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How to synch an iPAQ 910 with a guest virtual machine running on VMWare Server

I’ve been using VMWare’s free product, VMWare Server 2.0, for a while but up until now had not toyed with connecting USB devices to virtual machines. I never had a need to and thought I had read somewhere that it is not supported. Well, it IS supported and it’s very cool. And, with my recent purchase of the cool new HP iPAQ 910, I now have a need. You see, I didn’t want to synch with my physical host laptop, because my virtual machine is the one that contained my Outlook profile with contacts, calendar info, etc. I had already proven that my host would recognize the iPAQ and was able to synch successfully. That was a matter of simply plugging it in and letting Windows XP install the drivers. The virtual machine, however, would not see the device automatically. Here’s what I did to enable my virtual machine (also running Windows XP) to see and synch with my new toy..er…productivity device.

1. Log in to the VMware Infrastructure Web Access screen.
2. Power off your VM and go through the Add Hardware wizard to add a USB Controller to it. The only hardware you are able to add to a running VM is a new hard disk, so it must be powered off first.
3. Once you’ve added the USB Controller, power on the VM.
4. Select your VM in the inventory list on the left & you’ll notice there is now a USB controller toolbar button at the top. Click that and you’ll see a list of USB devices that your host computer recognizes.
5. Now is the time to plug in the iPAQ. If your host sees it and has drivers for it, then it should show up in this list. As you might imagine, all you have to do is check the box for the “Hewlett-Packard HP USB Synch.” That little check box is the magic right there. Your VM should suddenly see new hardware and install the driver for it automatically. If you open up Device Manager, you should see your iPAQ show up as “HP USB Sync.”
6. Now, just install the latest version of Microsoft ActiveSync, go through the wizard to choose how to synch with your device and you’re done.

It's hard to believe that I have now had a 12-year long career in Information Technology. I've steadily moved my way up the ranks from customer service to desktop support and finally I am the proud holder of the illustrious "Systems Engineer" title. While this may sound a bit haughty, I am far from being arrogant (probably to a fault) and am always conscienscous that no matter how much I may think I know, I know there is always someone who knows more than I know.

This marriage between the small-town boy (www.MedoraND.com) and the glamorous world of technology has had times of passion - getting to know one another, constantly hand-in-hand, dreaming incessantly about one another...ok, ok - I'll get to the point. I've had times in my career where I've been genuinely excited about the work I'm doing and am motivated to learn more. This is a field where you have to keep up with the latest technologies or become obsolete. The pressure of a mortgage and feeding the little ones is often a good motivation if the real passion has gone.

This first post seems appropriate as I've recently embarked on a new journey in my career and those initial feelings of excited curiousity have returned to me. It's much the same way that doing my first tracert absolutely fascinated me. The idea of 1's and 0's traveling from my computer half way around the world in a matter of milliseconds and reporting their progress for me right there on the screen was an amazing new world that had opened up to me. Now, the heavens have opened up once again and revealed to me a whole new realm - virtualization.

I'm participating in the VMWare class - VMware ESX Server 3.5 Installing and Configuring. I've wanted to take this class for the past year and I was able to get into a last-minute slot. I had planned to take the VmWare Certified Professional exam one day - now perhaps that day will come sooner than I thought. Turns out that VMWare changed the prerequisites for the exam - now requiring candidates to pay for and attend one of their authorized classes. Without taking the class, you can go and take the exam but the company won't recognize you as a VCP.

So, I was about 7 chapters into the Windows Server 2008 Unleashed book where I was about start learning about the new Hyper-V and I've had to change direction a bit. Once I plow through the VMWare courseware and get certified then I plan to circle back and pick up where I left off with the Server 2008 learning. It's all virtualization anyway & we'll all be forced to learn it sooner or later I suppose. VMWare is probably the coolest technology ever and that is what has me typing non-sensically late at night when I should be sleeping.
I'd like to chronical my experiences with the product and share any insights to perhaps help others. The one thing I can share right now with Server 2008 is do not team your NICs (HP) before downloading and installing the Hyper-V update. If you do, the "configuring updates" screen after booting up may freeze @ 43% like it did for me...