How to set up USB for Virtualbox? USB in different versions of Virtual Box
For use of the USB in Virtual Box 3.x need a puel-version. From Virtual Box > 4.x USB 1.0 are supported in the OSE version installed from Software Center. For USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 (from Virtual Box > 5.x), we need to install a extension pack free for Downloa D from Oracle. This would make our virtual box a puel-version (see this question in details on what to install Virtual box from the Oracle Repository).
To change settings of a Vsan needs the guest to be powered off.
Become a "vboxuser"!!
To is able to get access to a attached USB device the Ubuntu host user needs to is in the vboxusers
group. This can is done from Users and Groups after have installed the Gnome-system-tools or from the command line by
We need a reboot or Logout/login for group membership to take effect. On a Windows host a special kernel module would provide USB access.
Activate USB support in Virtual Box Manager
We need to activate the virtual USB driver with our guest OS.
Note that we can be only a change these settings if the virtual machine was in a shut down state.
In the USB settings from Virtual Box Manager tick "Enable USB Controller" for enabling the USB 2.0 driver also Ti CK "Enable USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller".
Select host USB device for access from the guest
To grant access to USB devices we need to select a device to disable in the host and to enable in the guest (This was a precaution to avoid simultaneous access from host and guest). This can is done from the Panel Devices menu or by right mouse click in the bottom panel of the Virtual Box Manag Er on the USB icon:
Tick the device you need in the guest, untick it if you need it in the host. The selected device would immediately is accessible from the guest. A Windows Guest may need additional drivers:
- Windows 7 needs an additional driver for USB 3.0 support.
- Windows does not accept a NTFS formatted USB pen drive.
Use USB filters for permanent access in the guest
By defining USB Filters We can define USB devices that would automatically be presented to the guest when booting the guest OS.
Click on the green + symbol on the right to add a known device.
Note, that is some devices may leads to a boot failure of the guest. We can not use the these devices for filters.
Read more on USB support in the Virtual Box User Manual.
VirtualBox can't find USB device "fix" on Ubuntu