-----Original Message----- From: Liam Proven [mailto:lpro...@gmail.com] Sent: 05 March 2022 11:23 To: Discussion and general questions about FreeDOS. Subject: Re: [Freedos-user] Will freedos running in a Virtual box VM recognise a host attached USB security dongle?
On Fri, 4 Mar 2022 at 20:09, Louis Santillan <lpsan...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I wrote a quick guide on how to pass through USB devices to a VirtualBox VM. > > https://sites.google.com/view/lpsantil/home/adding-usb-device-to-a-virtualbo x-vm [...] > 5. Pick an appropriate USB spec controller. Very old devices will likely use "USB 1.1 (OHCI) Controller" (super old web cams, scanners, keyboards, mice, etc.). Devices and OSes made in the last 15 years will likely be better suited for "USB 2.0 (OHCI + EHCI) Controller". You are missing a *very* important point in your guide. VirtualBox is FOSS and can be run without restrictions anywhere. The VirtualBox Extension Pack is *not* FOSS and must be licensed. If used in a commercial or business setting, you have to pay for it. It's not that cheap and for multiple users it can be significant. USB 2 and higher need the extension pack. Only USB 1 can be used for free. -- Liam Proven ~ Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk ~ gMail/gTalk/FB: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/LinkedIn: lproven ~ Skype: liamproven UK: (+44) 7939-087884 ~ Czech [+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal]: (+420) 702-829-053 _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user Hello all, Regarding this thread, thank you to all who contributed really helpful advice.. my goal was to run a 16-bit DOS application from a host running Win 10 64-bit. I was exploring the possibilities and thinking that FreeDOS would help. In my case I also need the application to run from a network share, print to LPT ports and to have its full functionality enabled using a HASP HL license USB dongle. After much reading around, advice from this forum and experimenting I found that FreeDOS isn't an option due to the printing and USB requirement. Likewise DOSBOX and vDOS are ruled out. I experimented with running the application in Windows XP in a Virtualbox VM and it works fine that way even the USB dongle is passed-through from the Win 10 64-bit host to the Win XP guest. I don't love XP as a choice due to security concerns about it and the insecure way it has to connect to the network share. I installed Win 10 32-bit in a VM and interestingly that also worked using the older dongle drivers that we've been using for years to get the USB dongle working with Win XP and Win 7 32-bit. Interestingly I found an option called NTVDMx64 which enables 16-bit applications to run in 64-bit operating systems: http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/ntvdmx64.html https://github.com/leecher1337/ntvdmx64 That was a cool discovery and I was able to get my 1990s era DOS application to run in Win 10 64-bit bare-metal! Unfortunately try as I may I have not been able to get the HASP USB dongle to work in Win 10 64-bit so full functionality of the application is not enabled. I have tried the most recent driver from the dongle makers website (thalesgroup.com) but it won't work. I also asked them for support and they directed me back to the vendor of the DOS application... I already know that vendor won't want to know about it as they have ended support for the DOS application and upgraded the application to a Microsoft dot net version with an extortionate upgrade and installation price tag. So my last option is to pay the extortionate upgrade fee or run the DOS app on Win 10 32-bit either bare metal or in a VM. That isn't ideal due to the limitations of a 32-bit OS and the fact that Microsoft are slowly ending support for it. Anyway, the whole process was really interesting so thank you again to all who helped! Cheers, Sean _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
