VirtualBox

Opened 13 years ago

Closed 8 years ago

#8873 closed defect (fixed)

USB 3.0 devices are unsupported

Reported by: Ivan Zlatev Owned by:
Component: USB Version: VirtualBox 4.0.6
Keywords: Cc:
Guest type: other Host type: Windows

Description

Currently devices connected to USB 3.0 ports are not detected by VirtualBox (do not show up in the VirtualBox USB devices list) and custom USB filters do not trigger either.

Change History (50)

comment:1 by Fábio Pereira, 12 years ago

I bought a Dell XPS15 notebook and I am having problems using USB devices with my VB VMs. My notebook has 3 USB ports and I am trying to connect some microcontroller debug hardware (Microchip's Pickit2, PEmicro USB BDM and others). If I connect these devices to the rear or to the left USB (both USB 3.0) the devices appear on the VM list, but it I try to capture, nothing happens. If I try again I get an error (E_INVALIDARGS) telling me that the device is busy with a previous request.

If I connect the devices to the right USB port (the one with eSATA function) then I can capture and use the devices within the VM.

I wonder this right USB port is a USB 2.0 one and that is why it is the only port that works.

It would be really nice if I could use the other USB 3.0 ports with VB too.

in reply to:  1 comment:2 by Ivan Zlatev, 12 years ago

Replying to fabiop:

I wonder this right USB port is a USB 2.0 one and that is why it is the only port that works.

AFAIK, it's а pretty common practice to leave one USB port version 2.0 on newer laptops, because there are some devices that don't work with USB 3.0 (e.g. one of my printers doesn't).

comment:3 by exactt, 12 years ago

Problem also appears on Linux.

comment:4 by Kraken, 11 years ago

Hi!

I'm in the same case. I have dell XPS 15 with usb 3 only.

I can't mount usb device in VM. It is really annoying because I can't use my programming chips tool.

I'm always getting E_INVALIDARGS (device busy)

comment:5 by marazm_ne_orgazm, 11 years ago

Same thing here. Running VB on ASUS NV56VZ with four USB3 ports and no USB devices showing up. VMWare 9 seems to be an alternative.

comment:6 by Katy, 11 years ago

Sony VAIO SVZ, 2 USB3 ports, nothing else. I find this silence about USB3 highly suspicious. Are there any plans for further development of VirtualBox? If yes ... guys, the world is moving onwards!

I'm already considering buying VMware because of this. And once I buy it, there is no turning back.

comment:7 by Katy, 11 years ago

Damn it guys, last update still lacks the USB3 support. Wake up !!!

I'm off to spending 200 EUR on VMware. Can't wait anymore.

Without USB3 support VirtualBox is getting more obsolete day by day. Why the heck do you still bother working on it ?! Lot's of machines with only USB3 and nowadays one cannot use a computer without USB.

Some of your BAs should be certainly fired.

The priority of this ticket should be "Critical", as more and more users will stop using VirtualBox because of the lack of USB3 support.

comment:8 by Michael Thayer, 11 years ago

Katy, I understand that you (and presumably the other people who commented here) are frustrated because VirtualBox does not fulfil your own needs. Please take a look at the Bugtracker on the web site though for a bit more background on how we organise our work and why.

Version 0, edited 11 years ago by Michael Thayer (next)

comment:9 by Maverick, 11 years ago

Michael, we don't particularly care how you organize your work, we are just telling you that you are losing lots of users due to lack of USB3 support as today machines ship with USB3 only. Now if you won't listen, fine, we will just move to another virtualisation solution, no problem. But as Katy said, if we move, we will most certainly not come back. Cheers :)

comment:10 by Frank Mehnert, 11 years ago

You might be surprised but USB3 support (like USB support in general) is not implemented in 5 minutes nor in 2 days. We are aware that some new hardware has only USB3 ports preventing VirtualBox from working with external USB devices on this hardware at all. If you cannot wait then fine, switch to something else, we cannot hold you. Complaining and offending will not speed up the development.

