http://www.huanix.com/sync-in-linux

I am actually working on getting iTunes to work in wine: http://www.huanix.com/sync-in-linux/index.php/ITunes_8_through_modified_Wine

For the record: I am not currently working on this project. You are free to use the resources or ask questions, but I am moving on! I will be glad to share access on the wiki with anyone that wants to work on this. -hb

Restoring an iPhone inside VirtualBox

It was a little nerve racking for a minute, but I can confirm that it is possible to upgrade and restore iPhone firmware in a virtualbox environment. It is actually simple, the only thing I had to do was re-connect the iPhone to the VM twice during the Restore.

The screenshot shows Ubuntu 8.10 Interpid Ibex as a host, with Windows XP running in a Virtual Machine (VirtualBox) in the foreground. You can see iTunes 8 running, having just completed the firmware upgrade.

I used a custom ipsw that I got from the internet so I didn’t upgrade my baseband. I suggest you do this or something similar to maintain the OPTION to unlock your phone in the future. (I don’t expect to unlock my phone, but I want to keep the option!)

I got the modified 2.2 firmware image from tpb, you can search for it as “iPhone1,2_2.2_5G77_Custom_Restore.ipsw” – it is listed under mac applications (!?)

So, when you’re ready to try to upgrade your firmware, hover your mouse over the usb icon in the VirtualBox tray and make sure it stays connected. Check the connection by right clicking on the USB icon. When the Restore/Upgrade goes through stages it will disconnect the phone and you will need to re-connect it by re-activating the checkbox.

For the Record: I tested VirtualBox 2.0.6 myself and iPhone sync DOES work when you enter a correct /etc/fstab entry.

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11/22/2008- STOP! DO NOT use this fix. The problem addressed by this script has been corrected in VirtualBox 2.0.6. You are welcome to try it if nothing else works for you- it won’t damage your installation and could possibly help.

This is a script that will modify the Ubuntu 8.10 (or other Debian) environment to allow you to sync your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPod in a Windows XP VirtualBox VM.  Earlier versions of the script have high success rates. This fix solves two problems:

1. USB doesn’t work at all because there’s no mount point; edit /etc/fstab to fix it.
2. For the iPhone to sync, MAX_USBFS_BUFFER_SIZE needs to be modified in drivers/usb/core/devio.c

This version of the script will actually complete several steps:

1. Check for the correct version of VirtualBox-2.0 and install it if the need arises.
2. Correctly modify the /etc/fstab file to assign the usb mount point to the virtualbox group (thanks tauchris@gmail.com)
3. Download the correct kernel source, patch it, and update the kernel.
4. Re-initialize VirtualBox to recognize the new USB configuration.

I really believe this will simplify things for many folks. I think the greatest add on is the detection and installation of the correct Virtualbox version – it will add Virtualbox to your sources.list and add the key for you!

If the script works for you, please comment with your OS and details. If the script fails for you, PLEASE be very specific about what OS you are running and what did or didn’t happen. Comments without details don’t help anyone. If you see an exit code with a line number please include it.

You will need to re-run this script each time the Kernel is updated. The script now knows what to update and what to leave alone.

These instructions are based on my test environment. You do not have to follow them to the letter! Go ahead and try the script if you know what you’re doing!!!

1. You do not have to have VirtualBox pre-installed. The script will do that for you if it needs to.

2. Download the script to your Desktop and open a terminal window.

3. Set the script to executable, and run it as root.

• chmod +x virtualbox-iphone-r8.sh
• sudo [path to]/virtualbox-iphone-r8.sh

4. Run the script:virtualbox-iphone-r8.sh

5. Reboot.

• The script downloads the kernel source, and will take approximately 400 mb and several minutes of processing to run properly.

6. In the settings tab for the virtual machine, check to be sure that USB and USB 2.0 are enabled.

7. When you run windows as a virtual machine, you will have to connect the device, then go to the “Devices” tab in VirtualBox and enable the device in “USB Devices”

These steps should set the stage for everything to work correctly on Ubuntu 8.10. If you have difficulties, please be VERY specific!

Note: At this time I am no longer working toward making this script available in Fedora and Suse. However, the kernel fix contained inside the script will work if you extract and implement it. -hb

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iTunes 8 running in wine recognizing an iPod

UPDATE: 6/18/2009: I am not actively working on this project but you are welcome to check out the resources.

UPDATE: 12/7/2008: I have documented the method and am actively soliciting help to get this working at http://www.huanix.com/sync-in-linux/index.php/ITunes_8_through_modified_Wine

I am not sure if anyone else has accomplished this yet – i know some people have run iTunes 8 in wine, but tonight I was able to get iTunes 8 running in Wine to recognize an iPod. I saw that this was kind of possible with iTunes 7.6, but it was infeasible because of incredibly slow and erroneous transfer speeds.

Anyway, I have been hammering away at this constantly for more 40 hours now and I believe I am getting closer. To tell the truth, since this screenshot I have not been able to replicate the connection (okay, i just figured out how to replicate it). And there happens to be this tiny little secret… I’ve never really used Wine before last week and I really don’t know what I’m doing.

My ultimate goal, however unlikely it may seem, is to sync my iPhone in iTunes through wine without complication. This will allow many of us to finally get rid of the windows install that has been slowing us down!

Update 11/13/2008: I was asked how I would distribute this if it works; It will be distributed as a free shell script under GPL to give complete transparency to the process. The fix will likely require kernel driver modifications as well as Wine source modifications. Any potential fix will free; but let’s be realistic about the chances (slim).

Update 11/14/2008: If you were reading the comments you’ll note that I was stuck on the iPhone hash algorithm, and I referred to http://bluwiki.com/go/Ipodhash. Unfortunately, that site has received a takedown notice from Apple while attempting to decrypt the algorithm. While I don’t agree with laws that reduce the flow of information, I do honor them.  I think I’m moving on, but i’m also realizing that the search was probably a red herring. I’m not trying to decrypt the iTunes algorithm, I need to get the usb interface to communicate properly…

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wine-116-itunes-no-devices.sh
(right-click the link to download this script)

to run it:
save the script to your desktop or home folder
open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal), navigate to the same directory as the script.
type: chmod 777 wine-116-itunes-no-devices.sh (hit enter)
then type: ./wine-116-itunes-no-devices.sh (hit enter)

This script will build a custom version of wine 1.1.6 that will run iTunes 8.0.1 on Ubuntu 8.10. The resulting installation of wine will *NOT* (?) recognize iPhones or iPods. This installation will NOT conflict with your existing wine installation – it is separate!!!

Expect to download 500+ mb of stuff and compile for 2+ hours. I may find a way to simplify it later, but my goal now is to get it working reliably and predictably for everyone running Ubuntu 8.10.

Please leave detailed feedback including your operating system and version of iTunes as well as other information (i expect people to try lots of different things). “it worked” or “it didn’t work” are not useful comments!!
As far as getting devices to work, my best shot was Marteen  Lankhorst’s rejected patches (http://www.winehq.org/pipermail/wine-patches/2008-May/054483.html), but i haven’t gotten them to work with iTunes 8 (not sure why). Just in case you weren’t clear: This version WILL run iTunes 8, but it will NOT recognize your iPod/iPhone.  My current solution for that is with VirtualBox: http://www.huanix.com/2008/11/03/fixing-usb-on-virtualbox-to-allow-iphone-sync-with-an-ubuntu-host-running-windows-xp/

For the latest developments on this, go to the wiki at : http://www.huanix.com/sync-in-linux/index.php/ITunes_8_through_modified_Wine

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