USB device not available in a guest using more than 1 CPU

[Ludovic]

If I configure my guest OS to use more than 1 CPU then I can't use my USB device. I have a iMac model iMac11,1 with a Intel Core i7 (4 CPU with 2 threads each)

The USB device is a CCID smart card reader with vID=0x08E6 and pID=0x3437. The device works great if the guest uses only 1 CPU. But I get errors if I configure VirtualBox to use 2 or more CPU for the guest. The errors reported by the kernel are:

[   56.092448] usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
[   62.637182] atkbd.c: Spurious NAK on isa0060/serio0. Some program might be trying access hardware directly.
[   71.249524] usb 2-1: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[   86.512425] usb 2-1: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[   86.809503] usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3
[  101.976574] usb 2-1: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[  117.240584] usb 2-1: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[  117.536353] usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 4
[  122.578952] usb 2-1: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[  127.698748] usb 2-1: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[  127.996433] usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 5
[  133.042903] usb 2-1: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[  138.161658] usb 2-1: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[  138.264556] hub 2-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 1

and the lsusb command line tools is locked until the kernel gives up enumerating the device.

I have the problem with Debian testing/squeeze and also with Ubuntu 10.04. It is quiet easy to reproduce.

I also tried with Windows 7 and the device is visible with 1 CPU but not with a 2 CPU guest. So the problem is not limited to a Linux guest or the Linux kernel.

Since the problem is not linked to the guest OS it must be in VirtualBox itself.

[Stephen Bannasch]

I have confirmed the same behavior.

I have a host OS of Mac OS X 10.6.4, MacBook Pro, Intel Core i7. The guest OS is Windows 7 Professional.

I have setup a USB filter for my device. It appears properly identified in the VirtualBox Active USB devices pulldown menu in the lower right.

If I enable two CPU's Windows 7 reports a failure trying to load device driver software for the new USB hardware.

When I enabled just one CPU Windows saw the new hardware and reported success installing software and adding the USB device.

The USB device in question is a Vernier GoLINK which is a HID device.

[Ian E. Gorman]

I have attached a note to Ticket #7346 about a similar problem with Windows XP and a USB "thumb" that I resolved by using a USB filter with "remote" field set to "No" and other fields blank.

[Ludovic]

My USB configuration filter is set to remote: no. So that is not the problem (nor the solution).

The problem is still present in VirtualBox 3.2.10 r66523

[Jim Cox]

I started a thread on this same problem before I came across this bug ticket:

​My Thread

The problem is still present in VirtualBox 3.2.12

I was attempting to use a Thumb drive and an Aladdin HASP security key. Both devices work when setting CPU's to 1. No USB devices work with CPU's >= 2 (other than the keyboard).

My setup:
Host - iMac Core i7 2.93 GHz (Quad-Core) / 16 GB RAM / Snow Leopard / 64-bit Kernel
Guest - Windows 7 Pro 64-bit / VirtualBox Guest Additions installed

[Ludovic]

The problem is still present in VirtualBox version 4.0.2 r69518

[Olivier]

The problem is still present in VirtualBox version 4.0.4

[diosdog]

Problem still present in 4.0.6. Macbook Pro quad core i7; host: Mac OS X; guests: Fedora 14 and Gentoo.

[Yury]

I see the same problem on Mac OS X 10.6.7 (10J869) iMac10,1 VirtualBox 4.0.8 and Ubuntu 10.10 as guest OS

yurys@yurys-ubuntu:~$ dmesg <...> [ 31.537302] ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A [ 128.000310] usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 3 [ 143.156245] usb 2-2: device descriptor read/64, error -110 [ 158.420259] usb 2-2: device descriptor read/64, error -110 [ 158.660263] usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 4 [ 173.824222] usb 2-2: device descriptor read/64, error -110 [ 189.084308] usb 2-2: device descriptor read/64, error -110 [ 189.324264] usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 5 [ 194.376463] usb 2-2: device descriptor read/8, error -110 [ 199.497255] usb 2-2: device descriptor read/8, error -110 [ 199.744277] usb 2-2: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 6 [ 204.782119] usb 2-2: device descriptor read/8, error -110 [ 209.900838] usb 2-2: device descriptor read/8, error -110 [ 210.004206] hub 2-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 2 yurys@yurys-ubuntu:~$

[Yury]

One addition, setting number of CPUs to 1 fixes the issue for me as well.

[chaumes]

I can also confirm that this is still a problem in 4.0.8 on Mac OS X host. 9 months and still no action?

[CaptSaltyJack]

Agreed. 9 months and it's not fixed?? It doesn't even show this ticket as being assigned to anyone.

[Frank Mehnert]

You will notice that most tickets are not assigned to anybody for the simple reason that it does not matter who of the Oracle team is fixing the bug. And perhaps you will also realize that there are many many other important bugs to fix. Of course you think that this bug is the most important one but the priority is defined by the VirtualBox development team, mainly driven by customer demands. I agree that this is a nasty bug but the current workaround is to use only one guest CPU if you need to setup a VM with USB support.

