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Bug 723188 - USB redirection broken in WinXP as Guest
USB redirection broken in WinXP as Guest
Status: RESOLVED NOTGNOME
Product: gnome-boxes
Classification: Applications
Component: general
3.10.x
Other Linux
: Normal normal
: 3.22
Assigned To: GNOME Boxes maintainer(s)
GNOME Boxes maintainer(s)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2014-01-28 20:17 UTC by antistress
Modified: 2016-03-31 13:22 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: ---


Attachments
Last installation (Win XP without update) is shown as file 2 (308.60 KB, image/png)
2014-02-04 01:18 UTC, antistress
Details

Description antistress 2014-01-28 20:17:43 UTC
Hi,

I'm running gnome-boxes 3.10.0 (from Debian Experimental) on Debian Sid 64 bits (note that the same bug occured with gnome-boxes 3.8.4).

Using a USB flash drive, it shows up on my GNU/Linux Host system but not on my Windows XP SP3 Guest system.

However, in Boxes, "Redirect new USB" is ON, like my USB flash drive (which is listed under the "USB Devices" section)

With Windows XP, I can't see it by clicking the icon in notification area which shows USB devices that can be deactivated nor by displaying the "My Computer" window.

The terminal says : 
(gnome-boxes:5782): GSpice-WARNING **: Warning no automount-inhibiting implementation available

Thanks

BTW I found :
Bug 710299 - need an explanation about usb passthrough 
Bug 710302 - List USB sticks w/ MBR in media menu 
Maybe are they related ?
Comment 1 Christophe Fergeau 2014-01-29 09:57:24 UTC
I assume it's up to date? What spice-gtk version are you using?
Comment 2 antistress 2014-01-29 10:09:18 UTC
I'm using libspice-client-gtk-3.0-4 0.22-0nocelt1
Comment 3 Zeeshan Ali 2014-01-29 14:19:21 UTC
And were both VMs created by same version of Boxes?
Comment 4 Zeeshan Ali 2014-01-29 14:19:48 UTC
Its mostly likely a spice bug though.
Comment 5 antistress 2014-01-29 22:13:24 UTC
(In reply to comment #3)
> And were both VMs created by same version of Boxes?

Sorry I don't understand. I have only one VM which is WinXP SP3. It was created with Boxes 3.6 or 3.8 I'm not sure.

Do you need further information ? 

Thanks
Comment 6 Zeeshan Ali 2014-01-30 16:56:39 UTC
(In reply to comment #5)
> (In reply to comment #3)
> > And were both VMs created by same version of Boxes?
> 
> Sorry I don't understand. I have only one VM which is WinXP SP3.

Ah sorry, I misunderstood.

> It was created
> with Boxes 3.6 or 3.8 I'm not sure.

Could you please create a new VM and try in that?
Comment 7 antistress 2014-02-01 12:06:54 UTC
Ok I've tried with a new virtual installation of WinXP and I have the same problem
On a side note, I can't select any CD-ROM from Boxes during installation, only file or url, but maybe it's not related to that specific bug
Comment 8 antistress 2014-02-01 13:29:24 UTC
a also : I cannot copy from my Host Debian system and then paste to my guest Windows XP system
Comment 9 Christophe Fergeau 2014-02-03 08:38:12 UTC
(In reply to comment #8)
> a also : I cannot copy from my Host Debian system and then paste to my guest
> Windows XP system

Do you have vdagent/vdservice running in the guest? Are you doing unattended winxp installs, or manual ones?
Comment 10 antistress 2014-02-03 09:44:45 UTC
In both cases I've followed default installation. Both are from the same Win XP Pro CD-ROM.
The last WinXP Pro doesn't have any update (WinXP version 2002, precisely : 5.1.2600)
The former one is up to date and runs free avast antivirus (WinXP version 2002 SP3, precisely : 5.1.2600 SP3)