We still cannot give an ETA for USB3 support, we have our priorities. I know, your priorities are different.

comment:11 by Michael Thayer, 11 years ago

Maverick, I am somewhat interested in that statement - since you made it, do you have an idea of how many users we are loosing due to this, or was it just a guess that we might be? The link was of course for your interest, but to sum it up, we have to prioritise our work to the needs of paying customers, so how fast we implement USB 3.0 support will at least partly depend on how much of an issue it is for them. And secondly, VirtualBox is an open source product, which means that anyone is free to develop features which we do not currently have free resources for, not just us. Obviously though if other products fulfil all your needs, including USB 3.0, I will quite understand if you choose to use them.

comment:12 by wjunior, 11 years ago

So, when is USB 3 be supported on VirtualBox?

in reply to:  11 comment:13 by ElGordito, 11 years ago

Replying to michael:

Maverick, I am somewhat interested in that statement - since you made it, do you have an idea of how many users we are loosing due to this, or was it just a guess that we might be? The link was of course for your interest, but to sum it up, we have to prioritise our work to the needs of paying customers, so how fast we implement USB 3.0 support will at least partly depend on how much of an issue it is for them. And secondly, VirtualBox is an open source product, which means that anyone is free to develop features which we do not currently have free resources for, not just us. Obviously though if other products fulfil all your needs, including USB 3.0, I will quite understand if you choose to use them.

Hey Michael - I can answer that question. At least for me and a couple folks I work with. :-)

First, a little background: I am a brand newcomer to VirtualBox. In fact I had to create an Oracle account just to answer your question. But I thought it needed answering. I have always used VMWare and didn't think much about switching. However, when getting my new iMac, I was presented with an opportunity to look for the best-in-breed VM solution. I downloaded VirtualBox on a recommendation of a friend.

Once downloaded and installed it wasn't too much effort to move my current VM from VMWare to VirtualBox. Additionally, I found it strait-forward to install new windows VMs and was really quite impressed. However, I was soon frustrated when I found I could not use my USB CD ROM or other USB devices with the new guest operating systems. As you may know, the new iMacs do not come with a built in CD ROM (A fact I am not the most thrilled with, but a fact none the less). It actually took me a fair bit of time to find this ticket because the error message I was getting from VirtualBox suggested my device was busy - not that it could not be used. Very misleading. :-/

So on to your answer: My coworkers all are Mac users and I just got my new iMac (two of my coworkers have the new Macbook Pro). As you probably expect; all only have USB 3 ports. We are all on the same path and it had looked like VirtualBox would be our answer. However, we are literally locked out from using VirtualBox because we cannot use something as basic as our USB devices.

While I have no one else to directly name, at least three potential users are wanting to use what appears to be a fantastic virtualization solution. With more and more new equipment coming with USB 3 ports only it is not a stretch to see how delay in this area is only putting VirtualBox at a serious comparison disadvantage with VMWare and Parallels.

Please keep in mind, the casual VirtualBox uninitiated will not take the time to get an oracle account (very personal information intrusive: why do you need my physical address and phone number?) only to let you know they will not be using your product. They will simply move on to the next available solution - even if it isn't as good - if only to use the hardware they payed for.

Regards, Gordon

comment:14 by Ramshankar Venkataraman, 11 years ago

Your concerns and requests are well noted, but I think Michael and Frank already have made it clear. We (the VirtualBox developers) are constrained on time and resources and we have to very careful pick what we work on. It's not as simple as "Hey, let's add USB 3" and start working on it. There are many things we need to reorganize and bring up-to-speed with the existing USB and hypervisor code, which when done, will provide a proper platform on which adding USB 3 and other features would be faster and much better in terms of performance than piling it on the existing infrastructure.

Threatening to move to another product is not going to make us any better/faster at delivering code, now is it? Our priority now is on proper implementation and not how fast can we deliver a half-working solution and create a tick mark for the features list.

Regarding requiring an Oracle account: That is not a decision by the VirtualBox team, it's Oracle policy, something we cannot change. You'll have to get in touch with Oracle someother way to convince them otherwise.

Personally, I'd love to see USB 3 support too but as we've stated several times it will take more time.

