Vista - Using a network USB hub for a virtual machine?

03-09-2009

I have a question regarding the use of USB devices in VirtualPC. I
know that USB is not emulated in the VPC2007 hardware so normally it
would not be possible to use such devices in a virtual machine.
But now I have come across a nifty networked USB hub from Belkin:
http://www.belkin.com/networkusbhub/

It seems like this is a product that uses TCP/IP networking to connect
to a USB device using some translation software from Belkin (a driver
of sorts) to handle the bridge to a PC. Apparently any USB device
attached to the hub can be connected to from several different PC:s on
the network, but only one at a time, using TCP/IP.

Since my virtual machines have excellent networking capabilities it
would open up new avenues of software testing if this product could be
used.

So the question now (before I shell out the $99) is:

Has anyone using VPC2007 virtual machines gotten this to work?

If so did it also work with USB connected software protection dongles
(which is my main headache when testing software in a virtualized
environment)?

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

03-09-2009

On Mar 9, 7:14*am, Bo Berglund <bobergl...@xxxxxx> wrote:

Quote:

> I have a question regarding the use of USB devices in VirtualPC. I
> know that USB is not emulated in the VPC2007 hardware so normally it
> would not be possible to use such devices in a virtual machine.
> But now I have come across a nifty networked USB hub from Belkin:http://www.belkin.com/networkusbhub/
>
> It seems like this is a product that uses TCP/IP networking to connect
> to a USB device using some translation software from Belkin (a driver
> of sorts) to handle the bridge to a PC. Apparently any USB device
> attached to the hub can be connected to from several different PC:s on
> the network, but only one at a time, using TCP/IP.
>
> Since my virtual machines have excellent networking capabilities it
> would open up new avenues of software testing if this product could be
> used.
>
> So the question now (before I shell out the $99) is:
>
> Has anyone using VPC2007 virtual machines gotten this to work?
>
> If so did it also work with USB connected software protection dongles
> (which is my main headache when testing software in a virtualized
> environment)?
>
> --
>
> Bo Berglund (Sweden)

Any reason why you don't want to use VirtualBox/Vmware Player/Vmware
Workstation before shelling out money for a piece of hardware that
should be part of the emulation software anyway?

03-10-2009

On Mon, 9 Mar 2009 17:54:52 -0700 (PDT), ronald.phillips@xxxxxx
wrote:

Quote:

>On Mar 9, 7:14*am, Bo Berglund <bobergl...@xxxxxx> wrote:

Quote:

>> I have a question regarding the use of USB devices in VirtualPC. I
>> know that USB is not emulated in the VPC2007 hardware so normally it
>> would not be possible to use such devices in a virtual machine.
>> But now I have come across a nifty networked USB hub from Belkin:http://www.belkin.com/networkusbhub/
>>
>> It seems like this is a product that uses TCP/IP networking to connect
>> to a USB device using some translation software from Belkin (a driver
>> of sorts) to handle the bridge to a PC. Apparently any USB device
>> attached to the hub can be connected to from several different PC:s on
>> the network, but only one at a time, using TCP/IP.
>>
>> Since my virtual machines have excellent networking capabilities it
>> would open up new avenues of software testing if this product could be
>> used.
>>
>> So the question now (before I shell out the $99) is:
>>
>> Has anyone using VPC2007 virtual machines gotten this to work?
>>
>> If so did it also work with USB connected software protection dongles
>> (which is my main headache when testing software in a virtualized
>> environment)?
>>
>> --
>>
>> Bo Berglund (Sweden)

>
>Any reason why you don't want to use VirtualBox/Vmware Player/Vmware
>Workstation before shelling out money for a piece of hardware that
>should be part of the emulation software anyway?

Because I should have posted on the virtual server NG instead...

Fact is I am really trying to get a grip on how customers using
virtualized servers can run our software on such servers. We use
Safenet Sentinel SuperPro dongles for protection and there is nowhere
to plug them into a virtual server guest windows server...
VPC2007 is close enough to VS2005 in this respect that I thought I
would get more responses here. But I did not create a post interesting
enough, it seems like.

