Installing VirtualBox and activating USB 2.0 support

VM Virtual Machine

For those of us who still like to work on those MS Windows Apps that wont install and run on GNU/Linux or WineHQ, there is a solu0tion to our problems. You can use Oracle’s free Virtualbox (virtual hosting environment) or VMware Player to run Microsoft Windows OS and those Apps we so dearly love.

However on this post I will focus only on Oracle’s VirtualBox (installing it on a GNU/Linux ubuntu 12.04 LTS amd x64bit:

#1. To install VirtualBox simply go to Oracle VM Virtualbox and download the Linux version appropriate for your particular distro i.e  Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (“Precise Pangolin”)  i386 |  AMD64

#2. Run this command “cd /home/username/Downloads” to get into the downloads directory.

#3 Make the file executable using this command “sudo chmod +x ./virtualbox-4.2_4.2.10-84104~Ubuntu~precise_amd64.deb”

#4 Now that the file is executable its time to install it with this command “./virtualbox-4.2_4.2.10-84104~Ubuntu~precise_amd64.deb”

At this point Virtualbox is installed so whats next? Well tell you what its time to install an extension pack that will amoungst other things install support for USB 2.0 so follow these steps;

#1. Go to Oracle VM Virtualbox  and click on “VirtualBox 4.2.10 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack  All supported platforms” this will download the required package into the “Download” directory.

#2. Inside the “Downloads” directory right click on the virtualbo_extansion_pack you just downloaded and open with Virtualbox, this will install the extension pack and enable support for USB 2.0

#3. Tap Super Key to get the Dash, Type “user” and click the Users and Groups icon to start up the Groups Manager. Click “Manage Groups”, find vboxusers, click properties, add your own and any other desired users to the vboxusers group. Click OK.

#4. Now log out and back in, to make use of available USB devices. Connect USB Devce(s)

So now we have installed Virtualbox, enabled support for USB 2.0 and added your username to the vboxusers group. Now yo just need to create a VM (Virtual Machine) by clicking new and follow the prompts after which you must add filters for USB by doing the following:

===FOR PERSISTENT CONNECTION TO VM===

Open VBox, go to Settings for the VM, Go to USB.

Click USB+ Icon and select device from List (Be careful not to select your mouse device)

This will add a Filter Spec to the List, repeat as necessary for more devices

Start VM – Devices should appear in Guest OS, and mount or request drivers etc as normal for the OS.

Devices Mounted in Guest OS will likely be unavailable in Host OS

===FOR TEMPORARY CONNECTION TO VM===

Insert USB Device & Wait for it to activate in Host OS

Start or go to VM

Right Click USB Icon in the VM Status Bar at bottom of screen, OR from Menu go Devices > USB Devices, and select desired device.

Devices should appear in Guest OS, and mount or request drivers etc as normal for the OS.

Devices Mounted in Guest OS will likely be unavailable in Host OS

For more instruction on enabling USB support check this brilliant site here.

To enable full screen on your VM (Virtual Machine) window you need to install guest additions on the guest OS, here is a helpful howto.

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