Last edited 11 years ago by Ramshankar Venkataraman (previous) (diff)

in reply to:  14 comment:15 by ElGordito, 11 years ago

Replying to ramshankar:

Your concerns and requests are well noted, but I think Michael and Frank already have made it clear. We (the VirtualBox developers) are constrained on time and resources and we have to very careful pick what we work on. It's not as simple as "Hey, let's add USB 3" and start working on it. There are many things we need to reorganize and bring up-to-speed with the existing USB and hypervisor code, which when done, will provide a proper platform on which adding USB 3 and other features would be faster and much better in terms of performance than piling it on the existing infrastructure.

Threatening to move to another product is not going to make us any better/faster at delivering code, now is it? Our priority now is on proper implementation and not how fast can we deliver a half-working solution and create a tick mark for the features list.

Regarding requiring an Oracle account: That is not a decision by the VirtualBox team, it's Oracle policy, something we cannot change. You'll have to get in touch with Oracle someother way to convince them otherwise.

Personally, I'd love to see USB 3 support too but as we've stated several times it will take more time.

Thank you for your reply. I think you may have jumped to a couple of conclusions on my intent.

First, it appears you are under the impression I was threatening something. I was not. I have almost no investment in time or otherwise in your product. In fact, if VirtualBox were not a product and you, by extension, were working on another product for Oracle, or another company, or were simply unemployed, I wouldn't be affected in the least. I was simply answering the open question posed by Michael to the best of my ability as a completely independent but somewhat interested party.

Second, I do not for a moment think it is a trivial effort to provide USB 3 capabilities.

I am not sure how you deduced I was threatening to leave, as I am not invested or I felt it trivial to add the support, as I didn't address any notion of difficulty or level of effort. I guess I can assume (very dangerous, I know), you get lots of requests and when they don't get answered quickly you get hate mail. I am sorry if I gave you that impression. The only caveat I feel is important to point out is: this ticket has been open for 2 years and there is quite a buzz about it on the various forums concerning your product.

You said it all; It is very clear. You do not have the bandwidth to make these changes. I get it. Priorities are priorities. What I was attempting to do was show why this may be a higher priority than you clearly believe.

I have no delusions: It is entirely your choice to act on this ticket or not. I had hoped you would have taken my previous reply to your leadership in an attempt to bolster the argument to get this needed addition to your product prioritized higher, and maybe a "thank you" for taking my time to provide you with valuable information on your evolving customer base.

Regards, Gordon

comment:16 by Ramshankar Venkataraman, 11 years ago

Sorry, I should've perhaps made it more clear; the threatening to leave part wasn't directed at you. We do appreciate all the feedback we get as long as it's constructive and not threats/insults (again, not stating your reply, you were very polite and precise).

Again, we would love to get USB 3 capabilities as well, and we *will* get around to doing it. It's just a question of when we have enough resources to throw at it.

Last edited 11 years ago by Ramshankar Venkataraman (previous) (diff)

comment:17 by erkelor, 11 years ago

I know you are considering this a lower priority, but so you know, all Mac's now have *only* USB3 ports. They are fully compatible with USB2 devices, but the ports don't work at all in VirtualBox and thus no external device will work. Is there another place that we can lobby Oracle to direct resources towards this feature?

in reply to:  17 ; comment:18 by Klaus Espenlaub, 11 years ago

Replying to erkelor:

I know you are considering this a lower priority, but so you know, all Mac's now have *only* USB3 ports. They are fully compatible with USB2 devices, but the ports don't work at all in VirtualBox and thus no external device will work. Is there another place that we can lobby Oracle to direct resources towards this feature?

I don't follow... in our tests there was no problem with USB2 devices connected to such a new Mac model. They simply worked. This ticket is about regular PCs, which have a slightly different handling of USB3 ports than Macs.

Another topic: USB3 devices plugged into a USB3 port can't work directly, because this requires the existence of a virtual USB3 controller (xHCI) for the VM. Work in progress, with no defined ETA yet. As a workaround you can plug USB3 devices into a USB2 hub, and this hub into the USB3 port on the host. That converts USB3 devices to USB2, and as a consequence they should also work (unless it's one of the currently super rare "USB3 only" devices).

