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I have Backtrack 5 R3 setup as a guest OS in VirtualBox. When i try running my USB wireless card, the Alfa AWUS036NHA with the AR9271 chipset, I see this error.

ath9k_htc 1-1:1.0: ath9k_htc: Target is unresponsive [ 4.772287] Failed to initialize the device [ 4.774250] ath9k_htc: probe of 1-1:1.0 failed with error -22 [ 4.775452] usbcore: registered new interface driver ath9k_htc

The wireless card works fine on my Windows 7 Professional host OS.

A quick google search shows that it is a VirtualBox error. See: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/9511?cversion=0&cnum_hist=2

Are there any workarounds for this problem? Failing that, does VMWare Workstation have this issue?

Bridged network is not an option here as I need direct access to the wireless card.

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  • Do you need to have the card directly in the vm, or do you just want the connection?
    – Michael K
    Commented Aug 22, 2012 at 8:36
  • @MichaelK I need direct access to the card in the VM, like i said in my last line. I can bridge the connection no problem at all.
    – Ayrx
    Commented Aug 22, 2012 at 8:38
  • Sorry, I missed that line.
    – Michael K
    Commented Aug 22, 2012 at 8:41
  • Might be a stupid question, but do you have the box-guest-additions installed? Would an other virtualization software be an alternative?
    – Michael K
    Commented Aug 22, 2012 at 8:44
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    In that case I recommend trying it with vmware. From my experience with it, USB devices work a lot better with it then with virtual box. It might seem overkill to use a second software, but I think it is better setting up another software and get it done then spending hours on finding a workaround.
    – Michael K
    Commented Aug 22, 2012 at 9:08

3 Answers 3

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I had the same problem with virtualbox and so just tried vmware. I initially got the same error but after plugging and unplugging a few times it finally got passed through correctly.

Not sure what the actual thing was that triggered it to work but it is working fine now.

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This is no longer an issue with the newer versions of VirualBox, USB passthrough works just fine.

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Direct access to hardware may be limited or impossible through virtualization.

I highly recommend you run BT on your machine as host, either via installed as a dedicated partition, or as a Live CD / USB environment.

It can even be used as a persistent USB.

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