this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2026
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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You dont want to use windows in a vm to talk to externally connected devices or update them...ask me how I know
Bricked my favorite mouse doing this firmware upgrade for it on linux with a win 10 vm. I was sad but after a few days amazingly, the mfg sent me a custom program to reset the mouse, and it was windows only, had to use a friends pc to do it.
And I did it using usb pass through. I would not trust it again.
Sounds like a freak accident rather than the fault of the VM.
I literally use a GPU for passthrough on my Windows 10 (and macOS) VM; PCIe is a much more complex protocol and much easier to F up than USB.
I’ve used my iPhone many times through Windows and been fine, as well as whole USB keyboards and mice (just simple ones); I think I might have even updated an iOS device once, though I can’t remember if I actually did. I’ve also used an iPod Nano 7th through an 11 LTSC VM before.
I could see some things being a little finicky, but simply managing a Zune with a VM probably causes no issues. It’s probably been eons since it got a firmware upgrade anyway.
How weird! I ran two Windows VMs with USB and GPU passthrough as my work and gaming daily drivers for about six years. Now I run Mint and Bazzite with the same setup. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't have issues, both Windows and VM related, but I never saw one even vaguely like that.
Well, I was using virtual box as ive never used anything else, so maybe thats why. Or the mouse firmware updater was just bad.
i have used a windows vm to update mice (and some other things') firmware before and it went quite well.
I use Windows VMs to flash industrial PLCs all the time lol
I've done that plenty of times with phones and ham radio junk