Also I don't agree with your interpretation that we're treating this as a lower priority issue. It's a lot of work due to the complexity of the USB standard, and for some reason we don't get any credible offers for help from contributors in this area.

in reply to:  18 comment:19 by erkelor, 11 years ago

Replying to klaus:

I don't follow... in our tests there was no problem with USB2 devices connected to such a new Mac model. They simply worked. This ticket is about regular PCs, which have a slightly different handling of USB3 ports than Macs.

I cannot get any USB storage device to work via a USB3 port on my mac.

Another topic: USB3 devices plugged into a USB3 port can't work directly, because this requires the existence of a virtual USB3 controller (xHCI) for the VM. Work in progress, with no defined ETA yet. As a workaround you can plug USB3 devices into a USB2 hub, and this hub into the USB3 port on the host. That converts USB3 devices to USB2, and as a consequence they should also work (unless it's one of the currently super rare "USB3 only" devices).

I have a USB3 Seagate Backup Plus external hard drive which I bought and need specifically for the data transfer speed. It is plugged into a USB port on my mac which is USB3 and does not work, as you mentioned. I have not tried a hub but need the data transfer rate.

Also I don't agree with your interpretation that we're treating this as a lower priority issue. It's a lot of work due to the complexity of the USB standard...

In previous replies it was mentioned "... we have our priorities. I know, your priorities are different." That is what I was referring to. Keep up the good work!

comment:20 by Klaus Espenlaub, 11 years ago

4.2.18 should work better in this area, it fixed a bug on Windows hosts which prevented even the use of USB1.1/USB2 devices plugged into a USB3 port. There are some remaining problems (only seen by very few users), but it improves the situation.

comment:21 by Klaus Espenlaub, 10 years ago

Summary: USB 3.0 host ports are unsupportedUSB 3.0 devices are unsupported

comment:22 by qLynX, 10 years ago

I have still problem with USB 3.0 on my Asus laptop Windows 7 64. Devices(USB 2.0) connected to USB 3.0 are invisible for Virtualbox. I think that problem is related to ASMedia XHCI Controller. The Virtualbox doesn't support this controller. Am i right ?

comment:23 by Frank Mehnert, 10 years ago

Right, so far VirtualBox does not emulate an XHCI controller, therefore all these problems with USB 3.0 devices. The implementation will still take more time but we definitely working on that issue.

comment:24 by Gerry R, 10 years ago

A backup to my external USB 3.0 hard drive is taking 15 hours in a VirtualBox guest under USB 2.0 compared to 45 minutes for the same amount of data on a true USB 3.0 connection. This is sick.

comment:25 by Michael Thayer, 10 years ago

Please see previous comments, and note that "working on that issue" does not mean that we can promise to be ready in a particular time frame, as we are working on many issues, a lot of them higher priority for us, and also because only a couple of our developers have the particular skills and experience set needed for this particular task (others work in other areas of the product).

comment:26 by Frank Mehnert, 10 years ago

Removed the last off-topic comment.

comment:27 by Gerry R, 10 years ago

Well at least now they can go right to implementing USB 3.1 since the spec was released July 2013.

comment:28 by japzone, 10 years ago

This is a serious problem for me. I have a laptop that came with all USB3.0 ports, no USB2.0, and I can't even use USB2.0 devices. I understand that USB3.0 devices won't work but VB won't even attach my USB2.0 flash drive. Tried with a USB2.0 hub and I still can't connect my drive. I really need to get files out of a Guest that doesn't have networking support and at this point it looks like I'm gonna have to fiddle with mounting a VDI just to get these files.

I understand that they've been working on it, but this issue was not unforeseeable, USB3.0 was standardized years ago. These days it's hard to find any shipping PC that has USB2.0, and they're mostly budget models that I would never get if I was planning on running VMs.

