Workstation 6 + Linux + iPhone

[jpreed]

Hey all,

I wasn't planning on getting an iPhone, but some peer pressure ensued and now I have one.

I've been trying to activate it for a couple days now using a Linux guest and XP SP2, but have had no success. The basic problem is that when I plug the device in, Windows chimes with its little "USB device connected" sound, but iTunes doesn't list the device in its device list. (I am therefore willing to chalk this up to a software problem inside the guest, but...)

I started with an XP SP 2 VM running under Workstation 5; had the same problems there (and in fact, got a warning about "slower than expected speeds," so I'm assuming that was the lack of USB 2.0 support in 5.x), so I installed WS 6, upgraded the virtual hardware, and tried again.

This time, when I first plug in the iPhone, Windows says "New Hardware Found: iPhone," and installs drivers. Again, I can plug/unplug the phone, and Windows beeps, but iTunes sees nothing.

Some relevant log files:

from vmware.log

Jul 01 15:58:15.176: vmx| USB: Found device [name:Apple\ iPhone vid:05ac pid:129

0 path:4/3 speed:high family:vendor,hid,imaging]

Jul 01 15:58:15.176: vmx| VMXVmdbLoadUsbDevices: New set of 1 USB devices

Other times I connected the phone, I've gotten this:

Jul 01 03:31:54.350: vmx| USB: Autoconnecting e004000405ac1290

Jul 01 03:31:54.351: vmx| USB: Found device [name:Apple\ iPhone vid:05ac pid:129

0 path:4/3 speed:high family:vendor,hid,imaging]

Jul 01 03:31:54.351: vmx| VMXVmdbLoadUsbDevices: New set of 1 USB devices

Jul 01 03:31:54.873: vmx| SOCKET 177 client closed connection

Jul 01 03:31:55.873: vmx| EHCI: setup data packet over run 8 0

Jul 01 03:31:55.884: vmx| EhciNewBulk: tdlengths = 18924, pipesize = 16392

Jul 01 03:31:55.886: vmx| EhciNewBulk: tdlengths = 18924, pipesize = 16392

Jul 01 03:31:55.888: vmx| EhciNewBulk: tdlengths = 18924, pipesize = 16392

Jul 01 03:31:55.889: vmx| EhciNewBulk: tdlengths = 18924, pipesize = 16392

Jul 01 03:31:55.891: vmx| EhciNewBulk: tdlengths = 18924, pipesize = 16392

Jul 01 03:31:55.892: vmx| EhciNewBulk: tdlengths = 18924, pipesize = 16392

...

Jul 01 03:31:59.346: vmx| EhciNewBulk: tdlengths = 18924, pipesize = 16392

Jul 01 03:31:59.348: vmx| EhciNewBulk: tdlengths = 18924, pipesize = 16392

Jul 01 03:31:59.349: vmx| EhciNewBulk: tdlengths = 18924, pipesize = 16392

Jul 01 03:31:59.351: vmx|

Jul 01 03:31:59.351: vmx| <<< Log Throttled >>

from dmesg:

usb 4-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6

usb 4-4: configuration #1 chosen from 3 choices

usb 4-4: USB disconnect, address 6

A couple of questions:

When I did the upgrade from WS 5 -> 6, the VM saw the changes and wanted to reboot due to "new hardware." I'm wondering if because this copy of XP was installed on a VM that had no USB 2 support if something inside the VM is grabbing it as a USB 1 device and preventing iTunes from seeing it (or something similar).

Which is to ask: would re-installing Windows cleanly under Workstation 6 help this problem?

I'd really like to get this working under VMware, so I don't have to have a computer lying around \*just* for my phone. 😕

TIA,

preed

Message was edited by:

RDPetruska

Removed emoticon from subject line

[philly_guy]

The rumor goin' round town is that the USB subsystem in the Linux kernel has issues that has to be worked around... which could explain why both VirtualBox, Xen and VMware all flake out with the iPhone.

Seems odd, but I wonder if it has anything to do with USB devices that support LUNs, which I suspect the iPhone does. How else could you produce a USB device that appears to the computer as a digital camera, but then also have an IFS that's mountable? Multiple channels, duh... a USB feature that is rarely used .

I haven't heard anybody using FreeBSD (win4bsd) to try to sync to the iPhone with that to see if it works, although I'm scared of what I would lose in order to move off Linux and on to FreeBSD, and I'm not even certain how reliable win4bsd actually is... whether it can run some of my strange Windows apps. Most of the popular open source Linux apps are on BSD, especially compiz and evolution, but I'm a heavy Linux user with lots of apps... I'm sure I'll lose something just to try. I'm not 100% positive that all my Linux binaries will execute on FreeBSD either... like all the hundreds of .so that I got.

If the Linux kernel is the reason why iPhone support is non-existent, then maybe the issue isn't there when running FreeBSD which has a different USB subsystem than Linux? Wish I had the time to try.