Concerning my own testing:
1) When testing our software I use a build thta bypasses the dongle
checks. Not possible to send to customers though...

2) When I test or use software from others, which use USB, I use
VMWare Workstation 6.5 on my laptop. Works just fine, but wouldn't in
the server scenario above since the USB hardware is not available on
the host metal...

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

03-10-2009

On Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:26:39 +0100, Bo Berglund <boberglund@xxxxxx>
wrote:

Quote:

>On Mon, 9 Mar 2009 17:54:52 -0700 (PDT), ronald.phillips@xxxxxx
>wrote:
>

Quote:

>>On Mar 9, 7:14*am, Bo Berglund <bobergl...@xxxxxx> wrote:

Quote:

>>> I have a question regarding the use of USB devices in VirtualPC. I
>>> know that USB is not emulated in the VPC2007 hardware so normally it
>>> would not be possible to use such devices in a virtual machine.
>>> But now I have come across a nifty networked USB hub from Belkin:http://www.belkin.com/networkusbhub/
>>>
>>> It seems like this is a product that uses TCP/IP networking to connect
>>> to a USB device using some translation software from Belkin (a driver
>>> of sorts) to handle the bridge to a PC. Apparently any USB device
>>> attached to the hub can be connected to from several different PC:s on
>>> the network, but only one at a time, using TCP/IP.
>>>
>>> Since my virtual machines have excellent networking capabilities it
>>> would open up new avenues of software testing if this product could be
>>> used.
>>>
>>> So the question now (before I shell out the $99) is:
>>>
>>> Has anyone using VPC2007 virtual machines gotten this to work?
>>>
>>> If so did it also work with USB connected software protection dongles
>>> (which is my main headache when testing software in a virtualized
>>> environment)?
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Bo Berglund (Sweden)

>>
>>Any reason why you don't want to use VirtualBox/Vmware Player/Vmware
>>Workstation before shelling out money for a piece of hardware that
>>should be part of the emulation software anyway?

>
>Because I should have posted on the virtual server NG instead...
>
>Fact is I am really trying to get a grip on how customers using
>virtualized servers can run our software on such servers. We use
>Safenet Sentinel SuperPro dongles for protection and there is nowhere
>to plug them into a virtual server guest windows server...
>VPC2007 is close enough to VS2005 in this respect that I thought I
>would get more responses here. But I did not create a post interesting
>enough, it seems like.
>
>Concerning my own testing:
>1) When testing our software I use a build thta bypasses the dongle
>checks. Not possible to send to customers though...
>
>2) When I test or use software from others, which use USB, I use
>VMWare Workstation 6.5 on my laptop. Works just fine, but wouldn't in
>the server scenario above since the USB hardware is not available on
>the host metal...

There has been talk of this over on the virtualserver ng before...I
think the FabulaTech one ($149) and mostly in regards to Hyper-V.
http://www.usb-over-network.com/usbn...s/virtual.html
They specifically reference Virtual PC.

--
Cheers,
Steve Jain, Virtual Machine MVP
http://vpc.essjae.com/

03-10-2009

On Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:09:48 -0700, "Steve Jain [MVP]"
<noreply.-@-.essjae.com> wrote:

Quote:

>On Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:26:39 +0100, Bo Berglund <boberglund@xxxxxx>
>wrote:
>

Quote:

>>On Mon, 9 Mar 2009 17:54:52 -0700 (PDT), ronald.phillips@xxxxxx
>>wrote:
>>

Quote:

>>>On Mar 9, 7:14*am, Bo Berglund <bobergl...@xxxxxx> wrote:
>>>> I have a question regarding the use of USB devices in VirtualPC. I
>>>> know that USB is not emulated in the VPC2007 hardware so normally it
>>>> would not be possible to use such devices in a virtual machine.
>>>> But now I have come across a nifty networked USB hub from Belkin:http://www.belkin.com/networkusbhub/
>>>>
>>>> It seems like this is a product that uses TCP/IP networking to connect
>>>> to a USB device using some translation software from Belkin (a driver
>>>> of sorts) to handle the bridge to a PC. Apparently any USB device
>>>> attached to the hub can be connected to from several different PC:s on
>>>> the network, but only one at a time, using TCP/IP.
>>>>
>>>> Since my virtual machines have excellent networking capabilities it
>>>> would open up new avenues of software testing if this product could be
>>>> used.
>>>>
>>>> So the question now (before I shell out the $99) is:
>>>>
>>>> Has anyone using VPC2007 virtual machines gotten this to work?
>>>>
>>>> If so did it also work with USB connected software protection dongles
>>>> (which is my main headache when testing software in a virtualized
>>>> environment)?
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> Bo Berglund (Sweden)
>>>
>>>Any reason why you don't want to use VirtualBox/Vmware Player/Vmware
>>>Workstation before shelling out money for a piece of hardware that
>>>should be part of the emulation software anyway?

>>
>>Because I should have posted on the virtual server NG instead...
>>
>>Fact is I am really trying to get a grip on how customers using
>>virtualized servers can run our software on such servers. We use
>>Safenet Sentinel SuperPro dongles for protection and there is nowhere
>>to plug them into a virtual server guest windows server...
>>VPC2007 is close enough to VS2005 in this respect that I thought I
>>would get more responses here. But I did not create a post interesting
>>enough, it seems like.
>>
>>Concerning my own testing:
>>1) When testing our software I use a build thta bypasses the dongle
>>checks. Not possible to send to customers though...
>>
>>2) When I test or use software from others, which use USB, I use
>>VMWare Workstation 6.5 on my laptop. Works just fine, but wouldn't in
>>the server scenario above since the USB hardware is not available on
>>the host metal...

>
>There has been talk of this over on the virtualserver ng before...I
>think the FabulaTech one ($149) and mostly in regards to Hyper-V.
>http://www.usb-over-network.com/usbn...s/virtual.html
>They specifically reference Virtual PC.

Tried the demo on my XP-Pro SP3 (server) and an VPC2007 guest running
XP-Home SP2 Swedish (client).
Did't work... :-(

--

Bo Berglund (Sweden)

03-09-2009	#1 (permalink)
Bo Berglund n/a posts	Using a network USB hub for a virtual machine? I have a question regarding the use of USB devices in VirtualPC. I know that USB is not emulated in the VPC2007 hardware so normally it would not be possible to use such devices in a virtual machine. But now I have come across a nifty networked USB hub from Belkin: http://www.belkin.com/networkusbhub/ It seems like this is a product that uses TCP/IP networking to connect to a USB device using some translation software from Belkin (a driver of sorts) to handle the bridge to a PC. Apparently any USB device attached to the hub can be connected to from several different PC:s on the network, but only one at a time, using TCP/IP. Since my virtual machines have excellent networking capabilities it would open up new avenues of software testing if this product could be used. So the question now (before I shell out the $99) is: Has anyone using VPC2007 virtual machines gotten this to work? If so did it also work with USB connected software protection dongles (which is my main headache when testing software in a virtualized environment)? -- Bo Berglund (Sweden)
My System Specs

03-09-2009	#2 (permalink)
ronald.phillips n/a posts	Re: Using a network USB hub for a virtual machine? On Mar 9, 7:14*am, Bo Berglund <bobergl...@xxxxxx> wrote: Quote: > I have a question regarding the use of USB devices in VirtualPC. I > know that USB is not emulated in the VPC2007 hardware so normally it > would not be possible to use such devices in a virtual machine. > But now I have come across a nifty networked USB hub from Belkin:http://www.belkin.com/networkusbhub/ > > It seems like this is a product that uses TCP/IP networking to connect > to a USB device using some translation software from Belkin (a driver > of sorts) to handle the bridge to a PC. Apparently any USB device > attached to the hub can be connected to from several different PC:s on > the network, but only one at a time, using TCP/IP. > > Since my virtual machines have excellent networking capabilities it > would open up new avenues of software testing if this product could be > used. > > So the question now (before I shell out the $99) is: > > Has anyone using VPC2007 virtual machines gotten this to work? > > If so did it also work with USB connected software protection dongles > (which is my main headache when testing software in a virtualized > environment)? > > -- > > Bo Berglund (Sweden) Any reason why you don't want to use VirtualBox/Vmware Player/Vmware Workstation before shelling out money for a piece of hardware that should be part of the emulation software anyway?
My System Specs