The window for waiting to polish off existing code before implementing USB3.0 support has long passed. Even partial support with terrible performance would be preferred to none at this point. I'm not stupidly threatening that I'll switch products, I'm simply stating that this feature is Critical for VirtualBox to be of any use to most users. If a Laptop I bought early last year can't be properly supported despite having nothing but standard hardware, you really need to rethink your priorities.

comment:29 by cmptrwhz, 10 years ago

is there still no progress on usb3 support?

comment:30 by Frank Mehnert, 10 years ago

I can only repeat that we are working on this implementation.

comment:31 by Klaus Espenlaub, 10 years ago

Oh, and to address japzone's comment a few weeks ago - the fact that USB3 devices connected through a USB2 hub (or a USB2 cable) don't work is definitely unexpected since the corresponding problem (affected Windows host only) was fixed in version 4.2.18 and 4.3.0. I know, there are reports that for some people these devices still aren't recognized (see e.g. http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=57946), but that's a totally separate issue. What makes it super mysterious is that only very few users are affected, and only on some systems.

It is truly separate - as long as no one provides the clue what goes wrong on these few systems the new USB3 code won't help either as the device would be mishandled in a very similar way as right now the "forcibly converted to USB2" one.

comment:32 by CharleXu, 10 years ago

On my mac book, the usb 2.0 devices plug in usb3 ports are all working, but when usb3 devices plugged in, they will be identified by host and plug event will forward to guest with PID/VID are all 0x0000. So waiting......

comment:33 by Klaus Espenlaub, 10 years ago

CharleXu, as mentioned above the workaround (until the USB3 support for VirtualBox is ready) is to use a USB2 cable (or USB2 hub) between the USB3 device and a USB3 capable host. This forces the device to USB2, and thus makes it work.

in reply to:  description ; comment:34 by MayanJedi, 10 years ago

Replying to ivanz:

[SOLVED]

Currently devices connected to USB 3.0 ports are not detected by VirtualBox (do not show up in the VirtualBox USB devices list) and custom USB filters do not trigger either.
[SOLUTION]

This can be done via raw disk mode in OSX/LINUX/Windows.

In OSX Mavericks:(Make sure disk is unmounted in OSX before all steps)

sudo diskutil list

(the disk in question on my box is /dev/disk4)

sudo diskutil unmountdisk /dev/disk4
sudo VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename ~/Desktop/3.0.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/disk4


It may remount on the Mac desktop, at which point right click and eject or again:

diskutil unmountdisk disk4


Add the vmdk to your vm's disk controller in vbox: (If you get [verr_access_denied]:

sudo chmod 777 ~/Desktop/3.0.vmdk


You will also need to do the same for the actual /dev/disk4 TEMPORARILY

sudo chmod 777 /dev/disk4

The original permissions are 640, but it should return to normal once the disk is ejected and plugged back into your Mac. Rinse and Repeat

Boot your VM and run your SpinRite, or your disk tools, or access the raw drive as a normal disk, etc.

-BUT- Don't try to select/connect the drive in the usb filter quick access button or otherwise, or the universe WILL implode and probably within your drive too.

For future use of the raw vmdk you created, you can edit the vmdk file with any text editor, updating the disk its pointing to:

RW 488397168 FLAT "/dev/disk4" 0''' --> '''RW 488397168 FLAT "/dev/disk9" 0


I usually use this method for superfast RAW USB 3.0 access since USB 2.0 is too time-consuming to do what I need to do. Zeit ist Geld!

If you are running this in linux, fdisk is your friend, and you can just run vbox as root directly and access your vmdk as-is most likely. If you are a linux lover like me, you probably already know what to do anyway :0)

WINDOWS
As seen with

diskpart (wait for command to launch)
DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online           25 GB      0 B
  Disk 1    Online          232 GB      0 B

DISKPART>

Just change:

/dev/diskX--> \\.\PhysicalDriveX
Last edited 10 years ago by MayanJedi (previous) (diff)

in reply to:  34 ; comment:35 by theloniousmonk045, 10 years ago

Intrigued by this solution, MayanJedi, but haven't quite been able to get it to work. Everything seems to go well until I attempt to boot my VM, at which point I get the following error--

"Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Windows 7 64. UUID {27e5ba60-7276-40ef-bd9d-a404644520b4} of the medium '/Users/theloniousmonk045/Desktop/3.0.vmdk' does not match the value {ff3e4894-086f-4a20-8254-1abb0f504724} stored in the media registry ('/Users/theloniousmonk045/Library/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml').

