Kubuntu 7.10, VMWare and USB

Submitted by Falken on

To enable USB devices on a Kubuntu host to be used by guest operating systems in VMWare server 1, you need to two things.

  1. Make sure Linux hasn't loaded a module for the device
    Compare the output of 'lsmod' before and after connecting the USB device (for the first time after a reboot), or watch '/var/log/messages' for clues.
    If a module is being loaded, you can remember to 'rmmod moduleName' before starting or if you will never use the device under Linux, create a new file called /etc/modprode.d/blacklist-somethingUniqueAndObvious.conf with the contents 'blacklist moduleName'.
  2. Make sure a special file system VMWare needs to use to find USB devices is running
    Run 'mount -t usbfs /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb' now and either put that in /etc/rc.local or add a line to /etc/fstab:
    usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs auto 0 0

(don't ask about VMWare server 2 beta 1. It installs, says it's running, doesn't log any failures but isn't actually listening on any ports. Stupid thing) 

Sections

Submitted by Falken on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 15:27

Permalink

My NavMan sat. nav. has module name 'ipaq', and my Sony Ericsson P990 mobile was 'cdc_acm'.

Tom