Virtual Box - Failed to access the USB subsystem.

**marer13** · November 30th, 2011

Hello everyone,

I'm having troubles accessing USB on my Virtual Box.

Here's the message I'm getting:

p, li { white-space: pre-wrap; } Failed to access the USB subsystem.
VirtualBox is not currently allowed to access USB devices. You can change this by adding your user to the 'vboxusers' group. Please see the user manual for a more detailed explanation.

Any help would be appreciated.

**BC59** · November 30th, 2011

Here it's explained with pictures:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-t...t-111715.shtml

**marer13** · November 30th, 2011

Thank you for your willingness to help, but this article shows how to deal with it on Ubuntu, and I'm on Kubuntu. It's different.

I can't follow the steps. When I go to User Groups, there is no "Click the "Unlock" button..."

I'm attaching a screenshot.

**haqking** · November 30th, 2011

from terminal

Code:

sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers username

where username is your username then logout and back in

**marer13** · November 30th, 2011

That worked!

Thank you very much!

**haqking** · November 30th, 2011

Originally Posted by marer13

That worked!

Thank you very much!

Of course it worked

You are welcome.

Cheers

**geek.de.nz** · November 13th, 2012

Code:

sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers username

didn't work for me. Is it possible that the group is not allowed to access my USB devices??

Code:

sudo groups myuser
myuser : myuser adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare vboxusers

Weird it doesn't work for me...

**cwsnyder** · November 13th, 2012

You really should have opened a thread to ask your question. VirtualBox has changed since the tutorial was written, requiring Oracle VirtualBox (non-free) and the VirtualBox Extension Pack installed on the Host computer, as well as the user being part of the vboxusers group.

**pkadeel** · November 13th, 2012

Originally Posted by geek.de.nz

Code:

sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers username

didn't work for me. Is it possible that the group is not allowed to access my USB devices??

Code:

sudo groups myuser
myuser : myuser adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare vboxusers

Weird it doesn't work for me...

Are you sure you have also installed the guest additions extention pack and have enabled USB access in virtualbox Preference

**wildmanne39** · November 14th, 2012

If a post is older than a year or so and hasn't had a new reply in that time, instead of replying to it, create a new thread. In the software world, a lot can change in a very short time, and doing things this way makes it more likely that you will find the best information. You may link to the original discussion in the new thread if you think it may be helpful.