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005) Component: Medium Interface: IMedium {05f2bbb6-a3a6-4fb9-9b49-6d0dda7142ac}"

Any thoughts on what I'm missing here?

Replying to MayanJedi:

Replying to ivanz:

[SOLVED]

Currently devices connected to USB 3.0 ports are not detected by VirtualBox (do not show up in the VirtualBox USB devices list) and custom USB filters do not trigger either.
[SOLUTION]

This can be done via raw disk mode in OSX/LINUX/Windows.

In OSX Mavericks:(Make sure disk is unmounted in OSX before all steps)

sudo diskutil list

(the disk in question on my box is /dev/disk4)

sudo diskutil unmountdisk /dev/disk4
sudo VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename ~/Desktop/3.0.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/disk4


It may remount on the Mac desktop, at which point right click and eject or again:

diskutil unmountdisk disk4


Add the vmdk to your vm's disk controller in vbox: (If you get [verr_access_denied]:

sudo chmod 777 ~/Desktop/3.0.vmdk


You will also need to do the same for the actual /dev/disk4 TEMPORARILY

sudo chmod 777 /dev/disk4

The original permissions are 640, but it should return to normal once the disk is ejected and plugged back into your Mac. Rinse and Repeat

Boot your VM and run your SpinRite, or your disk tools, or access the raw drive as a normal disk, etc.

-BUT- Don't try to select/connect the drive in the usb filter quick access button or otherwise, or the universe WILL implode and probably within your drive too.

For future use of the raw vmdk you created, you can edit the vmdk file with any text editor, updating the disk its pointing to:

RW 488397168 FLAT "/dev/disk4" 0''' --> '''RW 488397168 FLAT "/dev/disk9" 0


I usually use this method for superfast RAW USB 3.0 access since USB 2.0 is too time-consuming to do what I need to do. Zeit ist Geld!

If you are running this in linux, fdisk is your friend, and you can just run vbox as root directly and access your vmdk as-is most likely. If you are a linux lover like me, you probably already know what to do anyway :0)

WINDOWS
As seen with

diskpart (wait for command to launch)
DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online           25 GB      0 B
  Disk 1    Online          232 GB      0 B

DISKPART>

Just change:

/dev/diskX--> \\.\PhysicalDriveX

in reply to:  35 comment:36 by scotausborn, 10 years ago

I have found that each time you reconnect the drive, you will need to recreate the vmdk file, remove and release the disk using media manager, and then reattach the disk in the vm settings. The disk appears to take on a new system identifier whenever it's removed and reattached, which necessitates recreating the vmdk and attaching it to the vm.

Replying to theloniousmonk045:

Intrigued by this solution, MayanJedi, but haven't quite been able to get it to work. Everything seems to go well until I attempt to boot my VM, at which point I get the following error--

"Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Windows 7 64. UUID {27e5ba60-7276-40ef-bd9d-a404644520b4} of the medium '/Users/theloniousmonk045/Desktop/3.0.vmdk' does not match the value {ff3e4894-086f-4a20-8254-1abb0f504724} stored in the media registry ('/Users/theloniousmonk045/Library/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml').

Last edited 10 years ago by scotausborn (previous) (diff)

comment:37 by Victor Peters, 10 years ago

Hi,

As previous posters in this thread, I'm using VirtualBox for quite some time now and I'm very pleased with it. However, I do have an issue related to USB 3.0 devices and I'm wondering what the status on this issue is. I haven't tried the solution described in previous posts, I'm not that much of a hard core user and prefer an easy, UI based solution as opposed to having to resort to command line tools (every time I want to use my USB 3.0 device).

I run the latest version of VirtualBox 4.3.14 r95030 on a MacBook Pro 13 Retina (late-2013) with OS X Mavericks 10.9.4 (fully updated) and have installed the Extension Pack. I've installed Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit as the only guest OS and have installed the VirtualBox Guest Additions.

