VirtualBox: USB devices grayed out on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

Posted on April 24th, 2011 webmaster No comments          Print

I bought a new GPS recently (Garmin nuvi 1350LMT) and wanted to upload new maps to it using Garmin’s MapSource software.  However, the software only supports Windows and Mac so I had no choice but to do it on Windows.  Since I already have a Windows XP virtual machine running on VirtualBox (which I use for work as our company’s remote access software doesn’t support Linux either) I figured I could probably just allow the VM to access the host’s USB devices.

This is very easy to do on VirtualBox, you just go to your VM’s settings -> USB -> Enable USB/USB 2.0 controllers, which is probably already set by default.  To use USB 2.0 you will need to download and install the VirtualBox Extension Pack.

Now the issue I ran into was when I tried to attach the USB device to my VM.  The device was detected but the option was grayed out.  This turned out to be just insufficient permission.  To allow your account to be able to do this simply go to System -> Administration -> Users and Groups.  Then select your account, click Advanced Settings, click the User Privileges tab, then check Use VirtualBox virtualization solution.  Log out and log back in and you should now be able to attach USB devices to your VM! MapSource was able to detect my nuvi and I was able to send map data to it.

Score with Virtualization

Posted on February 24th, 2009 webmaster No comments          Print

We just got back from the Citrix virtualization seminar in Washington D.C.  The seminar was very informative with live demos of their products.  They pretty much covered all their virtualization products and how they work together: XenApp (application virtualization), XenDesktop (desktop virtualization), and XenServer (server virtualization).  They also had three of their customers come in to share their experiences with Citrix virtualization technologies.

Now for the free stuff.  Attendees received a small bag (man purse?), a notepad, a pen, and a 1GB flash drive.  Citrix XenServer is also now free with XenMotion (live migration) and XenCenter (let’s see how VMware responds to this ).  Picture of the free stuff below.

Free Stuff

Citrix Virtualization Event

Posted on February 16th, 2009 webmaster No comments          Print

Our team is attending this event next week in Washington D.C.  Click here to register.  It’s free!

Score with Virtualization

Date: 2/24/2009
Time: 9:00 am EDT – 3:00 pm EDT
Location:
555 12th St NW
Washington, DC
Hosted by: Citrix Systems Inc.
Venue: ESPN Zone

Agenda

9:00am Registration, breakfast and partner networking
9:30am Opening remarks
10:00am Virtualization Today
10:30am Dynamic Demos
12:30pm Lunch with roundtable discussions
1:30pm Customer panel with moderator intro and Q&A
2:30pm Closing remarks, evaluations, and raffles

More info here: http://www.citrix.com/English/NE/events/event.asp?eventID=1685694