I'm not sure how to check if I have vdagent/vdservice : I've looked into the task Manager within Win XP and none of them is displayed among processes
Comment 11 Christophe Fergeau 2014-02-03 10:11:33 UTC
"Default installation" as offered for Boxes? Where did you enter the licence key/serial number? In Boxes wizard UI, or in a WinXP dialog box ?
Comment 12 antistress 2014-02-03 11:02:03 UTC
In Boxes I chose New and followed the short wizard. Then I followed the long WinXP installation wizard which asked for the serial number
Comment 13 Christophe Fergeau 2014-02-03 13:06:59 UTC
You probably don't have the various guest drivers which are needed installed then.
http://www.spice-space.org/download/windows/spice-guest-tools/spice-guest-tools-0.74.exe
I'm not sure how to handle USB redirection on Windows.
Comment 14 Zeeshan Ali 2014-02-03 18:04:21 UTC
(In reply to comment #12)
> In Boxes I chose New and followed the short wizard. Then I followed the long
> WinXP installation wizard which asked for the serial number

That means express installation didn't succeed and therefore spice-guest-tools were not automatically installed for you. Anyway, as you said, this is a separate issue.

About this bug, I looked into the spice-gtk sources a little and from what I can tell, the warning you see from spice-gtk is most likely the issue. Its most likely your distro is shipping spice-gtk with dbus disabled. i-e a distro issue.
Comment 15 antistress 2014-02-04 01:17:47 UTC
(In reply to comment #13)
> You probably don't have the various guest drivers which are needed installed
> then.
> http://www.spice-space.org/download/windows/spice-guest-tools/spice-guest-tools-0.74.exe
> I'm not sure how to handle USB redirection on Windows.

I've installed spice-guest-tools-0.74.exe on both guests WinXP.
The former one (Win XP Pro up to date with SP3) liked it and I got full screen which I haven't before. But still no copy/paste text ability nor USB flash drive.
The last one (Win XP Pro without any update) didn't like it too much since it switched to 4 bits color system : see screenshot attached. However no copy/paste text ability nor USB flash drive either
Comment 16 antistress 2014-02-04 01:18:55 UTC
Created attachment 268024 [details]
Last installation (Win XP without update) is shown as file 2
Comment 17 antistress 2014-02-04 01:20:58 UTC
(In reply to comment #14)
> (In reply to comment #12)
> > In Boxes I chose New and followed the short wizard. Then I followed the long
> > WinXP installation wizard which asked for the serial number
> 
> That means express installation didn't succeed and therefore spice-guest-tools
> were not automatically installed for you. Anyway, as you said, this is a
> separate issue.
> 
> About this bug, I looked into the spice-gtk sources a little and from what I
> can tell, the warning you see from spice-gtk is most likely the issue. Its most
> likely your distro is shipping spice-gtk with dbus disabled. i-e a distro
> issue.

Thank you I will report the issue and will post here the corresponding Debian bug number
Comment 18 Christophe Fergeau 2014-02-04 09:57:53 UTC
(In reply to comment #16)
> Created an attachment (id=268024) [details]
> Last installation (Win XP without update) is shown as file 2

If you mean there were no service packs installed, this is not supported. Dunno if the installer has the ability to check for that.

(In reply to comment #15)
> But still no copy/paste text ability 

Same question as before, are vdagent/vdservice running ? You may need to reboot the VM first.
Comment 19 antistress 2014-02-04 18:13:15 UTC
(In reply to comment #18)
> (In reply to comment #16)
> > Created an attachment (id=268024) [details] [details]
> > Last installation (Win XP without update) is shown as file 2
> 
> If you mean there were no service packs installed, this is not supported. Dunno
> if the installer has the ability to check for that.

I meant that spice-guest-tools-0.74.exe has created a graphical bug on Windows XP without any SP where the display is locked to 800x600 4 bits, whereas it has improved Win XP SP3 where i can now have full screen display

> 
> (In reply to comment #15)
> > But still no copy/paste text ability 
> 
> Same question as before, are vdagent/vdservice running ? You may need to reboot
> the VM first.

Yes, both are now shown in the task Manager within Win XP. However, still no ability to copy/past text from my Debian GNU/Linux Host to my Win XP guest.
Comment 20 antistress 2014-02-04 20:57:17 UTC
(In reply to comment #14)
> About this bug, I looked into the spice-gtk sources a little and from what I
> can tell, the warning you see from spice-gtk is most likely the issue. Its most
> likely your distro is shipping spice-gtk with dbus disabled. i-e a distro
> issue.

