CS-476: Can't share USB Blaster through VirtualBox

Hello (again...),

I encountered an issue where I can't get the driver of the USB blaster through VirtualBox, which means that Quartus can't find the hardware either. Using the Vm of the past semester, we had to get "Altera [0001]" trough, then another USB device would be listed which we had to get through too. But now, in the new VM, getting "Altera [0001]" through does nothing, and trying to do it again gives an error telling the device is busy. (again, same error on 2 different PCs)

I tried reinstalling the drivers on windows' side, but intel does not share them, so I can't "completely" install it.

Does someone knows why?

Re: Can't share USB Blaster through VirtualBox

par Alexandre Chau, lundi, 12 avril 2021, 18:36

Hi,

Indeed you should have the same behavior as the VM from last semester.

You shouldn't need the drivers from Windows side, as the virtual USB controller from VirtualBox is supposed to passthrough the device to the VM.

When you click on Altera [001], nothing happens and it is never selected by the VM if I understood correctly?
Do you have an SD card inserted into your board by any chance? If so try removing it, your board may be trying to boot some sequence that is undesirable for the labs and preventing it from being accessed

Best,

The TAs team

Re: Can't share USB Blaster through VirtualBox

par Claude Dahan, lundi, 12 avril 2021, 19:21

Thanks for the response!

I don't have an sd card in.

Altera[0001] is either not selected or gets selected (with the check mark), and in both cases the "second device" does not show up in the usb device list and the programmer in Quartus can't find it anyway, and clicking another time on the first device (Altera[0001]) generates the error shown above.

I don't know why it sometimes selects it correctly and sometimes not (when un-plugging and re-plugging the cable then selecting Altera[0001]), but it never seems to go through anyway.

Re: Can't share USB Blaster through VirtualBox

par Claude Dahan, mercredi, 14 avril 2021, 15:29

I finally made it work! I'll explain it here in case someone ever has a similar problem:

I reinstalled the virtualbox extension pack (to use USB 2.0 and 3.0), and the board kept connecting and disconnecting, until it finally could not connect anymore.

To fix this, I had to use a USB filter and remove the product ID, restart the VM and it finally worked! (At least for now)