Problem with VirtualBox 4: USB Devices unavailable/grayed-out (Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick)

[loutowns]

Ubuntu 10.10 and VirtualBox 4.0. Tried all tricks from the following thread
Problem with VirtualBox 3.0.12: USB Devices unavailable/grayed-out (Ubuntu 9.10)
and still no joy. Any ideas?

First of all you will need VirtualBox, not VirtualBox Open Source Edition (OSE). The latter doesn't support USB devices.

After installing VirtualBox 4 do the following in Ubuntu Maverick:

1. Go to System -> Administration.
2. Scroll down to "Users and Groups".
3. Open Users and Groups
4. Click "Manage Groups".
5. When the group settings menu pops up, scroll down to vboxusers. Highlight it. Click "Properties".
6. Check the box beside your user name below the part which says group members. Press OK.
7. Reboot.
8. Load Virtualbox, and USB should be enabled.

[jakehalsted]

OR you could NOT be a pussy and get a real root prompt:

su - root
<root password>

Oh poor baby, you dont' have root login?

sudo passwd
<new root password twice>

Now. For a manly root command


usermod -a -G <group> <username>

For example:

usermod -a -G <vboxusers> <jakehalsted>

Log out

Log back in

Restart Virtual Box