[CaptSaltyJack]

Ok ok.. I agree it's not mission critical. Hope it's fixed soon. BTW, the other workaround is to temporarily move/rename the file /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext, but doing so I believe temporarily breaks USB mass storage devices on the Mac itself.

[Larry Nolan]

I have encountered this problem also on an iMac (mid 2011) with quad cores and using just one cpu instead of two in my Win 7 VM resolves it. It would be good to have a warning note in the release information for VB about this situation until it is resolved so other users don't encounter it and have to hunt for the work around.

[Larry Nolan]

Failed to mention that I am on OS X 10.6.8 using VB 4.1, but saw it on 4.0.12, 4.0.10 also.

[CaptSaltyJack]

This bug is showing up in VBox 4.1, on MacOS X, even with just 1 CPU. Guest is Ubuntu 11.04. Any ideas? Every time I connect the USB to the guest, I can see it show up as "Kingston DT 101 G2" but it's not usable in any way, not even visible in gparted. Something is wrong.

[Larry Nolan]

I'm not seeing the problem with Ubuntu 11.04 running under VBox 4.1 on my 10.6.8 system when only 1 cpu is configured with VT-X and Nested Paging enabled.

[CaptSaltyJack]

Strange. I've got those options enabled too. I have PAE enabled and IO APIC but I disabled them and got the same result still. I'm completely unable to access the USB thumb drive.

[Leho Kraav]

I guess I might as well jump on this one. Running VirtualBox 4.1.2. In some earlier versions, possibly 3.x, I've had USB devices working just fine for sure.

Now unable to use a simple USB thumb drive, Linux 2.6 guest, on OS X 10.6.8 host. Selecting the USB device from the window icon causes it to briefly disconnect from host, then immediately reconnect. AFAICT guest never sees it. After that guest keeps running, but it can no longer be shut down by VirtualBox ("VirtualBox failed to stop <machine>" error dialog). I've had to Force Quit the guest machine process for now.

I will take a look at VBox.log in the morning.

Same thumb drive works fine in Linux host VirtualBox for the same guest.

[Leho Kraav]

unable to get USB device connected no matter what I try. i'm not seeing any error messages getting logged for some reason.

[Leho Kraav]

noticed that if i don't install USB 2.0 support with the extension pack, i am at least able to power off the virtual machine normally.

[Ian E. Gorman]

I can confirm this with VirtualBox 4.1.2 running in Mac OSX Lion on a mid-2009 Macbook Pro

Running Ubuntu 10.4 (Long term Support), I can access USB flash drives if I turn off APIC and set one CPU.

Running Windows XP on one CPU I can access USB Flash drives. Runing Windows XP with two CPUs, I cannot (unrecognized USB device.

However, the WinXP 2-CPU installation will recognize a USB-connected hard disk, and will occasionally recognize some USB Flash Drives.

I am attaching six files from two separate runs of Windows XP with 2 CPUs

First run - recognize SATA hard drive attached via SATA-to-USB adapter. This was part of a run to fix files on the hard drive.

Summary of USB devices from Mac OS Bus Probe utility

USB Bus Probe.txt

Summary of hard drive and Flash Drive from "System Information"

USB System Information.txt

VirtualBox run log

USB-WinXP-2CPU-2011-09-22-VBox.log

Second run - keep trying Imation Flash drive until recognized, then try a SanDisk drive.

Summary of Imation Flash Drive from "System Information"

USB Flash Drive Imation.txt

Summary of SanDisk (Cruzer) Flash Drive from "System Information"

USB Flash Drive SanDisk.txt

VirtualBox run log

USB-WinXP-2CPU-2011-09-25-VBox.log

To sum up: Windows XP running in VirtualBox with two CPUs can recognize USB hard drives and some, but not all, flash drives. Ubuntu has no trouble when running with one CPU, has trouble recognizing some flash drives when running with two CPUs, and I have not tried other flash drives or hard disks on USB in Ubuntu.

[Ian E. Gorman]

Mac Mac OS X "Bus Probe" summary of USB flash drive and USB hard drive attached at the same time

[Ian E. Gorman]

Mac OS X "System Information" summary of USB flash drive and USB hard drive attached at the same time

[Ian E. Gorman]

Mac OS X "System Information" summary of USB flash drive and USB hard drive attached at the same time

[Ian E. Gorman]

Mac OS X "System Information" summary of USB flash drive and USB hard drive attached at the same time

[Ian E. Gorman]

VirtualBox log of run with USB hard drive and USB flash drive

[Ian E. Gorman]

Mac OS X "System Information" summary of Imation USB flash drive

[Ian E. Gorman]

Mac OS X "System Information" summary of SanDisk USB flash drive

[Ian E. Gorman]

VirtualBox log of run with Imation USB flash drive and Sandisk USB flash drive

[Ian E. Gorman]

My apologies for screwing up and adding file "USB System Information.txt"

[Chris Murphy]

Macbook Pro 8,2, Mac OS X 10.6.8, VirtualBox 4.1.4. Problem occurs with
Fedora 16 Linux f16.local 3.1.0-5.fc16.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu Oct 27 03:46:50 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
CentOS6 Linux C6virt.local 2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Mon Jun 27 19:49:27 BST 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Bug 9841 is a duplicate of this bug.

