How to make smooth USB access available to Virtualbox vm

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Wed, 6 Jul 2016 12:21:52 +0000, Manish Jain wrote:
>I reconsidered my position. With the USB situation as it is, there is
>no way I can make the Windows XP vm do anything meaningful. It seems 
>ridiculous that VirtualBox passes on my APC UPS to the vm, but the 
>scanner and printer are not even available for filtering. The pen
>drive filter is available, but the goddamn thing won't work in the vm. 
>VirtualBox is a pathetic piece of software, in my opinion. I am very 
>glad that I did not get rid of my Windows XP installation - otherwise
>I would have been left on very marshy grounds if and when I needed
>Redmond services.

You didn't describe what you actually try to archive and how you tried
to do this.

You e.g. can't connect to the printer, by using a Windows guest's driver
for the printer. The real hardware is handled by the host.

I don't use a printer at all, but assumed I would use a printer, I
anyway would consider to print using the host, even if printing using
the guest would be possible, data transmission is slower, slower
virtual hard disk, slower virtual hardware interfaces.

Which program requires scanning and printing? Isn't it possible to scan
and print using the host? I guess the Software running on the guest OS
is most likely able to import a scanned pic and to export text or pic
files for printing, by using a shared folder.

Virtualbox most likely is the weakest virtual machine available
regarding a lot of aspects, but OTOH it's most likely the most easiest
to use virtual machine. Virtualbox doesn't require graphical desktop
sharing by VNC, it doesn't require SAMBA to share files, you can set up
everything by just a few mouse clicks, without the learning curve other
virtual solutions require.

Regards,
Ralf