USB Working in Virtual 2.0.4 on Ubuntu Ibex Intrepid 8.10

After upgrading to Ibex, I found that I couldn’t sync my Palm with my Windows XP guest.

After trudging through different websites with contradictory solutions I stumbled on this, which works a charm:

Open the terminal and type
vbox /etc/group

You should end up with something like

vboxusers:x:124:john

Make a note of the group ID (124 in this case). Now run
sudo gedit /etc/init.d/mountkernfs.sh

Find this section

#
# Mount proc filesystem on /proc
#
domount proc "" /proc proc -onodev,noexec,nosuid

Below this, copy the following code:

#
#Mount USB file system
#
domount usbfs "" /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs -onoexec,nosuid,nodev,devgid=XXX,devmode=664

Replace XXX with the group ID from above.

Save and quit. Reboot the system. The next time you run VirtualBox, you should be able to see the USB devices and use them.

Getting that SQL Server 2008 to Work out of the box

I had to set up a new SQL Server database, which I haven’t done in a while as I tend to focus my efforts on mySQL. Nevertheless I needed to get grip on a new site to migrate.

After setting most things up, I managed to get to a point where the database wasn’t starting.

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error ‘80004005’

[DBNETLIB][ConnectionOpen (PreLoginHandshake()).]General network error. Check your network documentation.

I really love unhelpful messages. Anyway, after some head scratching I foundĀ an article on on the Microsoft Forums from a chap with a similar issue.

To fix the problem, I loaded up the SQL Server Configuration Manager, and expanded SQL Server Network Configuration. Under Protocols for MSSQLSERVER (this is the instance name of the server), I enabled TCP/IP. The error went away. Tada!

I suppose it would help to read the documentation thoroughly – but I got to where I needed to be anyway. I imagine that it makes sense to disable TCP/IP connections until you’re happy that the server is secure. Even so, I was making connections from the localhost, so I would have expected it to work.