My MacBook has only 2 USB ports, both are USB 3 ports. When connecting a USB 2.0 flash drive to a USB 3.0 port, I can access it from within the Windows guest OS (after ejecting it first in Mac OS, so the device isn't occupied by the host OS) and it works fine. However, a USB 3.0 flash drive inserted into the same USB port can't be used in the Windows guest OS. The error message appears as soon as I have inserted the flash drive and states that it doesn't recognize the device. When clicking the message (a balloon originating from the task bar) Windows shows a list of connected devices to the USB controller and shows 'Unknown' for the flash drive.

Is there an easy (preferably UI guided) way to get a USB 3.0 flash drive to work on my Windows guest OS atop of my Mac OS X Mavericks host OS?

Or should I wait for a new release/version or update from Oracle in which this issue will be resolved?

For the record, the host OS (Mac OS X Mavericks) works fin with the USB 3.0 flash drive, as does another, Windows 8 based laptop. So, I couldn't be the flash drive itself that is at fault here.

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Victor Peters

Last edited 10 years ago by Victor Peters (previous) (diff)

comment:38 by Leonardo Rodrigues, 10 years ago

I'm running latest 4.3 VirtualBox on a Macbook Pro Mid-2012 (USB ports are 3.0) and, just like you all, had problems with an USB 3.0 external drive. I couldnt get it to work on host machines.

Actually i could get it to work using MayanJedi tip but, as noted by scotausborn, you have to redo some steps EVERY time you disconnect the disk from the Mac, as another identifier will be given to it and, thus, the process gets quite complicated.

After some time fighting with it, i acchieve a working scenario that probably can be called a workaround which is MUCH easier, despite the fact it envolves some hardware which, in my case, wasn't a real problem because i already had it.

I plugged a 2.0 USB Hub on my USB 3.0 port and connected the disk on any of the 2.0 ports of the hub. Disk works immediately on host VMs, i could use USB filters on VirtualBox ... and everything worked perfectly. Of course, on USB 2.0 speeds which, in my case, is not a problem at all. It would be better to have 3.0 speeds but on the lack of that support on VirtualBox and having to do those steps suggested by MayanJedi, i really prefeer 2.0 speeds.

Unplugging the disk and reconnecting it again doesnt change the fact that 'it simply works'.

I really dont know if it matters because i dont have the other one to test, but the USB Hub i used is a POWERED one, cant say for sure if those unpowered will work, but i'd bet yes, considering you'll connect ONLY the disk on it. Connecting other devices on those non-powered USB Hubs can lead you to power outage and, maybe, the USB disk wont work because the lack of sufficient power.

Last edited 10 years ago by Leonardo Rodrigues (previous) (diff)

comment:39 by Victor Peters, 10 years ago

Thanks for he update.

I figured something fairly simple as this might do the trick. Maybe there are USB extension cables available that don't support USB 3.0, making them USB 2.0 or 1.1 compatible, that'll work just as fine as a powered USB 2.0 HUB (that doesn't support USB 3.0).

Thank you for sharing.

comment:40 by JsT, 9 years ago

I know it is a 4 years old ticket, but can anyone update the current development status?

in reply to:  40 comment:41 by Victor Peters, 9 years ago

Replying to JsT:

I know it is a 4 years old ticket, but can anyone update the current development status?

Well, the issue may be 4 years old, the issue is still relevant.

I just tested if I can access my USB 3.0 flash drive on Windows 7 client running within the latest/newest version of VirtualBox (4.3.20 r96996) on my MacBook Pro 3" late-2013 (running Mac OS X Yosemite) host.

The results of this test were (still) negative: My Windows 7 client reports that the inserted USB device is not supported. So it seems USB 3.0 support is still not implemented in VirtualBox.

I'm wondering if Oracle will ever fix this issue in future releases...

comment:42 by Klaus Espenlaub, 9 years ago

Of course Oracle will fix even long standing issues (see comment 30, where Frank already confirmed that it's being worked on). USB3 just needs a lot of effort (completely new controller architecture - which is a giant improvement over the virtualization unfriendly USB1/2 controller designs) and quite some infrastructure changes.

It is work in progress, but don't expect that the rather big change will happen as a 4.3.x update.

comment:43 by TBFed, 9 years ago

Workaround Found

By shear mistake, I found this workaround. It is not the "happy case," but it works!