[François Guerraz]

Hi! Same Here,

VirtualBox 4.1.6 Host : Mac OSX 10.7.2 / intel core i7 Guest : Fedora 16 x86_64

CC ME.

François

[sid.shetye]

Hi,

I can report this same issue on my end too:

VirtualBox: 4.1.6 r74713 + Extension pack (latest for this version) Host : Mac OS X Lion (10.7.2) Guest: Windows 7 x86 (32bits) SP1

With 2 cores, I was only able to get my USB drive recognized once (the first time) with USB filters. Even then I had to mess with the order of USB filters. It never worked after that (40+ attempts), always came up as unrecognized device. I stepped it down to 2 cores after reading this thread and it worked right off the bat the first time itself!

It would be AWESOME if this old issue is resolved soon!

Thanks for the great product! Sid

[sid.shetye]

I cannot edit the above post but please do not suggest disabling a core as a long term workaround to this problem! My compiles are ~33% faster with both cores versus just one, so it's actually quite a loss of productivity to work around this bug. Thanks!

[SouthTexas]

I see that this is still an open issue as of version 4.1.16. I'm guessing this must be much more complicated to correct than it appears it should be?

[Anders85]

I'd like to request that if there's no intent on solving this bug in near future, the documentation for the processor tab in VM settings be updated to inform of the consequences it has on OSX systems. Judging by this bug report, its affecting a lot of people and its the kind of bug that can be difficult to debug for users. So please, just mention it in the docs.

[noah_r]

Same experience in VirtualBox 4.1.23. Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 on Mac Book Pro Retina 2012. Windows 7 guest OS. I spent several hours troubleshooting both USB smart card reader and standard USB Thumb drive. I had the same experience without and then later with USB 2.0 extension installed. I agree that until the bug can be fixed, selecting 2 or more cores on Mac OS X host and 'Enable USB' should indicate a configuration problem. Hours lost troubleshooting until I found this bug report...

[dougman82]

I've also been experiencing this issue for the last several months. I am currently running a Macbook Pro with OSX Lion. Took me the better part of two days to finally figure out why my Smart Card reader would not work in the Windows 7 guest OS.

I completely agree with Anders85 (comment 30) above: if there are no plans to resolve this bug, it would be greatly helpful to provide the information in official documentation that USB devices may not work with a guest utilizing multiple CPU cores.

This is the type of problem that is maddeningly difficult to figure out because it is completely non-intuitive. Had I not found such bug reports as this, there is no way that I would ever have thought to reduce the VM's CPU cores to 1 in order to get my USB device to properly operate.

[blueytoo]

Replying to dougman82:

This is the type of problem that is maddeningly difficult to figure out because it is completely non-intuitive. Had I not found such bug reports as this, there is no way that I would ever have thought to reduce the VM's CPU cores to 1 in order to get my USB device to properly operate.

Same problem. Took ages to find the answer. 100% agree with dougman82. Yes changing CPUs to 1 fixed it.

MBP 17" early 2011 2.3GHz; MacOS 10.6.8 Server (64bit); Windows7 (64bit); VB 4.2.2; BootCamp 3.3

[vatjjar]

I know this is marked as a Mac OS X bug, but just wanted to inform this issue appears also with other host OSes. I'm running Win7 host, Ubuntu linux 12.10 guest with virtualbox 4.2.6 with latest quest additions. I have been trying to setup android development tools in guest OS, which work, but none of my android devices work via USB. The reason is exactly as described above. Also, trying to limit the number of CPU cores of the guest does not help, not at least on my Win7 host. This comment probably does not help too much in solving the original problem, but I still though to make a note about it here.

[65bruceRF]

More feedback for you VirtualBox Dev and PM teams. First let me say AWESOME! I am very happy with this product. I honestly believe this system is best of breed and is superior to all other Virtual Host systems I have used, and I believe I have used all of them now. On a more pointed note... Can you please fix this issue, I also can confirm that on a new generation MBP running the latest OSX (10.8.3) ALL of my guest OS's in X64 mode (I do not have any x86 guests) all failed to load USB devices with multiple CPU's provisioned for the Guest this is all flavors of X64 Windows and several flavors of Linux, I have not tried on a guest OSX system. Once each guest was returned to a single CPU all USB devices were recognized, loaded correctly and worked very well (FOR USB 2.0). That is my last request, which I know you and many others are grappling with, USB 3.0 support.... PLEASE expedite the deployment of same, and I am happy to partake in alpha and beta testing (YES I post feedback and test rigorously) as many of my guest OS's are data/database driven and fast access to disk is paramount to their usability, superspeed USB connectivity is nearly enough to work with development and testing of JDBC databases like H2. Please let me know if I can assist in any way.

[Frank Mehnert]

We think we greatly improved USB for OSX hosts for VMs with more than one CPU. Could you install ​this test build to check if it fixes your problems? Note, this build should fix problems you observe only with VMs with multiple guest CPUs. It will not fix problems with USB devices which you also observe with VMs with a single guest CPU.