03-10-2009	#3 (permalink)
Bo Berglund n/a posts	Re: Using a network USB hub for a virtual machine? On Mon, 9 Mar 2009 17:54:52 -0700 (PDT), ronald.phillips@xxxxxx wrote: Quote: >On Mar 9, 7:14*am, Bo Berglund <bobergl...@xxxxxx> wrote: Quote: >> I have a question regarding the use of USB devices in VirtualPC. I >> know that USB is not emulated in the VPC2007 hardware so normally it >> would not be possible to use such devices in a virtual machine. >> But now I have come across a nifty networked USB hub from Belkin:http://www.belkin.com/networkusbhub/ >> >> It seems like this is a product that uses TCP/IP networking to connect >> to a USB device using some translation software from Belkin (a driver >> of sorts) to handle the bridge to a PC. Apparently any USB device >> attached to the hub can be connected to from several different PC:s on >> the network, but only one at a time, using TCP/IP. >> >> Since my virtual machines have excellent networking capabilities it >> would open up new avenues of software testing if this product could be >> used. >> >> So the question now (before I shell out the $99) is: >> >> Has anyone using VPC2007 virtual machines gotten this to work? >> >> If so did it also work with USB connected software protection dongles >> (which is my main headache when testing software in a virtualized >> environment)? >> >> -- >> >> Bo Berglund (Sweden) > >Any reason why you don't want to use VirtualBox/Vmware Player/Vmware >Workstation before shelling out money for a piece of hardware that >should be part of the emulation software anyway? Because I should have posted on the virtual server NG instead... Fact is I am really trying to get a grip on how customers using virtualized servers can run our software on such servers. We use Safenet Sentinel SuperPro dongles for protection and there is nowhere to plug them into a virtual server guest windows server... VPC2007 is close enough to VS2005 in this respect that I thought I would get more responses here. But I did not create a post interesting enough, it seems like. Concerning my own testing: 1) When testing our software I use a build thta bypasses the dongle checks. Not possible to send to customers though... 2) When I test or use software from others, which use USB, I use VMWare Workstation 6.5 on my laptop. Works just fine, but wouldn't in the server scenario above since the USB hardware is not available on the host metal... -- Bo Berglund (Sweden)
My System Specs

03-10-2009	#4 (permalink)
Steve Jain [MVP] n/a posts	Re: Using a network USB hub for a virtual machine? On Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:26:39 +0100, Bo Berglund <boberglund@xxxxxx> wrote: Quote: >On Mon, 9 Mar 2009 17:54:52 -0700 (PDT), ronald.phillips@xxxxxx >wrote: > Quote: >>On Mar 9, 7:14*am, Bo Berglund <bobergl...@xxxxxx> wrote: Quote: >>> I have a question regarding the use of USB devices in VirtualPC. I >>> know that USB is not emulated in the VPC2007 hardware so normally it >>> would not be possible to use such devices in a virtual machine. >>> But now I have come across a nifty networked USB hub from Belkin:http://www.belkin.com/networkusbhub/ >>> >>> It seems like this is a product that uses TCP/IP networking to connect >>> to a USB device using some translation software from Belkin (a driver >>> of sorts) to handle the bridge to a PC. Apparently any USB device >>> attached to the hub can be connected to from several different PC:s on >>> the network, but only one at a time, using TCP/IP. >>> >>> Since my virtual machines have excellent networking capabilities it >>> would open up new avenues of software testing if this product could be >>> used. >>> >>> So the question now (before I shell out the $99) is: >>> >>> Has anyone using VPC2007 virtual machines gotten this to work? >>> >>> If so did it also work with USB connected software protection dongles >>> (which is my main headache when testing software in a virtualized >>> environment)? >>> >>> -- >>> >>> Bo Berglund (Sweden) >> >>Any reason why you don't want to use VirtualBox/Vmware Player/Vmware >>Workstation before shelling out money for a piece of hardware that >>should be part of the emulation software anyway? > >Because I should have posted on the virtual server NG instead... > >Fact is I am really trying to get a grip on how customers using >virtualized servers can run our software on such servers. We use >Safenet Sentinel SuperPro dongles for protection and there is nowhere >to plug them into a virtual server guest windows server... >VPC2007 is close enough to VS2005 in this respect that I thought I >would get more responses here. But I did not create a post interesting >enough, it seems like. > >Concerning my own testing: >1) When testing our software I use a build thta bypasses the dongle >checks. Not possible to send to customers though... > >2) When I test or use software from others, which use USB, I use >VMWare Workstation 6.5 on my laptop. Works just fine, but wouldn't in >the server scenario above since the USB hardware is not available on >the host metal... There has been talk of this over on the virtualserver ng before...I think the FabulaTech one ($149) and mostly in regards to Hyper-V. http://www.usb-over-network.com/usbn...s/virtual.html They specifically reference Virtual PC. -- Cheers, Steve Jain, Virtual Machine MVP http://vpc.essjae.com/
My System Specs

