re: VBox USB again...[solved]

This is not meant to be nasty
So why does it work for other people and not you.
Anwser because you are doing something wrong It took me several attempts to get VBox working but one error is all it needs usually permissions.

---

I'm dyslexic Please do not complain about puntuation or spelling and remember most dyslexic people have above average iq.

anonymous_user

Member

Registered: 2009-08-28

Posts: 3,059

Re: VBox USB again...[solved]

Have you tried restarting VirtualBox after making the change to fstab? Or even restart the computer?

SiegeMachine

Member

Registered: 2009-03-26

Posts: 157

Re: VBox USB again...[solved]

Yea I've done looooots of restarts and reload fstabs I've tried with and without the line because its not supposed to need it on this virtualbox version, I rolled back to version 2.0.6 I think it was last night and couldn't even get it to load the HD's anymore because I got a no IDE controller error for some reason.  I've tried everything 50 times and I just can't figure it out -.-

SiegeMachine

Member

Registered: 2009-03-26

Posts: 157

Re: VBox USB again...[solved]

OMFG I was just about to give it another try this morning, I have my printer plugged in before I booted my computer, then once I was up on my host I fired up Virtualbox and low and behold none of the USB devices are greyed out anymore! I have NO idea why, I'll have to try to mess around to see if I can break it again now (Shouldn't be too hard) so I can see what the issue was.

mandog

Member

From: Peru

Registered: 2008-09-17

Posts: 218

Re: VBox USB again...[solved]

I new you could do it

---

I'm dyslexic Please do not complain about puntuation or spelling and remember most dyslexic people have above average iq.

karejscha

Member

From: Belarus, Novopolotsk

Registered: 2010-05-30

Posts: 2

Re: VBox USB again...[solved]

Don`t forget to add yourself to vboxusers group. That helped me.