vmware not detecting palm on usb (Ubuntu 6.10)

[GorBo]

Has anyone managed to get USB working on VMware (guest OS WinXP) after the upgrade to Ubuntu 6.10? Previous solution (worked under 6.06) was to:

1. put 'blacklist visor' in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-visor
2. add usb.generic.skipSetConfig = "TRUE" to .vmx file of the virtual machine

After the upgrade to 6.10 I had to (of course) reinstall VMware Server. The settings are all the same, but nothing happens when I press Hotsync (the guest OS doesn't detect the USB device).

Has anyone figured this out? Thanks in advance.

[hartungu]

Try to enter this command in a terminal:

sudo mount -t usbfs none /proc/bus/usb

Restart your virtual machine. When it us up, enter the full-screen mode. Then connect your usb-device. You should now have the usb connection.

If this worked for you, add the following line to your /etc/fstab:
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs auto 0 0

[GorBo]

Yes! My Palm now hotsyncs in vmware. Many thanks for this, hartungu. You just made my life in the office a lot easier.

[Blixter]

Is it possible to install a usb printer (canon PIXMA5200) to??

With vmware 6 Beta works USB 2.0 printers

[jasnix]

Hello,
I tried following the instructions here and mounting /proc/bus/usb

However I am not able to get USB working with vmware server. I am using Ubuntu Edgy for the host and running Windows XP as a client. I mounted /proc/bus/usb then restarted Windows, went into full screen mode and when I plug in my cingular 8125 it can't detect it. This is the case with any USB device, jump drive, iPod etc..

Also,
When I go into device manager in windows, I don't see any USB controllers. In vmware when I go to VM > Settings, there isn't any USB options either.

I'm not sure what to try next. Not sure if this helps but here is the files in my /proc/bus/usb directory.

$ ls /proc/bus/usb/
001/ 002/ 003/ devices@

Please help me out.. I really don't want to dual-boot windows for this.

Thanks!!

[xkenneth]

I'm having the same problem, anyone?

As you can see it it's mounted.

usbfs and procbusn, could these be conflicting?

/dev/sdc2 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/sys on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
varrun on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=0755)
varlock on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=1777)
procbususb on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devshm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
lrm on /lib/modules/2.6.17-10-386/volatile type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/sda1 on /media/sda1 type ntfs (rw,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46)
/dev/sdb5 on /media/sdb5 type ntfs (rw,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46)
/dev/sdc2 on /media/sdc2 type ext3 (rw)
/dev/sdc5 on /media/LinuxShare type vfat (rw,umask=0000)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)

I'm not sure what to do here, I really need USB support in VMWare server with UBUNTU as the host OS.

[xkenneth]

Just marking as high priority, which it is.

[GorBo]

Maybe the host OS grabs the device before the guest OS has a chance? When you plug in the device, check /var/log/messages to see if there's a log showing that Ubuntu recognised it. Than add that device to the black list (see the start of this discussion). You also have to add one line to the .vmx file of the virtual machine (see the first post). If you did all that, check also if the device shows up of the "VM -> Removable Devices -> USB Devices" list in the VMware menu and enable it.

That's as far as my knowledge on this topic goes, I'm afraid.

[hawko]

Was having a similar problem with my Pocket PC and found this at the VMWare website

Adding a USB Controller The USB controller is disabled by default in all virtual machines created with VMware Server.To add a USB controller to the virtual machine’s configuration, complete the following steps with the virtual machine powered off. Use the VMware Server Console to add the device.

Don't know if it helps you, but it sorted my probs. USB devices appeared (only 2 at a time though).

[RChickenMan]

Hey, this thread helped me a lot, thanks. One thing I wasn't able to test was if this will allow me to use USB devices that don't work in Linux in fake Windows. I never thought I would call this a "problem", but every USB device I own works flawlessly in Ubuntu so I can't test for myself!