No matter what system I have, I would have to keep Windows around. I do some development with SAP NetWeaver, which is basically Eclipse plus a TON (and I mean a TON) of custom plugins which SAP hooks on to Eclipse. I could move all that to a server at work and rdesktop into work and use it from there, perhaps. I also use stamps.com (Windows only) and the occasional need to use IE to check website compatibility--I have no need for Windows. IES4Linux does get IE to come up under WINE for me, but (surprise) the fonts are all askew so rendering is not realistic to what IE actually looks like on a normal Windows box. DHTML+Javascript is also painfully slow under WINE (try Googlemaps with it). Gotta keep a virtual environment around in any case.

My native Windows environment is gone. I deleted it to get some hard drive space. I last booted natively sometime back in October. :smileygrin: So now I can't even sync my iPhone at all anymore. I buy music on the iPhone itself, so I have no iTunes installed anywhere. I can borrow a laptop in case I get a critical iPhone update I need to apply.

In the Mac world, Parallels and VMware Fusion both support iPhone. Sad, huh?

Maybe if George Bush would give me a huge rebate check I would actually buy a high-end Mac system, but I can't. I'll have to settle with my high end PC. :smileyblush:

VMware... you use to update the host on almost a bi-weekly basis. Now it's been months since a patch. Are we gonna see a patch come down for the iPhone anytime soon???

[nate_sammons]

Well, we're creeping up on 8 months for this thread.... any news from VMWare? I assume the gaping void is still not responding. Great product support guys! Wooo!

[at165db]

So here is what I finally did...

Bought a Mac Book Pro.

I will say, VMWare Fusion is pretty slick, but I'm tempted to buy parallels instead 😛

[at165db]

yeah.. so I'm running parallels.

Good luck to everyone else.

[nate_sammons]

Are you able to run Linux as the host, XP as the guest and sync the iPhone? If so, please let us know what Linux distro, etc. Thanks!

[at165db]

No. I run Mac OSX as the host, and XP as a guest via VM's Mac competitor. Parallels only runs on a Mac. I gave up on vmware.

[StLedger]

I just want to add my name on this very long discussion. I also have this problem and am awaiting anxiously for a fix from VMWare. I don't have the luxury right now of being able to change hardware/OS so VMWare it is for me. Unbelievable that this problem is ongoing after such a long time.

Come on VMWare.. get the finger out !

[KevinG]

Use VMware Workstation 6.0.3 with your iPhone

[at165db]

wow! Awesome. I'll give it a try today.

Thanks!

[at165db]

Looks like it works.

2.6.23.15-137.fc8

[joeposter]

Any plan to port this fix to VMware Server?

[wmorris]

Is anyone running XP Pro as Host, XP Pro as Guest, and getting iPod Touch to work in the guest with 6.0.3? I got excited when I saw that 6.0.3 supposedly fixed the iPhone problem, but my Touch still won't connect to the XP Pro guest. I see an Apple Audio Device listed in the USB Devices menu, and when I select it, it connects for a brief moment, but then it disconnects and replaces the Apple Audio Device entry with a USB Device 0000:0000. Selecting that one doesn't solve the problem, and the menu item reverts to Apple Audio Device. Each time I select one or the other I get the boop-dee-beep noises and the Touch does its little scratchy noise thing, but it won't stay connected. Very frustrating.

[Merkleman_11235]

I can confirm that version 6.0.3 of vmware works with the iphone!!!! It was

a long wait but well worth it! Thanks a lot guys!!!!

B

On Tue, Mar 18, 2008 at 7:59 PM, wmorris <communities-emailer@vmware.com

[dweazle]

Sweet! It also works with the new VMware player 2.0.3 (on a Ubuntu 64bit host, WinXP 32bit guest)! Woohoo, finally!!! :smileylaugh:

See attachment for proof if you can't believe it

(Mm, they didn't mention this fix in the release notes.)

Time to update, everyone!

[dweazle]

Update: Don't try to update the firmware from VMware! It doesn't work. sigh

[nate_sammons]

Are you F'ing kidding me? It's useless if I can't update the iPhone firmware through vmware.... did VMWare not test that when they tested their "fix" ??? Maybe I can wait another nine months for that fix. What a crock.

[ivanxx]

Not working for me

My virtual XP says I ain't got any high speed USB hosts installed in my (virtual) machine. And cannot modify it with the player...

Anyone can tell me if I can modify the .vmx file in anyway for those USB hosts to be availbale to the system?

Thanks!

PS 9 months for this to be released? Is it a boy or a girl?

[dweazle]

Ivanxx, put this in your vmx file:

ehci.present="TRUE"

[ivanxx]

Thanks a lot! It is working like a charm now!. I suppose the firmware upgrade problem is due to the iPhone restarting and vmware not catching and reconnecting to the guest system... tricky thing...

But for contacts, calendars, it is working at last! It's great when things work

Cheers!

[KevinG]

You may want to post more information about your configuration since it's working for other's.

You most likely just have a configuration issue.