# [SOLVED] VirtualBox failure



## snglnluvnit (Aug 5, 2009)

I installed VirtualBox on Ubuntu 11.10 today, Created a vm of XPPro32 bit everything went fine, until I wanted to use USB's. Did some reading (apparently not enough), and downloaded the extension pack from the Oracle virtualbox website, like someone suggested, and tried to run my vm and got some error msg. part of the error msg stated that if this error continued try uninstalling VB and reinstalling.. Okay did that 2x's now and now get this error msg. Of course being a newbie to Ubuntu I am lost, and am grateful for any guidance/suggestions. 
Thanks Scott

*Failed to open a session for the virtual machine XPp32.

The device helper structure version has changed.

If you have upgraded VirtualBox recently, please make sure you have terminated all VMs and upgraded any extension packs. If this error persists, try re-installing VirtualBox. (VERR_PDM_DEVHLPR3_VERSION_MISMATCH).

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component: Console
Interface: IConsole {1968b7d3-e3bf-4ceb-99e0-cb7c913317bb}*


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

Hi,

Are you running the OSE (Opensource edition) Or the non-free edition? It's just that the OSE edition is the one that comes with the repos in Ubuntu and that does not support USB virtualization. Have you tried uninstalling the extension pack first then the program itself?

Steve


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## snglnluvnit (Aug 5, 2009)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

I am running the one that comes from the "Ubuntu Software Center", Free, the extension pack I got from the Oracle site. I thought of uninstalling just the extension pack, but can not find it anywhere to uninstall. So what you're saying is that the free edition is not going to support the USB virtualization?
Thanks,
Scott


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

Hi,

Yeah there is a major problem with USB support in the OSE version but the good news is that now you can download the the other version (it's put down is as non-free but that isn't the case it is free) from the software manager (at least in linux mint which uses the ubuntu repos). As for the extension try going into the synaptic package manager rather than the software centre and in the search box type "oracle" or "virtualbox" (no quotes) and that should give you list of what you have installed and can install which will include the so called non-free version of vbox. I would suggest uninstalling the OSE version in package manager as well.

Good Luck,

Steve


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## Eddie.Dean.19 (Dec 15, 2011)

SteveThePirate said:


> Hi,
> 
> Yeah there is a major problem with USB support in the OSE version but the good news is that now you can download the the other version (it's put down is as non-free but that isn't the case it is free) from the software manager (at least in linux mint which uses the ubuntu repos). As for the extension try going into the synaptic package manager rather than the software centre and in the search box type "oracle" or "virtualbox" (no quotes) and that should give you list of what you have installed and can install which will include the so called non-free version of vbox. I would suggest uninstalling the OSE version in package manager as well.
> 
> ...


I believe non-free is in reference to freedom not price. Virtual box has a completely open source version and a proprietary version. The latter would be the non-free


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## snglnluvnit (Aug 5, 2009)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

Well I've switched to the 64bit version of Ubuntu in an attempt to allow more memory for my XP VM, but now it sounds (from what I've read) that I have to install some 32libs??? to get the "non-free" version to work correctly.. If that is the case, after I uninstall OSE version, how to I install that 32lib??
Thanks for all your assistance!!
Scott


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## Eddie.Dean.19 (Dec 15, 2011)

If you're installing from the software center you probably won't have to worry about it. Apt-get is the backend package manager and will automagically take care of all necessary dependencies needed for applications. 

If for some reason it doesn't you have 3 options to try to track it down 

1. search the software center for it and it install it.

