Installing Virtualbox 3.x with USB support in Ubuntu 10.04 (Part 2)

After installing the latest version of virtualbox in the part 1, you have to set up the guest machine to enable USB support.

Step 1. Open Virtualbox. It's on Application > System Tools > Sun Virtualbox.

Step 2. Click the Guest OS you use. Then click "Setting" button.

Step 3. Navigate to "USB" option. Ensure to checklist the "Enable USB Controller" and "Enable USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller" options.

Step 4. In the Guest OS window, identify the USB icon on the bottom-right status bar. Right-click it, pick which USB drive/device you want to connect by just clicking it.

Installing Virtualbox 3.x with USB support in Ubuntu 10.04 (Part 1)

VirtualBox is an x86 virtualization software package, originally created by German software company innotek GmbH, purchased by Sun Microsystems, and now developed by Oracle Corporation as part of its family of virtualization products. It is installed on an existing host operating system; within this application, additional guest operating systems, each known as a Guest OS, can be loaded and run, each with its own virtual environment.

Supported host operating systems include Linux, Mac OS X, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Solaris; there is also a port to FreeBSD (only OSE version). Supported guest operating systems include a small number of versions of NetBSD and various versions of DragonFlyBSD, FreeBSD, Linux, OpenBSD, OS/2 Warp, Windows, Solaris, Haiku, Syllable, ReactOS and SkyOS. The current beta version (3.2) also allows limited virtualization of Mac OS X 10.6.

There are two versions of the VirtualBox software.

The full VirtualBox package comes under a proprietary Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL), which allows using the software free of charge for personal and educational use and evaluation of the product. Licenses for commercial deployment of the full VirtualBox package can be purchased from Oracle, although commercial use by individuals within a company is covered by the free PUEL.

A second version called the VirtualBox Open Source Edition (OSE) is free software released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), from which the following closed-source features are missing:

• The built-in Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) server
• USB support (see below) and the combination of running the RDP server with support of remote USB devices

In the "full release" (not in the open-source edition), a USB controller is emulated (both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0) so that any USB devices attached to the host can be seen in the guest. If VirtualBox acts as an RDP server, it can also use USB devices on the remote RDP client as if they were connected to the host.

Here's part 1 of 2 how to install Virtualbox 3.x with USB support in Ubuntu 10.04:

Step 1. Adding virtualbox repository in sources.list. Open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T.

Step 2. Run this command on the terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Enter password to proceed.

Step 3. Add this line in the repository list: 

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian karmic non-free

Save it by clicking "Save" toolbar.

Step 3. Back to terminal. Run this command:
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Step 4. Run sudo apt-get update in the terminal.

Step 5. Open the Synaptic Package Manager.

Step 6. Navigate the origin repository of virtualbox.org, then install the latest version of virtualbox.

Step 7. Restart the Ubuntu machine.

Step 8. Go to System > Administration > User and Groups. Click "Manage Groups" button. Find the "lp" and "vboxusers". Open its properties by clicking "Properties" button. Then ensure your username is check-listed.

How-to format USB Flash Disk using Gparted Partition Editor in Ubuntu

Hereis a simple how to easily formatting your USB flash disk in Ubuntu :

1. Install gparted package

code :
sudo apt-get install gparted


2. Plug in your USB Flash Disk into your PC.


3. Run Partition Editor from System>Administration>Partition Editor

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Note : You will be prompted the admin password to get the application to run.



4. Change device selection to your flash disk drive.

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5. Unmount The USB Flash Disk first. Right click the device on the list and pick "Unmount" option.

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6. Right click the device on list and pick "Format to", and then choose the type of file system.

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7. Click "Apply" to get formatting process executed.

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Click "apply" on the other windows to confirm the formatting.

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After the formatting process is done, Then click "Close".

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Windows's "Safely remove USB" in Linux ubuntu

If you had windows on your machine, you will have to unmount your USB flash disk when you want to plug it off. Just click removable drive icon on the system tray, then click the "Safely remove USB...bla bla". When the icon disappear, then you can plug off the USB flash disk safely.

On different machine of Ubuntu Linux, you will see an icon indicating the presence of your USB flash disk usually on the upper left corner of your desktop. It mean that your USB flash disk is already mounted automaticly. You can browse all of it's content by double-clicking it.

But when you want to "safely remove" it, you must close all running application windows first. Then find and right click the USB icon on the desktop, so you can unmounted it by picking "Unmounted Volume" option. Pretty tricky, huh?

Well, After installing ubuntu, you will not get that kind of easy way of removing removable drive in the Windows desktop, because it's Ubuntu default setting. But you can make it by installing the "Disk Mounter" on the panel. So, here is the trick :


1. Right click the panel, and click "add to Panel" Option.















2. Pick "Disk Mounter" item. then click "Add".



















3. Plug in the flash disk. You will see an icon on system tray at the left side of your panel.



4.When you want to plug it off, just click the icon,and pick "Unmount" option. Now, you can "safely remove" your USB flash disk.



5. The Icon will always be appear even when you have plugged the USB flash disk off. You can check it simply by placing the pointer to it or click the icon.



It's useful when you want to mount it again.




PS. It's my first post in english. I'm sorry for any grammar error or typo. you can give me some suggestion then.