VirtualBox 4 seems to have the same permission problems described for Linux. If I connect an USB drive, it appears as “unavailable” in VBoxManage or grayed-out in then guest-GUI dropdown mene, no matter what filter I define in the host settings. How can I solve it?
It is a permission problem. For a quick test, start VirtualBox as root. If your USB device is not longer grayed-out, you may have the same problem. Problem could be fixed by adding group permissions to vboxusers in your Linux.
First of all you will need VirtualBox, not VirtualBox Open Source Edition (OSE). The latter version doesn’t support USB devices. And download VirtualBox 4 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack, its support for USB 2.0 devices, VirtualBox RDP and PXE boot for Intel cards.
For Ubuntu
After installing VirtualBox 4 do the following in Ubuntu:
For Ubuntu
After installing VirtualBox 4 do the following in Ubuntu:
# Go to System -> Administration.
# Scroll down to “Users and Groups”.
# Open Users and Groups
# Click “Manage Groups”.
# When the group settings menu pops up, scroll down to vboxusers. Highlight it. Click “Properties”.
# Check the box beside your user name below the part which says group members. Press OK.
# Reboot.
# Load Virtualbox, and USB should be enabled (when you added on usb device filter, now all devices are now ‘tickable’).
# Scroll down to “Users and Groups”.
# Open Users and Groups
# Click “Manage Groups”.
# When the group settings menu pops up, scroll down to vboxusers. Highlight it. Click “Properties”.
# Check the box beside your user name below the part which says group members. Press OK.
# Reboot.
# Load Virtualbox, and USB should be enabled (when you added on usb device filter, now all devices are now ‘tickable’).
For Fedora
After installing VirtualBox 4 do the following in Fedora:
After installing VirtualBox 4 do the following in Fedora:
# Go to System Preferences.
# Scroll down to “Users and Groups”.
# Open Users and Groups
# Click “Groups”
# Click “Add Group”
# When the new group settings pops up, type “vboxusers”. Highlight it. Click “Properties”.
# Check the box beside your user name below the part which says group users. Press OK. (Now you will see that the group members is your user name)
# Reboot.
# Load Virtualbox, and USB should be enabled (when you added on usb device filter, now all devices are now ‘tickable’).
# Scroll down to “Users and Groups”.
# Open Users and Groups
# Click “Groups”
# Click “Add Group”
# When the new group settings pops up, type “vboxusers”. Highlight it. Click “Properties”.
# Check the box beside your user name below the part which says group users. Press OK. (Now you will see that the group members is your user name)
# Reboot.
# Load Virtualbox, and USB should be enabled (when you added on usb device filter, now all devices are now ‘tickable’).
