By default, VirtualBox won't let you add a USB drive to it. Here's how to change that on Windows.
VirtualBox is one of the most preferred virtualization software in the industry. It has come a long way from supporting just USB 1.0 devices to now even USB 3.0 devices. But if you take a quick glance at the File Explorer or Device Manager in a Windows VM, you will see that the USB devices like flash drives do not show up.
Your keyboard and mouse work fine for the most part but USB devices connected to the host system don't show up in the Windows Virtual Machine. Don't lose hope! We will elaborate on how you can add a USB device to a VirtualBox virtual machine.
When you connect a USB Device to the host machine, it mounts it and allows you to use it. But in order to use the USB device in the Virtual Machine, you need to unmount it from the host OS and then mount it on the Virtual Machine. There is inbuilt support to add USB devices in VirtualBox. But that only supports USB 1.0 devices which are rarely in use anymore. On the contrary, newer versions of VMWare support USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices out of the box.
If you check out your USB drives, most of them will be either USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 devices. But if you try to add them in VirtualBox, you will see a "failed to attach the USB device [name]" error. You see the error because VirtualBox lacks the binary packages to offer these features.
A simple solution is downloading the VirtualBox Extension Pack that enables the support for USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices. Remember that it will enable support for not just flash drives but also other devices such as network adapters, hard disks, webcams, and more.
You will have to download and then install the VirtualBox Extension Pack on your host system. After that, you will have to add the USB device using the settings menu of the virtual machine. For Windows and Mac, the process of adding a USB device is GUI oriented. However, on Linux, you need to do some more effort to mount USB devices. Check out our guide on the VirtualBox vs. VMware Player to understand the differences between the two virtualization programs.
The process of adding a USB device to a Windows virtual machine in VirtualBox contains two steps. First, you need to download the extension pack and install it. Then, you must enable the support for USB devices and add a device to the list.
To download the VirtualBox extension pack, repeat the following steps.
To add a USB Device to the Virtual Machine, repeat the following steps.
In the case of a USB flash drive, you can eject it from the virtual machine. It will automatically mount on the host OS and will become accessible via File Explorer.
Once you add USB devices to a virtual machine in the USB settings, VirtualBox will mount them every time you power on the virtual machine. It will continue to do so unless you remove the devices from the list or change the USB controller settings.
Here's how to remove a USB device from a virtual machine in VirtualBox:
To reattach the USB device to the virtual machine, you will have to add it again to the USB devices filters section.
Unlike VMWare, VirtualBox doesn't support USB 2.0 and 3.0 devices out of the box. You must download and install the extension pack and then add each USB device to the virtual machine. But once you add these devices to the list, they will become usable in the virtual machine. Make sure to add only those devices which you need in the virtual machine.
Abhishek loves computers ever since he got his hands on the Lenovo G570. He holds a master's degree in computer appliciations and loves writing how-to articles, listicles, and informational posts on Windows, Android, and Internet. When he is not writing anything, he is busy watching new episodes of One Piece or new movies.
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