An unanswered question regarding Virtualbox

NicoretteJunkie · Post by **NicoretteJunkie** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:20 am

Hey everyone! I've just spent about 3 hours browsing through this particular forum and trying to fix my problem, but apparently my problem is unique. I have 2 computers, one running XP and another running Ubuntu 9.04. I wanted my MJ to be running through the linux box because I use my XP box more than anything (Crossover slows down my already slow Linux box, it's much older)

Long story short, my Dad the Nuclear Engineer/super Linux Junkie (Even has the penguin tattooed on his leg) told me to install Virtualbox and run the MJ that way. MJ never worked. The USB support is set up, the VB OBVIOUSLY recognizes that there's a USB device attached, because I can see a grayed out text of the MJ in the USB option under the devices tab. But it does not load.

I told him about this problem, he suggested downgrading from VB 3.0 to 2.2, so I did so, but still to no avail. The XP that I have inside my VB still won't recognise it.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? I'd be eternally grateful for some help here, folks. Thanks in advance!

Darkman90808 · Post by **Darkman90808** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:56 am

NicoretteJunkie.... last year when I had a lot more spare time, I tried fooling around with Ubuntu and VB. Had the two running with a virtual version of Windows XP on it as well. Bottom line is, I never did find a configuration to work with my MJ.

I know others have but for me, the whole Ubuntu experiment was more aggravation than it was worth. Also, I think folks have had more luck with VM Ware than VB.

Good luck

gnimsh · Post by **gnimsh** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:40 pm

And just to make you feel better, I had the same issue.

So first, a few things. The easy fix: make sure you don't have virtualbox-OSE (open source edition) installed. This edition does not have USB support.

Next, you need to add a specific line to your fstab file. To open this file, open up a command prompt by hitting alt+f2. Type gksu gedit /etc/fstab and hit enter. Alternatively you can you can type gksu gedit /etc/fstab in the terminal as well. gksu is the type of sudo command to use for the gui.

Now that you have fstab open, add this line: none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=46,devmode=664 0 0

Save the file, and close it. Restart your computer.

This was all I had to do for my USB devices to no longer be grayed out.

If you still have troubles, refer to these 2 links:
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 7&start=15
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 77&start=0

Darkman90808 · Post by **Darkman90808** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:19 am

gnimsh... thanks, I'll give it a go when I have some time. I remembered that you had success with this, but didn't want to mention you specifically by name. Again, thanks. I'm sure others appreciate it as well.

gnimsh · Post by **gnimsh** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 3:20 pm

Darkman, you can mention me by name any time you want! :p

gnimsh · Post by **gnimsh** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:37 am

So, I'm now trying my luck with virtualbox 2 and 3 in hardy heron (as I have previously only used VMware Server in 8.04, and VB3 in jaunty) and I have had no luck getting the MJ to work in my XP VM. It just will not launch no matter what I do.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

billybag · Post by **billybag** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 11:03 pm

same

havent tried editing my fstab though. i will try again tomorrow maybe.

I really hope that a linux port does come, and soon.

Hondo · Post by **Hondo** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 4:56 am

Did you install the VirtualBox Add-On?

The VirtualBox Add-On has drivers for stuff to work in the VirtualBox environment.

P.S. Give your dad a *High 5* from me for his penguin tattoo. Tell him I have Tux (the Linux Penguin) tattooed on my arm.

killabx · Post by **killabx** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:55 pm

I was able to get it my MagicJack working with VirtualBox OSE (ver 3.0.12r54655) and Debian 5.0 (Lenny), but I have issues with the audio. The best way to explain it is that it's "choppy", with a regular 3Hz periodic dropout of the audio. Here are the specs of my machine:

AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz Socket AM2 45W
4GB RAM
GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2H Motherboard
Western Digital WD10EACS 1TB SATA Hard Drive

I installed Windows XP (Home Edition) on another machine with the same processor and motherboard but 2GB RAM and it worked fine. There's something about the VirtualBox installation that's just not working right for me. When I look at the processor usage during a call (using top on the linux host), it is anywhere from 45% to 60% on average, on both processors. Idle, it is anywhere from 30% to 40%, but I'm watching it now and it sometimes jumps up to 60% with Windows completely idle. It doesn't make sense to me. When I look at the task manager in Windows, the processes are all pretty much idle except the "System Idle Process". This machine should be plenty fast for Windows XP, and from what I've read of VirtualBox, it should be able to run at nearly full speed. So I'm really not sure what's going on.

I also tried using KVM, and eventually got it to recognize and install the MagicJack software, but it was so slow that you couldn't even dial.

For the record, here's what I did to install Windows XP on VirtualBox. I have it installed on a headless machine, so it's all through the command line:

Code: Select all

  - Install packages: virtualbox-ose
  - Create the directory
     mkdir /VirtualBox
  - Edit the ~/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml file and set the defaultMachineFolder parameter to /VirtualBox
  - Create virtual machine:
      VBoxManage createvm --name "Windows XP" --register
  - Change the os type
      VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --ostype WindowsXP
  - Set the memory amount
      VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --memory 512
  - Set the boot order (if desired)
      VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --boot1 dvd
      VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --boot2 disk
  - Create the virtual hard disk
      VBoxManage createhd --filename WindowsXP.vdi --size 10000 --register
  - Attach the virtual hard disk to the virtual machine
      VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --hda "WindowsXP.vdi"
  - Register the Windows XP CD (Run from directory where .iso file is located)
      VBoxManage registerimage dvd WINXP.iso
  - "Insert" the CD into the virtual machine
      VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --dvd /VirtualBox/WINXP.iso
  - Set the network interface
      VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --nic1 nat
  - Set the MAC address
      VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --macaddress1 545211FFDDFF
  - Enable USB support
      VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --usb on
      VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --usbehci on
  - Create USB filter for Magicjack
      VBoxManage usbfilter add 1 --target "Windows XP" --name MagicJack --vendorid 06e6 --productid c200
  - Run the virtual machine
      VBoxHeadless --startvm "Windows XP"
  - Connect to virtual machine using Windows Remote Desktop Connection or rdesktop

I was keeping notes while doing the installation, but I might have left something out when troubleshooting. I know that the first line, installing the virtualbox-ose package is incorrect. I started with that, and then later went to www.virtualbox.org and followed the directions on how to install version 3. (The default version didn't have USB support)

zerofossilfuel · Post by **zerofossilfuel** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 10:12 pm

I have gotten it to work using VirtualBox in a XP VM. See my post here:

http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/magi ... t7984.html

The only reason one might need to edit the fstab is to enable USB support on VBox OSE. Don't bother. Just go directly to Sun and register the non-crippled version with a bogus email. There's no validation.

Best
Z