Posts tagged linux

So alright, yea, I own a Microsoft Zune.

I do really like it as well! (it’s really quite loud even if the antenna for the radio sucks!)

However I’ve recently decided that running Microsoft Windows just wasn’t going to cut it any longer, and with the fit and finish of Ubuntu I haven’t even had a wanting for anything Windows related other then getting music (and more importantly my netcasts and audiobooks) on my zune (well and photoshop…).

Most applications do recognize that I have a media player plugged in (works great for my Sony PSP however!) but being the Zune’s file content is encrypted in a fashion which renders it moot to try moving or deleting content from it that I had to find another way.

Enter in VirtualBox.

Now to be clear I’m talking about the actual VirtualBox from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads not the one available from the repositories in Ubuntu and I’ll get to why in a moment.

You’ll also need a valid copy of windows. Any flavor that will run the Zune software. I’m using a stripped down version of XP that I’ve cleaned up and slipstreamed using nLite.

Now download your version of VirtualBox using the above link and install it. Ubuntu users will just double click the .deb file and enter in your password and it will begin.  The reason we’re using the official (ie: Non-free as in speach not beer) is that there is no USB support in the “OpenSource” version that Ubuntu host’s in it’s repo’s and yea, your going to need USB support.

Once it’s installed we need to setup a new Virtual OS inside of it. There’s TONS of post’s out there that will explain how to setup a virtual box install so I won’t go into detail other then to say that after you have Windows installed and shutdown you need to enable USB sharing by going to: Settings>USB and clicking the USB plug icon with a “+” symbol in it and selecting the Zune that you already have plugged into your pc.

Now of course you should have already installed the Zune Software inside of your virtual os (I shouldn’t have to tell you that should I?) and whatever other software you wish to use. Also the “Shared folders” inside of VirtualBox is quite handy as well. (I’ll touch on them a little later as well)

Now here’s where I might actually be able to save a few of you some headache’s. You’ll probably find out that when you go to the Zune software it’s not able to connect to your Zune even though the linux side see’s it just fine and it’s listed in your device manager on windows, the Zune software keeps telling you to try dissconnecting and reconnecting your player but it still doesn’t recognize it. DON’T bother trying to do that, it’ll just keep returning the same error. Instead, on the bottom of the VirtualBox window you’ll see that same USB icon. Right click it and un-select your Zune and then re-select it. (also make sure if your Zune is protected with a pin number you’ve already typed that in successfully.)

Now the Zune software should see and have connected to your Zune player!

As for the “Shared Folders” Setting in VirtualBox it’s handy to move music over to your virtual OS instead of trying to figure out other ways and you can, after setting them up inside of the VirtualBox settings, they are located at “\\Vboxsvr” or step by step, open up “My Computer” click on the “Folders” Button, then browse in the file tree to: My Network Places>Entire Network>VirtualBox Shared Folders>\\Vboxsvr. Here’s a screenshot for reference.

I hope that this has helped! I was tired of having a dual boot system and having to restart my laptop every time I wanted to update my Zune (it was messing with my uptime bragging rights in the IRC channel ) now I just shutdown the virtual os instead and keep on trucking!

Thank you SO much Oracle/Sun for making VirtualBox so great and best of all free as in beer!