I have a mac with only USB3 ports -- as many of the previous comments have stated. So my ability to use all of my USB devices was limited. We use VirtualBox for reasons which are totally outside of this discussion, so the need to keep pushing along with it kept me tinkering.

I had several older USB drives which worked perfectly when plugged into my USB3 slots. I bought some newer USB drives (which claim to be able to deal with both USB3 and USB2 slots), so I thougth I'd be okay. When I plug it into the mac, it is recognized as USB3, but, obviously, the VM doesn't see it.

It is kind of funny, though, that when I boot the linux VM, VirtualBox will UNMOUNT the drive from the mac, but it simply never shows up as a usable device. So I knew that somewhere down inside the guts, VirtalBox was actually attempting to use the drive.

One of the comments in the thread made me think of my old 4-port USB connector. So I plugged IT in to the mac, and plugged the USB3 drive into IT -- anv voila, the VM sees it and can do whatever it wants to with it!

This is a suitable workaround for our case. It is not a permanent solution -- since we are attempting to deal with a really fast USB3 drive at the painfully slow USB2 speeds, but at least we can continue working.

BTW: Not a threat, just FYI... Me, my entire company, and all of our clients, use VirtualBox. The USB3 thing is a piss-me-off, but now that I have a workaround it is not a show-stopping issue. If (when?) we decide to migrate to another solution (like VMware?), it will most likely NOT be because of USB3 support (workaround). That will be an item on the PRO/CON list we use, but not a driving issue.

comment:44 by Frank Mehnert, 9 years ago

Deleted the last useless comment.

comment:45 by WH Mitty, 9 years ago

ANOTHER USB3 WORK-AROUND HERE

This may be similar to a previous "work-around" mentioned earlier.

I use Linux Mint (Ubuntu variant) and have the computer's USB3 ports set as "shared" devices in my Windows 7 VirtualBox Guest VM. Although not as fast as a natively supported USB3 port would be it is definitely a noticeable improvement over using the USB2 as it is directly recognized within the VirtualBox VM.

I use Lightroom within a VirtualBox VM to process photos out of my camera. Using the above technique dramatically cut down the wait time to load files into Lightroom from my camera's SD cards.

I would guess that Mac users could do the same.

Last edited 9 years ago by WH Mitty (previous) (diff)

comment:46 by Rosta, 9 years ago

I couldn't connect to SD card from Linux guest.

Using Dell Latitude E7440:

go to Bios and disable USB 3.0.

Run host OS, run VB, select Device ( whatever( my is Mass Storage)).

You are connected.

BTW, guys from Oracle development team, 4 years are too much for USB 3.0. My experience: in Broadcom I did it in Linux for < 1 year alone. I also understand you, have to virtualize the driver, but...

Good luck.

Kosta

comment:47 by kingpoop, 9 years ago

Hello All, I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit as Host and imported a .ovf guest file which is also a Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. Performed the appliance import without any issues and using the following bits:

  1. VirtualBox-4.3.26-98988-Win.exe
  2. Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.3.26-98988.vbox-extpack
  3. VBoxGuestAdditions_4.3.26.iso

USB 3.0 connect does work using an older USB 2.0 cable however for some reason when performing a copy from external USB drive to another external USB Drive the copy operation freezes.

Has anyone else ran into this issue?

Thanks,

comment:48 by spadge, 9 years ago

I did not read all of the comments here, but I am assuming this is still an issue because I keep Virtualbox updated and it still doesn't work. Is there an ETA available now? I would appreciate knowing when this would be fixed. Is there an official/best workaround?

Thanks, Will

in reply to:  48 comment:49 by Frank Mehnert, 9 years ago

Replying to spadge:

I did not read all of the comments here, but I am assuming this is still an issue because I keep Virtualbox updated and it still doesn't work. Is there an ETA available now? I would appreciate knowing when this would be fixed. Is there an official/best workaround?

Not sure what you mean by when this would be fixed but if you are talking about native support for USB 3 devices then have a look here.

comment:50 by Frank Mehnert, 8 years ago

Resolution: fixed
Status: newclosed

USB 3 was added with VBox 5.0.x. Please open separate defects for separate problems.

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