Blackberry USB Support

jbeiter · Post by **jbeiter** » 10. Apr 2008, 02:51

I'm not sure if this is a problem with Blackberrys or a problem with Virtualbox but it seems that support for the Blackberry Desktop Software is universally broken on XP under Virtualbox.

Should I be nagging RIM or hoping for support in the upcoming virtualbox updates?

Thanks!

sadohert · Post by **sadohert** » 5. Jun 2008, 19:11

I'm back on here poking around hoping for the exact same answer. Is this forum actually monitored by VirtualBox people. There is at least one other thread asking this question and nobody has responded with any info.

VirtualBOX!! Throw us a frickin' bone here. At least come back with "It won't work and we don't plan to support Blackberry", or "Try this", or "We're working on it".... SOMETHING!

sternebrau · Post by **sternebrau** » 14. Jun 2008, 18:57

I've successfully been able to sync my 8310 with Windows XP SP2 running in VB 1.6. The solution is not to connect directly to a USB cable, but instead use a USB bluetooth dongle. It's not the most elegant solution, but it works enough to get the BB synced successfully.

sadohert · Post by **sadohert** » 1. Jul 2008, 17:52

sternebrau: Thanks very much for following up with your solution. I can confirm that this is working perfectly for me on Ubuntu 7.10, Virtual Box 1.5.6, with a Blackberry Curve 8310. I picked up the "MSI Star Key 2.0" Bluetooth dongle. I set up the VBox USB filter for the device, and initially installed the 3rd Party Bluetooth tools that came with the dongle and was able to pair my device with the XP SP2 guest OS, but could not get the blackberry software to sync. I found this link:
http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.d ... %201545015

Which directed me to NOT use the 3rd Party Bluetooth software. So I uninstalled, rebooted XP, and I was good to go.

Thanks again. Now I'd REALLY like to just sync natively with Ubuntu. But that will be for another day.

sadohert · Post by **sadohert** » 5. Aug 2008, 13:45

Just following up with an issue I encountered. For some reason 2 weeks ago the bluetooth connection with my guest OS stopped working properly. Something at the bluetooth level was happening, but it wasn't fully working. I could see little icons on my device change as if to show that somethign was going on, but the Desktop Software in Windows XP would not pick up on the device. I looked around for ages and it seemed like I was definitely not alone with this issue (although people I were reading about were having this issue connecting to regular native windows installs... not virtualization). Here are the things I tried (out of the many) that *SEEMED* to be helpeful:

-Update the blackberry OS. This is not meant to be a straightforward thing because the carriers control the OS level pretty tightly. If you google BLackberry FOrums there is a site by that name, with device specific forums, that have instructions on doing the OS upgrade.
-Rebooted the whole linux box.
-moved the bluetooth dongle to another USB port.

I really can'tsay which worked because I did things all out of order. But now I'm back in business, and I have an even cooler OS on my device to boot.

sadohert · Post by **sadohert** » 28. Sep 2008, 23:25

Well... this WAS working nicely, then Windows update went off and grabbed new Bluetooth drivers for my Guest XP OS, and now I can't seem to revert back to the Basic Windows bluetooth stack, so its not working for me.

SO, for anyone out there getting this Bluetooth dongle approach... I would start from XP Service Pack TWO, and then do future updates cautiously to make sure you don't end up having your dongle drivers updated...

ShimmyShine · Post by **ShimmyShine** » 30. Sep 2008, 00:23

Since the Admin wanted to lock my topic, considering this ones going no where, can I get some help? Due to this issue, I am considering switching to VMWare.. anyone have any info on how that one works?

Thanks,

Shimmy

erosay · Post by **erosay** » 30. Sep 2008, 11:56

I am also experiencing the same issue, the device is recognized, but the BB Desktop Software will not "Detect" the device. Is VB going to respond to this issue or continue to ignore the problem with BB synchronization. I am one of those unfortunate Palm users that had to convert.

erosay · Post by **erosay** » 1. Oct 2008, 14:15

Is this one of those issues that's going to be ignored?

erosay · Post by **erosay** » 1. Oct 2008, 17:06

I contacted Sun this morning at onlinesupport@sun.com to see whether they are aware of the BB issues; I will pay for Sun support if there is a way to fix the issue. I will post updates as I hear back from Sun.

Post by **Dest** » 1. Oct 2008, 18:14

how are you connecting to the virtual machine? -

I know from another life that the Blackberry software does NOT work across RDP, only console for USB detection... - I kept VNC on my BB Enterprise server and workstation just for this.

It's very possible that it's the same issue..

erosay · Post by **erosay** » 1. Oct 2008, 18:44

I am connecting directly to console not through VNC or RDP

Post by **Dest** » 1. Oct 2008, 21:05

It could very well be though that whatever RIM did to the application that dis-allows usb connectivity via RDP / Remote connections is what's effecting this. IE it's seeing virtualbox's screen as a "remote" connection and disallowing USB access.

Last I talked with RIM about this they claimed it was a security feature to prevent remote people from gaining access to your computer and attaching to yoru RIM device.. Personally i think it was something they just didn't want to correct

erosay · Post by **erosay** » 2. Oct 2008, 00:17

lol, a feature. Well, as I said, I have opened up a ticket with Sun and we will see if we can't get some answers and a resolution to this problem, b/c right now this is a worthless brick to me

jwc · Post by **jwc** » 2. Oct 2008, 05:16

I bought myself a cheap USB bluetooth dongle from DealExtreme (about $5). When it arrives, I hope to get my BlackBerry working with Outlook again. I have a very interesting settup. Kontact syncs with Google Calendar via GCalDaemon and so does Outlook (via Google's official sync software). I have an 8320 Curve and I don't pay for the BlackBerry service, so I can't use Google's BlackBerry applications (I just use straight WiFi with Opera Mini, LogicMail, etc. instead). If this dongle works, I'll be quite happy.

Software virtualization in VMWare is horrible. I can barely get a virtual machine to run smoothly with VMWare when VirtualBox allows me to run two virtual machines with ease (provided I have enough RAM). (I have a T5750 processor, so no VT-X support for me...)

Anyways, I remember reading about this issue a while back on several other posts. I highly doubt that anything will be done about it, if anything can be done at all.

virtualbox.org

Blackberry USB Support

Blackberry USB Support

A solution...

Okay