03-10-2009	#5 (permalink)
Bo Berglund n/a posts	Re: Using a network USB hub for a virtual machine? On Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:09:48 -0700, "Steve Jain [MVP]" <noreply.-@-.essjae.com> wrote: Quote: >On Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:26:39 +0100, Bo Berglund <boberglund@xxxxxx> >wrote: > Quote: >>On Mon, 9 Mar 2009 17:54:52 -0700 (PDT), ronald.phillips@xxxxxx >>wrote: >> Quote: >>>On Mar 9, 7:14*am, Bo Berglund <bobergl...@xxxxxx> wrote: >>>> I have a question regarding the use of USB devices in VirtualPC. I >>>> know that USB is not emulated in the VPC2007 hardware so normally it >>>> would not be possible to use such devices in a virtual machine. >>>> But now I have come across a nifty networked USB hub from Belkin:http://www.belkin.com/networkusbhub/ >>>> >>>> It seems like this is a product that uses TCP/IP networking to connect >>>> to a USB device using some translation software from Belkin (a driver >>>> of sorts) to handle the bridge to a PC. Apparently any USB device >>>> attached to the hub can be connected to from several different PC:s on >>>> the network, but only one at a time, using TCP/IP. >>>> >>>> Since my virtual machines have excellent networking capabilities it >>>> would open up new avenues of software testing if this product could be >>>> used. >>>> >>>> So the question now (before I shell out the $99) is: >>>> >>>> Has anyone using VPC2007 virtual machines gotten this to work? >>>> >>>> If so did it also work with USB connected software protection dongles >>>> (which is my main headache when testing software in a virtualized >>>> environment)? >>>> >>>> -- >>>> >>>> Bo Berglund (Sweden) >>> >>>Any reason why you don't want to use VirtualBox/Vmware Player/Vmware >>>Workstation before shelling out money for a piece of hardware that >>>should be part of the emulation software anyway? >> >>Because I should have posted on the virtual server NG instead... >> >>Fact is I am really trying to get a grip on how customers using >>virtualized servers can run our software on such servers. We use >>Safenet Sentinel SuperPro dongles for protection and there is nowhere >>to plug them into a virtual server guest windows server... >>VPC2007 is close enough to VS2005 in this respect that I thought I >>would get more responses here. But I did not create a post interesting >>enough, it seems like. >> >>Concerning my own testing: >>1) When testing our software I use a build thta bypasses the dongle >>checks. Not possible to send to customers though... >> >>2) When I test or use software from others, which use USB, I use >>VMWare Workstation 6.5 on my laptop. Works just fine, but wouldn't in >>the server scenario above since the USB hardware is not available on >>the host metal... > >There has been talk of this over on the virtualserver ng before...I >think the FabulaTech one ($149) and mostly in regards to Hyper-V. >http://www.usb-over-network.com/usbn...s/virtual.html >They specifically reference Virtual PC. Tried the demo on my XP-Pro SP3 (server) and an VPC2007 guest running XP-Home SP2 Swedish (client). Did't work... :-( -- Bo Berglund (Sweden)
My System Specs

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