Android x86 virtualbox + camera

Question

I would like to know how to use my laptop's built-in webcam with android x86 in virtualbox.

I already tried to launch the default "Camera" app that told me that I had to configure a SDCard, what I did with this tutorial : SD card virtualbox

But now I would like to know how to make the VM be aware of my webcam and let it be used by android.

I downloaded the plugin for USB2 hosts but the webcam does not appear in the devices list...

Thank you for your help!

Daliladalis

Answer 1

If anyone is ever viewing this question, the solution for me was to install "Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack". You'll need to follow different setup procedure depending on your OS, however the extension pack itself is available from Oracle Virtualbox: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads.

Annaleeannaliese

Thanks, to make it work I had to click during boot time on the Devices menu, then Webcams submenu and check the webcam I want to use before Android x86 finished booting. This is useful for apps using a QR code like WhatsApp. However VirtualBox Extension Pack is not open source like I thought, only VirtualBox is open source. – Imago

Answer 2

In the Android Emulator you can select an Webcam (in the avd-emulator settings menu), try that one first. So you can see if it is actually working with Android

Lanni

Answer 3

I am just pasting it here from ASK UBUNTU as it was also a necessary step to activate the USB camera (still works 2023):

The same answer of @Nathan Osman , However , it required to belong to vboxusers group to be able to see all devices on adding one.

sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers $(whoami)

Logout & login again , check if your vboxusers displays in this command :

groups

Source: https://askubuntu.com/questions/4875/how-can-i-use-my-webcam-with-ubuntu-running-in-virtualbox

Hordein

Answer 4

Android in VirtualBox can work with the webcam from the main machine.

To do this, you need to:

1. Install VirtualBox Extension Pack from here https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
2. Add the current user to the group sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers $(whoami)
3. After that, it is best to reboot the PC.
4. Launch Android and immediately in the menu ‘Devices -> Webcams’ tick the checkbox to connect the webcam you found.

Android should be started after shutdown, not from a saved state.

Fillip