2. At the command line do
# aptitude search 'name of library'
Then sort through results to which one sounds like what your looking for and take note of it's exact name
# apt-get install 'exact name of library'
Then install

3. If it doesn't show up in either of these you may need to track down where it it hosted or search for a ppa from launchpad


U could also download it from oracles website and use it's bundled installer. This will probably net you a more recent version.
In general The downside to installing programs outside of software manager or apt-get is you will have to manually update them yourself..although virtualbox allows you to update it through it's own interface so in this case that's not an issue


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## snglnluvnit (Aug 5, 2009)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

Yeah I ended up going with the "non-free" edition, Then installed the extensions, from what I understand now I have to add my user to the vboxusers group, So hopefully I can get that done today. 
Thanks for your assistance,
Scott


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## Eddie.Dean.19 (Dec 15, 2011)

# useradd -G vboxusers username


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## snglnluvnit (Aug 5, 2009)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

I installed some gnome system tools, It has a GUI "users and groups", I opened that up, found vboxusers and added scott (my user) to that group. The error message that used to pop up (something about USB support) has since then disappeared, but I am still unable to see the USB when I plug something in. It will show up in Ubuntu, but not in VM of XP.


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

Hi,

Have you went into the settings of the VM and enabled it through there before you start the VM?

Steve


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## snglnluvnit (Aug 5, 2009)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

Yes I have, In reading the help file "USB not working" 12.6.7 it mentions giving rights to user in the USB group. I can not find a USB group, it does mention that it is for older systems, so maybe that does not apply to 11.10 version.


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## snglnluvnit (Aug 5, 2009)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

I found the following on the Website. Let me know if you think this is what I need to do.

"After I had a taken a look into the insides of Ubuntu 7.04, I managed to get VirtualBox's USB-Support working there in such a way that the user only needs to be a member of a group called usbusers. This howto describes how I did it. 

Basically, you just have to tell Ubuntu that a group called usbusers should have read and write access to all usb devices. 

1.Create a group called usbusers 
2.Add yourself to this group 
3.Edit the file /etc/udev/rules.d/40-permissions.rules (for this, you must have administrative privileges) 
3.1 Search for the following lines 

# USB devices (usbfs replacement)
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", MODE="0664"
3.2 Change them to the following 

# USB devices (usbfs replacement)
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", GROUP="usbusers", MODE="0664"
4.Restart your PC 
5.You should now have write access to all usb devices."


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

Sounds plausible, give it a try and let us know if it works. If that's the case then it is a lot of work to go through to get usb support to work in ubuntu, hopefully they sort that out for future releases.

Steve


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## snglnluvnit (Aug 5, 2009)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

To "us" ex/Windows users that's what we see the Linux world as. But to be honest I am enjoying using Ubuntu very much, and heck...ya can't beat the price and security!!!!! I will give it a shot, and get back to you.
Scott


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*



snglnluvnit said:


> To "us" ex/Windows users that's what we see the Linux world as. But to be honest I am enjoying using Ubuntu very much, and heck...ya can't beat the price and security!!!!!


Very very true :grin: Good luck with the solution

Steve


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## snglnluvnit (Aug 5, 2009)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

Joy!!! at last, I found this <https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=4932>, just this morning, and it worked.. I did not try the other from above. So basically I made sure that the device was plugged in, make sure that Ubuntu sees USB attached drive, and that Ubuntu is not using it, (I had read that if Host is using it, then the Guest can not), started VM of XP, and in devices menu (of VBox) all my USB devices were there, I just checked the one I wanted to use. From there VM XP did it's thing, found new hardware etc.. I hope this helps others that have same issues.. Also I want to Thank Steve the Pirate for his persistent help with this matter.. Thanks a bunch!!
Scott


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## SteveThePirate (Jan 12, 2012)

*Re: VirtualBox failure*

Your Welcome! You should be thanking yourself as well, most people give up if they can't find a solution first time around with VB and Ubuntu as well. 

Hope everything runs smoothly for you now

Steve


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## djaburg (May 15, 2008)

It concur with STP, it is nice to see perseverance in learning something new. As was said, TOO many people just throw their hands up and stop trying. I think that's what makes Linux, and computers in general, so much fun. Nothing like having a problem you'd like to solve and actually doing it with or without help, but seeing it through.


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