VirtualBox & docking stations

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d42d01
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VirtualBox & docking stations

Post by d42d01 »

Does anyone have any experience with using USB docking stations (http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Universa ... 191&sr=8-1) along with virtualbox? Any issues?

Thanks,
D
Sasquatch
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Re: VirtualBox & docking stations

Post by Sasquatch »

What do you think yourself? What do you want to accomplish with this? What do you want to do with it?
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d42d01
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Re: VirtualBox & docking stations

Post by d42d01 »

I would think it might work. I searched through the forums and several people have docking stations (Most are normal docking stations) and they have had some minor issues but they did get them working. What I'm trying to accomplish is having the ASUS UX31 laptop connected to a USB docking station. The docking station will be supporting three external monitors(USB, DVI) and a wireless keyboard & mouse. I will also connect an external USB hard drive to the laptop itself(USB3). The external hard drive will have a vmdk file of my old PC.

D
Sasquatch
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Re: VirtualBox & docking stations

Post by Sasquatch »

So the docking stays attached to the Host. Then, why would you think it wouldn't work? VB doesn't care much about attached peripherals. E.g. it doesn't care about the bluetooth adapter I have in my computer, it doesn't care about my phones when they are attached for file transfer on the Host or just charging. Only when you actually want to use something attached to it, will it matter. But monitors, no problem. Keyboard and mouse, as long as the Host works and keeps it, the Guest doesn't care.
Read the Forum Posting Guide before opening a topic.
VirtualBox FAQ: Check this before asking questions.
Online User Manual: A must read if you want to know what we're talking about.
Howto: Install Linux Guest Additions
Howto: Use Shared Folders on Linux Guest
See the Tutorials and FAQ section at the top of the Forum for more guides.
Try searching the forums first with Google and add the site filter for this forum.
E.g. install guest additions site:forums.virtualbox.org

Retired from this Forum since OSSO introduction.
ligurt
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Joined: 1. Jan 2022, 13:52

Re: VirtualBox & docking stations

Post by ligurt »

Sasquatch wrote:So the docking stays attached to the Host. Then, why would you think it wouldn't work? VB doesn't care much about attached peripherals. E.g. it doesn't care about the bluetooth adapter I have in my computer, it doesn't care about my phones when they are attached for file transfer on the Host or just charging. Only when you actually want to use something attached to it, will it matter. But monitors, no problem. Keyboard and mouse, as long as the Host works and keeps it, the Guest doesn't care.

It's evident d42d01 was referring to something attached to the docking, infact the host itself doesn't need it to get the machine installed while viceversa the guest could have the need of using in example the parallel port or even a hardware key attached to it. So the question is: can the guest see the parallel port as native on the host? Or would it be IRQ or DMA troubles?
scottgus1
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Re: VirtualBox & docking stations

Post by scottgus1 »

Rather an old topic to resurrect, but it's a decent question.

The only docking station questions I've seen on the forum are where a VM has trouble when docking or undocking the host. So we probably don't know how many users have no problems between their Virtualbox and their docking station.

However, there could be a few things that could make using a docking station with Virtualbox painful. VirtualBox's hardening project has demonstrated how seemingly completely different programs inject their dll's into other programs. A docking station needs drivers, since USB, audio, video, network, etc, need to be redirected during docking/undocking. And Virtualbox uses these systems. If there is an incompatibility between Virtualbox and a driver, then switching dock status could be troublesome to the VMs.

And serial/parallel ports aren't plug-n-play. A VM could have trouble if its host-connected orts suddenly disappear.

If you intend to use Virtualbox only while the host is on the dock or only while off the dock, you'd probably be OK. But you might have trouble changing dock status while a VM is running, depending on what host devices the VM is connected to.
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