<p>It is a permissions issue that is hard to fix.</p>
<p><strong>All but one USB device is greyed out.</strong></p>
<p>I am already a member of "vboxusers"</p>
<ul>
<li>I have already enabled and disabled USB support for the guest.</li>
<li>I have already reinstalled the latest VBOx guest editions</li>
<li>If running as root it all works fine</li>
<li>Changing ownership and permissions on /dev/vbox* does not help</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="#solution">The solution</a></p>
<p><br />
user@homebox:~/.VirtualBox/Machines/XP$ cd /dev<br />
user@homebox:/dev$ ls -al|grep -i vbox<br />
crw------- 1 root root 10, 55 2014-10-24 16:43 vboxdrv<br />
crw------- 1 root root 10, 54 2014-10-24 16:43 vboxdrvu<br />
crw------- 1 root root 10, 53 2014-10-24 16:43 vboxnetctl<br />
drwxr-x--- 2 root vboxusers 40 2014-10-24 16:43 vboxusb<br />
user@homebox:/dev$ sudo chmod 755 /dev/vbox<br />
vboxdrv vboxdrvu vboxnetctl vboxusb/ <br />
user@homebox:/dev$ sudo chmod 755 /dev/vbox<br />
vboxdrv vboxdrvu vboxnetctl vboxusb/ <br />
user@homebox:/dev$ sudo chmod 755 /dev/vboxusb/<br />
<br />
<br />
user@homebox:~$ VBoxManage list usbhost<br />
Host USB Devices:<br />
<br />
UUID: dbd3eb2f-8040-4b3b-974d-b7df4c5b4dca<br />
VendorId: 0x045e (045E)<br />
ProductId: 0x0752 (0752)<br />
Revision: 1.16 (0116)<br />
Port: 0<br />
USB version/speed: 1/1<br />
Manufacturer: Microsoft<br />
Product: Wired Keyboard 400<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.1/usb4/4-1//device:/dev/bus/usb/004/002<br />
Current State: Unavailable<br />
<br />
UUID: 51c5189d-7891-45c6-b373-ee15e2252520<br />
VendorId: 0x045e (045E)<br />
ProductId: 0x076c (076C)<br />
Revision: 0.131 (00131)<br />
Port: 1<br />
USB version/speed: 2/1<br />
Manufacturer: Microsoft<br />
Product: Microsoft® Comfort Mouse 4500<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb3/3-2//device:/dev/bus/usb/003/003<br />
Current State: Unavailable<br />
<br />
UUID: c141d017-b473-4a2f-bffd-61b19b67d569<br />
VendorId: 0x04a9 (04A9)<br />
ProductId: 0x2220 (2220)<br />
Revision: 1.0 (0100)<br />
Port: 1<br />
USB version/speed: 1/1<br />
Manufacturer: Canon<br />
Product: CanoScan<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.1/usb4/4-2//device:/dev/bus/usb/004/003<br />
Current State: Available<br />
<br />
UUID: c4c7eecd-188f-415c-929f-2f5834613262<br />
VendorId: 0x054c (054C)<br />
ProductId: 0x0243 (0243)<br />
Revision: 1.0 (0100)<br />
Port: 0<br />
USB version/speed: 2/2<br />
Manufacturer: Sony<br />
Product: Storage Media<br />
SerialNumber: 2A08060315464<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.2/usb2/2-1//device:/dev/bus/usb/002/002<br />
Current State: Unavailable<br />
<br />
UUID: c22984d9-208b-4900-ab0a-0c6bf53da472<br />
VendorId: 0x058f (058F)<br />
ProductId: 0x6366 (6366)<br />
Revision: 1.0 (0100)<br />
Port: 5<br />
USB version/speed: 2/2<br />
Manufacturer: Generic<br />
Product: Mass Storage Device<br />
SerialNumber: 058F0O1111B1<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.2/usb1/1-6//device:/dev/bus/usb/001/006<br />
Current State: Unavailable<br />
<br />
UUID: e24dec16-dce2-4856-b250-f511ad84b039<br />
VendorId: 0x05ac (05AC)<br />
ProductId: 0x1227 (1227)<br />
Revision: 0.0 (0000)<br />
Port: 1<br />
USB version/speed: 2/1<br />
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.<br />
Product: Apple Mobile Device (DFU Mode)<br />
SerialNumber: CPID:8920 CPRV:14 CPFM:03 SCEP:01 BDID:00 ECID:000000700A15B58C SRTG:[iBoot-359.3]<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.0/usb5/5-2//device:/dev/bus/usb/005/002<br />
Current State: Unavailable<br />
<br />
UUID: 04545987-fe87-4565-a0c3-44745e075033<br />
VendorId: 0x0a81 (0A81)<br />
ProductId: 0x0205 (0205)<br />
Revision: 0.16 (0016)<br />
Port: 0<br />
USB version/speed: 1/1<br />
Manufacturer: CHESEN<br />
Product: PS2 to USB Converter<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb3/3-1//device:/dev/bus/usb/003/002<br />
Current State: Unavailable<br />
<br />
