Hi,
I am running VMware Player 4.0.2 with Win XP as guest under Lupu 5.2.8. I want to use a USB printer from the guest system (Windows GDI printer without Linux driver, this is my main reason to have a Windows VM). When I plug in the USB cable, Windows recognizes the printer and shows "Device Ready", but when I print to the device, nothing happens.
I investigated a bit with USB memorysticks.
When I plug them in while focus is on the VMware guest, VMware asks me whether it should remove the host driver in order to get full access to the USB device. When I accept, the Puppy desktop symbol for the USB stick vanishes. But after approx. 4 seconds it reappears, and at the same time, the USB entry in the windows device manager changes to "Error". The memory stick never shows up as a drive in Windows. I think the reason is the same as with the USB printer.
It seems to me that puppy is stealing the device back from VM. I would like to disable this automatic process, if possible for USB devices only, but couldn't find out how to do this, or what exactly is monitoring the USB ports and installing drivers.
UDEV? Event-Manager?
I tried to disable the event manager, but while the desktop symbol doesn't appear on plugin, the stealing of the device still happens.
Did anyone succeed in using USB devices in VMware under Puppy, or has any idea how to get this working?
Any input is appreciated.
Christian
Can't use USB devices from inside VMware
VMware support info
I found the following regarding USB devices on the VMware support site:
I can't find /etc/hotplug on my puppy system. What is Puppy using instead? How can I configure that?Device Control on a Linux Host
On Linux hosts, guest operating systems can use devices that are not already in use by the host — that is, devices that are not claimed by a host operating system driver.
If your device is in use by the host and you try to connect it to the guest using the VM > Removable Devices menu, a dialog box appears, informing you that there is a problem connecting to the device.
To disconnect the device from the host, you must unload the device driver. You can unload the driver manually as root (su) using the rmmod command. Or, if the driver was automatically loaded by hotplug, you can disable it in the hotplug configuration files in the /etc/hotplug directory. See your Linux distribution's documentation for details on editing these configuration files.
A related issue sometimes affects devices that rely on automatic connection (as PDAs often do).
If you have successfully used autoconnection to connect the device to your virtual machine, then experience problems with the connection to the device, take the following steps:
Disconnect and reconnect the device. You can either unplug it physically, then plug it back in or use the VM > Removable Devices menu to disconnect it and reconnect it.
If you see a dialog box warning that the device is in use, disable it in the hotplug configuration files in the /etc/hotplug directory.
First progress
Following the recommendations from VMware I got the memory stick to work inside the VM in the following way:
1. Plug in the stick
2. Type "rmmod usb_storage" in a console window
3. Attach usb stick to VM using the VMware player menu
After using the stick from Win XP and detaching from VMware, I have to unplug and replug the stick physically to see it again in Puppy.
I think there will be a similar way to get the printer to work, I will investigate and report here.
Still there remains the question whether there ist a better way to do that along the lines of "hotplug configuration file".
Can it be done with udev rules?
1. Plug in the stick
2. Type "rmmod usb_storage" in a console window
3. Attach usb stick to VM using the VMware player menu
After using the stick from Win XP and detaching from VMware, I have to unplug and replug the stick physically to see it again in Puppy.
I think there will be a similar way to get the printer to work, I will investigate and report here.
Still there remains the question whether there ist a better way to do that along the lines of "hotplug configuration file".
Can it be done with udev rules?
USB Printer
OK, the USB printer can be used after issuing
from the shell, and then connecting it to the vm via menu.
When I mounted the usb stick once and then try to connect it to the vm via rmmod usb_storage, I get an error saying "Module in use", even after unmounting the stick under Puppy.
Does somebody know how to remove the module in such a case? I don't want to reboot puppy each time I switch the stick from puppy to VM.
Code: Select all
rmmod usblp
When I mounted the usb stick once and then try to connect it to the vm via rmmod usb_storage, I get an error saying "Module in use", even after unmounting the stick under Puppy.
Does somebody know how to remove the module in such a case? I don't want to reboot puppy each time I switch the stick from puppy to VM.