For the record, I've filled Debian Bug#737663
Comment 21 antistress 2014-02-05 10:20:18 UTC
For the record, here is the answer I got on Debian bug report :

2014-02-05 Liang Guo <bluestonechina@gmail.com>:
> Hi,
>
>
>>
>> I've filled a bug against gnome-boxes on bugzilla.gnome.org and it has
>> been answered me : "I looked into the spice-gtk sources a little and
>> from what I can tell, the warning you see from spice-gtk is most
>> likely the issue. Its most likely your distro is shipping spice-gtk
>> with dbus disabled. i-e a distro issue." [1]
>>
> I can confirm this bug is caused by dbus disabled in spice-gtk,
>
> This bug will be fixed in the next upload 0.22-0nocelt2. if this bug
> is not resolved in  0.22-0nocelt2, please let me know.
>
> Thanks,
> --
> Liang Guo
> http://guoliang.me/
Comment 22 Zeeshan Ali 2014-02-05 14:05:35 UTC
Thanks for your extreme patience on this and desired to follow up
Comment 23 antistress 2014-02-10 01:21:22 UTC
Ok, here is the thing
I'm running the updated libspice-client-gtk-3.0-4 0.22-0nocelt from Debian
I don't have anymore error message within Terminal
I've re-installed Windows XP SP3 with spice-guest-tools-0.74.exe
I'm now able to copy/paste text from my GNU/Linux Host to my Win XP guest
However I still don't see my USB flash drive within WinXP...
Comment 24 antistress 2014-02-10 01:22:23 UTC
Do you want me to try with a Windows 7 guest ?
Comment 25 Christophe Fergeau 2014-02-10 08:58:50 UTC
Could you test USB redirection with a fedora 20 live cd as a guest ? http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/20/Live/x86_64/Fedora-Live-Desktop-x86_64-20-1.iso
Comment 26 antistress 2014-02-10 18:25:33 UTC
(In reply to comment #25)
> Could you test USB redirection with a fedora 20 live cd as a guest ?
> http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/20/Live/x86_64/Fedora-Live-Desktop-x86_64-20-1.iso

I tried t install Fedor as a guest using the ISO file above but i get quickly the "Oh no! Something has gone wrong. A problem occurred and the system can't recover. Please log out and try again. [Log Out]" message, 
Besides since my (USB) mouse pointer is invisible all time long inside the Fedora VM (even if the mouse works)
Comment 27 antistress 2014-02-11 00:07:42 UTC
I'll try debian-7.4.0-amd64-CD-1.iso [1] and Mageia-4-LiveDVD-KDE4-x86_64-DVD.iso [2] and will get back to you


[1] http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/7.4.0/amd64/iso-cd/
[2] https://www.mageia.org/fr/downloads/get/?q=Mageia-4-LiveDVD-KDE4-x86_64-DVD.iso
Comment 28 antistress 2014-02-11 18:02:41 UTC
Ok, I've tried with a debian 7.4.0 amd64 GNOME as Guest and i can see my USB flash drive within it.
Therefore the problem seems to concern Windwos XP as Guest and not my Host system
Comment 29 antistress 2014-02-11 23:12:56 UTC
I've tried with Windows 7 Pro N SP1-U [1] as Guest and i can see my USB
flash drive within it...

[1] X17-59351.iso available here http://www.winmacsofts.com/telechargement-direct-de-liso-de-windows-7-avec-sp1/ (it's a 30 days trial)
Comment 30 antistress 2014-02-12 09:35:42 UTC
For the recorde, I just had a discussion over the Web with a guy who is running VirtualBox 4.3 and can use USB flash drives with Win XP Pro SP3 has guest
Comment 31 Zeeshan Ali 2014-02-12 13:25:54 UTC
(In reply to comment #30)
> For the recorde, I just had a discussion over the Web with a guy who is running
> VirtualBox 4.3 and can use USB flash drives with Win XP Pro SP3 has guest

After all these findings and discussions, I'm pretty sure now that this is not in any way a Boxes bug. Could you please file it here: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Spice
Comment 32 antistress 2014-02-12 17:47:25 UTC
Sure : any idea of what Spice component is concerned ? The info is needed to file the bug...
Comment 33 Zeeshan Ali 2014-02-12 18:32:51 UTC
(In reply to comment #32)
> Sure : any idea of what Spice component is concerned ? The info is needed to
> file the bug...

there is "usbredir" component.
Comment 34 antistress 2014-02-12 19:34:01 UTC
Thanks !
See https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=74901 for the corresponding bug report against Spice