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I'm trying to connect an NXT Robot to a windows XP guest in Virtualbox, I have installed virtualbox's Extension Pack. Not a single usb device shows up in virtual box, yet lsusb shows they are all connected to my host.

william@ubuntu-laptop:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 0694:0002 Lego Group Mindstorms NXT
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 049f:0051 Compaq Computer Corp. KU-0133 Easy Access Interner Keyboard
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 1c4f:0034 SiGma Micro 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1bcf:2c18 Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

As you can see, my robot is connected on the first usb, yet nothing shows in Vbox, not even mouse and keyboard, is vbox hiding them by default since they not a storage device? (I have not tried connecting a usb key) I need to way to force Vbox to forward control of the device through the guest, where I can connect it to the RobotC IDE.

I installed Vbox through the software centre. It is version 4.3.26 (Latest, only installed it today)

William Satterthwaite
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  • Have you enabled the USB in VirualBox? – Tim May 23 '15 at 09:21
  • Enabled both USB Controller and USB 2.0 (EHUI) Controller. I haven't added any filter, so it should show everything, right? – William Satterthwaite May 23 '15 at 09:23
  • try adding a filter, I find it doesn't show my webcam if it's not exclusive. – Tim May 23 '15 at 09:26
  • I tried adding a filter, still nothing. Tested my theory about only showing storage devices, nope, nothing. Reinstalled extension pack, and I'm getting sick of typing the n word but you get the idea. Maybe I should ask around at the vbox forum as well. – William Satterthwaite May 23 '15 at 09:48
  • Yeah, VBoxer people may know more :/ – Tim May 23 '15 at 09:50
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    See https://askubuntu.com/questions/25596/how-to-set-up-usb-for-virtualbox - if all is set up correctly you should see USB devices such as USB keys, printers or the like. Test with these first and report if they failed. – Takkat May 23 '15 at 11:04
  • Thanks, I didn't know I had to be part of the "vboxuser" group. It is working now – William Satterthwaite May 23 '15 at 21:17

2 Answers2

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The problem was I wasn't part of the vboxuser group. For those with the same problem:

  1. Make sure you have the Virtualbox Extension Pack. This allows use of USB 2.0. USB 3.0 is not yet supported.

  2. Add yourself to the vboxuser group (in the host):

    sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers <useruame>

  3. Log out then back in for the change to take effect.

  4. Enable USB 2.0 (EHCI) controller in the settings for you VM.

If you need more help see this topic.

Credit to Takkat.

BeastOfCaerbannog
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William Satterthwaite
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  • You answer continues to help, even years later. Thank you. In my case, the vboxusers didn't appear until I rebooted my host. – AdvApp Feb 03 '24 at 00:43
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In my case, after having applied William Satterthwaite's hack above, I could see the list of USB devices in VirtualBox and connect them. But they wouldn't appear in the guest OS. Then I turned off the guest and change the USB adapter from USB 3.0 to USB 2.0. I rebooted the machine and had the USB device displayed in the guest OS.

Herve Mutombo
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