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I'm an experienced Ubuntu and Virtualbox user, with host O/S 22.04. I've installed Virtualbox and Virtualbox extension pack from both the ubuntu repo and directly from Oracle (Not installed at the same time). Version 6.1 of VirtualBox.

I've got a pair of VMs - one with windows 10 and the other with windows 11. For each of these VMs:

  • I've enabled USB, and then selected USB 3.0, and clicking on the (+) add filter, does not see any of my USB devices. When clicking on the (+) add filter, it shows "no devices available"

There was another issue along the same lines, namely:

Ask Ubuntu 1409616

But that one doesn't appear to have been resolved.

Does anyone have any ideas?

My laptop specs are: Alienware x17 R2 with i9 12900HK.

Everything works fine on the same laptop with Ubuntu 20.04 and either version of VirtualBox (i.e. from Ubuntu repo or directly from Oracle).

Fuzing
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  • I remember this being a problem ages ago because vboxusers didn't have permission or because your user wasn't part of it (see https://askubuntu.com/a/377781/274245) if it runs fine in root then it's the same problem of old again – Matias N Goldberg Jul 18 '22 at 18:59
  • Matias - thanks for your assistance - t'was indeed a group issue (i.e. was not a member of the vboxusers group). I hadn't had to do this manually in previous installations. Cheers! – Fuzing Jul 18 '22 at 19:38

1 Answers1

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USB Connectivity in VirtualBox is a pain. First, all the version numbers have to line up. For instance, my current build of VirtualBox is 6.1.34. That means the Oracle VM VirtualBox extension pack also has to be version 6.1.34, and in my experience, respository maintainers don't always keep them aligned. Second, the user account of the user starting VirtualBox has to be in the vboxusers group (sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers $USER). Don't forget to reboot. Finally, you have to enable the USB controller in the settings of each vm, preferably at 2.0+. If you try all that and it still doesn't work, let me know. =)

Ian Smith
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    Ian - thank you for your response. Looks like I had everything set up with the exception of the fact that I wasn't in the vboxusers group (never had to manage this in earlier versions of Ubuntu)........ anyhow - long story short - that did the trick. Thank you for answering this - saved my day! I appreciate it. – Fuzing Jul 18 '22 at 19:28