virtualbox wont show USB ports in the guest OS

[Chris G]

On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 05:31:04PM +0200, Joep L. Blom wrote:
> Derek Broughton wrote:
> > Joep L. Blom wrote:
> > 
> >> I have the distinct feeling that the problem is in the permissions as I
> >> but I can't find out which are not set. I even tried to set the
> >> /proc/bus/usb directory chain to 777 (which is definitively NOT a good
> >> idea) but it didn't work.
> > 
> > Why is it not a good idea?  Really, a USB device is almost always under 
> > physical user control, so allowing world access on a single user system is 
> > insignificant.  However - I don't see any evidence that ubuntu is using 
> > /proc/bus/usb these days. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what it _is_ using.
> > 
> >> Virtualbox starts up normally and the Devices tab shows the USB-ports
> >> but they are greyed out. In the vbox manager the USB ports are set. Also
> >> the local user - who starts virtualbox - is subscribed to the group
> >> vboxusers as recommended in the manual.
> > 
> > I can confirm I have the same problem - I attached my webcam in the vbox 
> > manager, and it shows up in the XP guest, but greyed out and can't be 
> > activated.
> > 
> >> The manual also says that in 'modern hosts' (I have a brand new AMD
> >> Phantom  II system) 
> > 
> > I'm pretty sure that means "modern host OSes", not modern hardware.
> > 
> >> I don't want to start virtual box from a root account.
> > 
> > No, you don't :-)  The results can be very odd...
> Derek,
> I'm happy to have a fellow sufferer!
> And I agree that starting it as root, at least must be done very careful!.
> Yes the manual is quite unclear in several points on the exact meaning 
> of the writing, when they mean host OS they must write Host OS. For 
> simple minded readers like me you have to be very explicit!
> Well, enough exclamation marks.
> I see you also have no idea how USB ports are managed in Ubuntu. One 
> thing is for sure, they are available and working. Another thing is I 
> can imagine that virtualbox wants to have exclusive rights over the 
> ports. But how they manage that is very unclear.
> Well, I hope somebody has more information on USB in Ubuntu and it's 
> relation to Virtualbox.

I'm using VirtualBox (currently version 2.2.4, must upgrade to 3.0.x)
with Xubuntu 9.04.  It all works much as it should, including the USB.

When I attach (for example) a USB memory stick to my system it first
(if I do nothing) pops up in Xubuntu and I can see the files on it
etc.  It also appears in the Devices menu in the VirtualBox guest.  If
I *select* it in the guest then it will disappear from the host
Xubuntu and appears in the Windows XP guest.

I can describe permissions etc. if you want.

-- 
Chris Green