GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 769942
"USB Redirection" documentation out of date & incorrect
Last modified: 2018-01-11 10:46:10 UTC
https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-boxes/stable/usb-redirection.html.en describes an USB Redirection button in Properties > Devices. There is no such button for me in GNOME 3.20 as shipped on Fedora 24, only a "CD/DVD" entry. If this is just a documentation mistake, it would be nice if it was updated.
Is your VM running? Currently it has to be running for USB redirection: see bug#744905.
Although switch mentioned in "Ensure Redirect new USB devices is switched to ON" was removed a while ago. Documentation isn't at all in sync with reality I'm afraid. Docs team has been too busy with other stuff I guess but I'm sure they'll appreciate any volunteers to help them out.
When it is running, there is no switch available either. I can't find any switch on any other property tab either. I have absolutely no clue how to use USB redirection given the current state of the interface...
(In reply to Jonas Thiem from comment #3) > When it is running, there is no switch available either. I can't find any > switch on any other property tab either. I have absolutely no clue how to > use USB redirection given the current state of the interface... It's running in foreground (the docs are outdated/wrong in that regard as well)? i-e If you connect to the display and then access properties through the drop-down menu on the top?
Created attachment 333373 [details] Screenshot of USB redirection options
Hah! There they are. Well that was super impossible to find. I didn't even know you can access the properties from the top, and why should I need to? I knew I could easily go back to the overview and access them from there. Why would there be DIFFERENT properties while the VM is running depending on how the menu is accessed? That's just insane. Also why isn't there indicator for USB passthrough in the very same place when the VM is offline, telling me that I found the correct spot for the USB settings but that I simply need to launch the VM first for the detailed settings to be available? Unless you want all the users to uninstall gnome-boxes and virtualbox to use USB even though it is available, you should really change all of this a lot. (I was very short of doing that and already installed Virtualbox before I happened to stumble across the online docs which made me file this bug since I already have a bugzilla account here)
Sorry I meant to write *uninstall gnome-boxes and install virtualbox to use USB
(In reply to Jonas Thiem from comment #6) > Hah! There they are. > > Well that was super impossible to find. I didn't even know you can access > the properties from the top, and why should I need to? I knew I could easily > go back to the overview and access them from there. > > Why would there be DIFFERENT properties while the VM is running depending on > how the menu is accessed? That's just insane. It's not about how you access properties view but whether or not you are connected to VM or not. If you had bothered to look at bug#744905 I pointed above, you'd have noticed that the bug is fixed already and could have saved yourself a long speech. :) The fix will be available in next stable release (which should be happening a month). > Unless you want all the users to uninstall gnome-boxes and virtualbox to use > USB even though it is available, you should really change all of this a lot. If this was such a deal-breaker, I imagine all users have already switched since Boxes has existed for about 5 years now and the only person who's complained so far about this is me (bug#744905 was filed by me) and you IIRC. :)
Gotta fix the docs.
Alright, sorry then :-) I guess that was an over-generalization and a bit of an overreaction. I would have switched to Virtualbox tho, because I simply thought USB redirection wasn't available at all. (since there is no trace of it in many situations) This is also because most of the other interface is super-streamlined and I never had to search anything at all because it's generally quite intuitive. That I found the online docs and therefore some sort of confirmation USB redirection was actually supposed to be available was just a happy mistake! Nice to hear it's going to be fixed. What about an indication in the properties menu if the VM is stopped? That would also help people learning the correct place when looking for it, and also tell them in the same moment what they need to do to get the detailed settings available. (unless fixing the other bug addresses that as well) Just as a comparison, virtualbox shows the USB settings even when the VM is stopped, but it also requires starting it for putting through a specific connected device (unless you know the USB device id by heart). As a result, the user is always able to instantly see that the feature is supposed to be available.
(In reply to Jonas Thiem from comment #10) > Alright, sorry then :-) I guess that was an over-generalization and a bit of > an overreaction. I would have switched to Virtualbox tho, because I simply > thought USB redirection wasn't available at all. (since there is no trace of > it in many situations) This is also because most of the other interface is > super-streamlined and I never had to search anything at all because it's > generally quite intuitive. Good to hear. > Nice to hear it's going to be fixed. What about an indication in the > properties menu if the VM is stopped? That would also help people learning > the correct place when looking for it, and also tell them in the same moment > what they need to do to get the detailed settings available. (unless fixing > the other bug addresses that as well) Yeah, that's likely a good idea. Since this bug is now for documentation fix, would you mind filling another bug for state indication?
Sure, I filed it here: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=769945
(In reply to Jonas Thiem from comment #12) > Sure, I filed it here: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=769945 Thanks.
Isn't this fixed? See here: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-boxes/stable/interface.html.en Under "Properties View": ``` Devices: the Select button allows you to specify the path to a CD/DVD device or ISO. The Remove button disconnects it. When the box is running, the USB devices connected to the host system are listed, and each can be controlled with an ON | OFF switch. ``` On the other hand, this tab is currently called "Devices & Shares". The sharing feature recently added (in May) seems to be not documented. https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=730259 I'll file a new bug for this.
No need to file a bug, there's already a request here: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=789466
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