user@homebox:~$ sudo VBoxManage list usbhost<br />
[sudo] password for one: <br />
Host USB Devices:<br />
<br />
UUID: 75a9c8a4-0c9c-49b6-ba61-f0b121d5a7be<br />
VendorId: 0x045e (045E)<br />
ProductId: 0x0752 (0752)<br />
Revision: 1.16 (0116)<br />
Port: 0<br />
USB version/speed: 1/1<br />
Manufacturer: Microsoft<br />
Product: Wired Keyboard 400<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.1/usb4/4-1//device:/dev/bus/usb/004/002<br />
Current State: Busy<br />
<br />
UUID: 8894d0a2-1bbe-4588-a362-3e1c9608152b<br />
VendorId: 0x045e (045E)<br />
ProductId: 0x076c (076C)<br />
Revision: 0.131 (00131)<br />
Port: 1<br />
USB version/speed: 2/1<br />
Manufacturer: Microsoft<br />
Product: Microsoft® Comfort Mouse 4500<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb3/3-2//device:/dev/bus/usb/003/003<br />
Current State: Busy<br />
<br />
UUID: 7ecfd008-b536-4b51-aa72-9623a17e5283<br />
VendorId: 0x04a9 (04A9)<br />
ProductId: 0x2220 (2220)<br />
Revision: 1.0 (0100)<br />
Port: 1<br />
USB version/speed: 1/1<br />
Manufacturer: Canon<br />
Product: CanoScan<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.1/usb4/4-2//device:/dev/bus/usb/004/003<br />
Current State: Available<br />
<br />
UUID: b53eb210-d787-4fa2-885e-2272b25e6e16<br />
VendorId: 0x054c (054C)<br />
ProductId: 0x0243 (0243)<br />
Revision: 1.0 (0100)<br />
Port: 0<br />
USB version/speed: 2/2<br />
Manufacturer: Sony<br />
Product: Storage Media<br />
SerialNumber: 2A08060315464<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.2/usb2/2-1//device:/dev/bus/usb/002/002<br />
Current State: Busy<br />
<br />
UUID: 8d6fb26d-a5e5-4485-a0ee-80309e60184a<br />
VendorId: 0x058f (058F)<br />
ProductId: 0x6366 (6366)<br />
Revision: 1.0 (0100)<br />
Port: 5<br />
USB version/speed: 2/2<br />
Manufacturer: Generic<br />
Product: Mass Storage Device<br />
SerialNumber: 058F0O1111B1<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.2/usb1/1-6//device:/dev/bus/usb/001/006<br />
Current State: Busy<br />
<br />
UUID: 8e5963c7-099a-4f98-810d-a6643639abce<br />
VendorId: 0x05ac (05AC)<br />
ProductId: 0x1227 (1227)<br />
Revision: 0.0 (0000)<br />
Port: 1<br />
USB version/speed: 2/1<br />
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.<br />
Product: Apple Mobile Device (DFU Mode)<br />
SerialNumber: CPID:8920 CPRV:14 CPFM:03 SCEP:01 BDID:00 ECID:000000700A15B58C SRTG:[iBoot-359.3]<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.0/usb5/5-2//device:/dev/bus/usb/005/002<br />
Current State: Available<br />
<br />
UUID: c305c6e1-b8f8-4b4f-a832-f7b8a878e464<br />
VendorId: 0x0a81 (0A81)<br />
ProductId: 0x0205 (0205)<br />
Revision: 0.16 (0016)<br />
Port: 0<br />
USB version/speed: 1/1<br />
Manufacturer: CHESEN<br />
Product: PS2 to USB Converter<br />
Address: sysfs:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb3/3-1//device:/dev/bus/usb/003/002<br />
Current State: Busy<br />
<br />
</p>
<p><a name="solution">
<h3>The solution</h3>
<p>This is not mentioned anywhere except one blog I found where for some reason the udev rules are missing which means it renders being part of the vboxusers group useless. I believe this issue happened after manually upgrading VBox.</p>
<p>Just do the following</p>
<p><code>touch /etc/udev/rules.d/60-vboxdrv.rules</code></p>
<p><strong>Edit it to look like so:</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><code>KERNEL=="vboxdrv", NAME="vboxdrv", OWNER="root", GROUP="root", MODE="0600"<br />
#these two lines give access permission to vboxusers to properly work with usb nodes, this could be security risk (bnc#664520) !!<br />
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", ATTR{devnum}=="?*", ATTR{busnum}=="?*",SYMLINK+="vboxusb/$attr{busnum}/$attr{devnum}", GROUP="vboxusers"<br />
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{devnum}=="?*", ATTR{busnum}=="?*",SYMLINK+="vboxusb/$attr{busnum}/$attr{devnum}", GROUP="vboxusers"<br />
</code></p>
<p> </p>
</a></p>
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