VirtualBox 4: Failed to access the USB subsystem

[sajugovind]

Here’s an error I’ve encountered while trying to modify settings on a newly created virtual machine on VirtualBox 4. The error won’t also allow me to see the attached USB devices on the computer so it needs to be addressed if you are to use any USB peripherals you have. Below is the exact message displayed on the warning box.

"VirtualBox is not currently allowed to access USB devices. You can change this by adding your user to the 'vboxusers' group. Please see user manual for more detailed explanation."




Given the hint above, you will need to add your username to the vboxusers group created by VirtualBox during the installation.

usermod -Gvboxusers

edit:

If your username is a member of other groups use the command below instead (thanks to Steps and Krishna for the tips):

sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers username

After adding your username to the group, you need to logout and login again for the system privy changes to take effect.

That’s all about it.