[Solved] - USB iPod NOT greyed BUT not in explorer / iTunes

[zeneca]

Using:
Ubuntu 9.10 (latest version) with
VirtualBox 3.0.10 release 54097 (latest version)
Running within VirtualBox Windows XP - all up to date as regards service packs / windows update

As in the screen shot (Screenshot.png) attached my ipod can be 'seen' by VirtualBox (see bottom right) but does not show up in windows XP's explorer (file manager) & so correspondingly does not show up in iTunes - ie windows XP cannot 'see' the ipod that is connected via the USB port.



These are the various things I've tried via advice found via google, this virtualbox.org forum, Sun's virtualbox FAQ & manual to get me this far:
The Ubuntu user I am logged in as is a member of the group vboxusers and the member of another group usbusers.
The Ubuntu user account I am logged in has assigned privileges to 'Use VirtualBox'
I've tried starting VirtualBox from the command line using VBOX_USB=USBFS VirtualBox - this runs VirtualBox but makes no difference at all.
I've tried running : sudo mount -t usbfs usbfs /proc/bus/usb
which ran fine, but has made no difference at all.

Second screen shot attached - Screenshot2.png - shows my VirtualBox USB ipod settings:


Has anybody got any other suggestions as to what I can try next.
Any requests for more information are welcome.
Anything constructive will be most welcome / I'll give it a go & feedback to here the outcome.

[Etepetete]

You are experiencing normal behavior. When the attached device is available to the guest it will not show up in the host until the guest has been shut down. You cannot access an attached device from the guest and the host at the same time. If you want to access your iPod from your host while your guest is running, either remove the USB filter from the guest settings or leave the filter and deactivate the USB support. You only have an either or possibility with the USB filter.

[zeneca]

You are experiencing normal behavior. When the attached device is available to the guest it will not show up in the host until the guest has been shut down. You cannot access an attached device from the guest and the host at the same time. If you want to access your iPod from your host while your guest is running, either remove the USB filter from the guest settings or leave the filter and deactivate the USB support. You only have an either or possibility with the USB filter.

Thanks Etepetete for your reply.

I don't need to access the ipod from my host (Ubuntu OS) when the guest (Windows XP OS) is running - as soon as the guest - XP - starts loading then access to the ipod from Ubuntu OS disappears (as can be seen in the two screen shots below) & this is fine - but my problem is that access to the ipod ( it is effectively an external drive as well as an ipod) does not appear with in the guest (XP) applications windows explorer or iTunes.

Before running XP within VirtualBox the icon for the iPod is on the Ubuntu desktop:


As soon as XP is started up within VirtualBox the icon for the iPod is on the Ubuntu desktop disappears: ( this is fine but I want to access the iPod within the guess OS (XP) and am not interested in accessing the iPod from the host (Ubuntu OS))


So it seems to me that 'or leave the filter and deactivate the USB support.' is already automatically happening.

[Etepetete]

Okay, now that I understand the problem correctly, I can only suggest following the directions contained here: http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 590#p88826.
Your problem is or has been discussed often enough in this forum. Good luck finding your solution.

[zeneca]

The ipod is right now syncing with the itunes library I have on another USB based Western Digital external hard drive - perfectly - within Windows XP running as a guest of the host Ubuntu 9.10 using VirtualBox -

Which overall means I can now use iTunes & my ipod classic etc with Ubuntu 9.10

If your currently having problems similar to my old one here your problems may? be different, so this solution may? not directly work for you (but then it might!) - so I am going to give you the full information as to how I got it all working for me from the starting point of this entry ( ie the USB can be seen in VirtualBox but not in the guest Windows XP OS)

I am using the very latest version of VirtualBox - VirtualBox 3.0.10 for Ubuntu 9.10 ("Karmic Koala") i386 (ie for an intel processor) under the PUEL licence ie via http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads - that is downloading the VirtualBox binary (program) from the options at the top of this page. The open source version available at the bottom of this download page does not include support for using USB ports - so don't select /use this is you want to use a USB connection. The PUEL is still free (as in money) for non commercial home use (see the wikipedia entry for VirtualBox for more information on this licence)

My problems were resolved by initially following the advice given by Etepetete in his comment above, this led me to google ipod site:forums.virtualbox.org and deciding to work through each page returned - the first page http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17288 gave me the clue I needed - this suggested running 'itunes diagnostics' & that the problem was with running USB 2.0 devices - one of the menu options in iTunes is 'itunes diagnostics'- so I selected this -

Remember at this point the ipod could be seen in VirtualBox (ie not greyed out - to get to this point the Ubuntu user you are logged in as must be assigned to the various groups etc - as in my first post here) but note : I could not see the ipod in Windows Explorer or iTunes.

iTunes diagnostics led to a display saying the ipod was not found & a help button - pressing this led to an apple ipod advice web page full of help for resolving these problems http://support.apple.com /kb/TS1369 & this led to me running - Click the Start menu and click Run. Type “devmgmt.msc” and click OK - which showed windows XP device manager. (there are other helpful links on the apple web site for Mac & other guest operating systems)

In windows XP device manager looking not just under USB devices but under other sections I found one device with a ? in yellow by it (indicating a problem with it) - right clicking this led to discovering that this USB device did not have a driver - click a get a driver button led to a microsoft wizard to go & get a driver for this device (I believe it found it on the Internet). This led to the drivers for the USB 2.0 ports being automatically installed after 5 minutes of activity & since then windows XP programs (explorer & iTunes) have been able to see all USB 2.0 devices with out a problem & work with them just fine - problem solved & all is working 100% as expected / perfectly

I'll add some screen shots below of my adventures described above - a picture tells a thousands words kinda reasoning:





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