Arch Linux

tdtooke

Member

Registered: 2023-04-11

Posts: 245

USB devices on VirtualBox

Is there a way to just be able to detect any and all USB devices while running windows within virtual box.  I found that I had to add a filter for anything I wanted windows to be able to see.  Is there a 'hijack everything' option that will just let virtual box handle all usb connections while I'm running it?

ntb314

Member

Registered: 2025-02-13

Posts: 26

Re: USB devices on VirtualBox

Hi!
AFAIK, VirtualBox doesn’t have a global “capture all USB devices” option. You need to add USB filters for the devices you want to pass through to the VM. Without filters, VirtualBox won’t automatically grab USB devices. The filters tell it which devices to “hijack.” You could try a broad filter to catch everything, but that might cause conflicts with your host system.

tdtooke

Member

Registered: 2023-04-11

Posts: 245

Re: USB devices on VirtualBox

That's a shame.  In some instances like updating a gaming console this is problematic.  You have the filter you get when holding down select and powering it on, then the filter for holding down reset and powering it on, then the filter for just powering it on.  And they're not the same and you kinda have to do them in order to get the filter to be the right one.  Like you get the just power it on filter to start.  Do that on the update ap, then when it wants you to power off and hold select and power back on, you gotta get that filter, but the app will fail and you'll have to restart from the beginning.  You do that and get through that step now you gotta get the filter for reset and power on....you get the idea.  And you just can't do all that in the beginning or it won't work.  The machine identifies differently depending on whether or not you've done the steps.  That's a bit of a rant, but....in some instances the whole filter thing on virtualbox is harder than it needs to be in my opinion.  I really, really, really wish that app would just work in wine.  Thanks anyway though.

dimich

Member

From: Kharkiv, Ukraine

Registered: 2009-11-03

Posts: 524

Re: USB devices on VirtualBox

You can try to play around "VBoxManage usbfilter add ..." in udev rule for USB devices. Or "VBoxManage controlvm ... usbattach ..." if you want to attach a device only while VM is active.