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Would a VM not work? Seems like the perfect use case for a VM.
I have the absolute worst reason for dual booting Linux and Windows
"I need to use WSL"
So I keep a windows partition just so I can manage a 16 year old mp3 player and radio. That has to be the worst reason to keep a Windows partition, right?
Yeah, and you can often assume that someone else has had that problem and was also enough of a nerd to fix it for us all.
Try Winboat. If your needs don’t require GPU acceleration, Winboat is flawless.
Thanks - I've seen Winboat mentioned several times in the comments, I'm going to try that first.
That's actually a good reason when compares to some others out there.
I own and use a Microsoft Zune HD
Seems like a good enough reason to me!
The zune was one of the single greatest MP3 players ever made. Microsoft as dumb as they are is still right twice a day.
The zune died before it's time.
Couldn't you just run a Windows VM instead? Something like WinBoat might be perfect for your needs. I use it to run Apple Music, but it occurs to me that I could probably run iTunes through it to sync my iPod.
I have an 8bitdo controller, and the software for customizing macros and updating firmware only runs on windows, and I just use a virtual machine with USB passthrough set up and it works amazingly.
You just reminded me that I wanted to look up if that works, thanks!
I just use Virtual Machine Manager, the thing is that once you add the controller to the list of passthrough devices into the Windows VM, it'll change (spoof? create a virtual device?) into another device ID meaning you then have to add that device afterwards and then you'll be able to use the software to change stuff. Bit finicky, and it means it'll have to be done each time one wants to boot up said VM and change stuff. But it works.
How can you do this without bricking the controller? Have you ever tried updating its firmware this way? In my experience thats a big nono.
As long as you do pass through of the USB device (or USB host controller), it should be fine. The VM acesses it directlty without passing through a virtualized version of the device (like what normally happens with sound, network, graphics) and the VM can even DMA to it. Down side is that the hardware isn't visible to the host anymore, so if you pass through a GPU, it's used exclusively by the VM, not the host. If you connect a monitor to the GPU, you see the VM, not the host. So you can only do this with hardware that is intended specifically for use within the VM. Zune management sounds like an ideal use case. See IOMMU if you're interested in some if the tech side if it.
I haven’t heard of WinBoat before, I will check that out thank you.
It's pretty cool, albeit fairly resource-heavy. You are, after all, running a whole-ass Windows inside Linux.
However, you can shut it down when you're not using it and you don't run the risk of Windows fucking your boot drive.
The Zune software could be run on XP. Running that in a VM on a more modern system shouldn't bee too difficult.
Windows XP is really lightweight. As long as your CPU supports VT-x or AMD-V, the VM will run fine.
Most likely yes, and if it works, this is one of the easier options (without needing to develop anything or change workflow). However, not all devices work properly with this. iPhones on iTunes are particularly difficult, as (iirc) they sometimes change device ID immediately after connecting/initializing. If you pass through a specific "USB Host Device", an iPhone connected to a Windows VM with iTunes may not work.
If you pass through an entire USB controller, like an extra PCIe card or one from your motherboard (if it has multiple), this method should work on any USB device with any Windows tools/drivers.
If a Linux native method exists (which it does according to other comments), that is usually easier to set up than a VM with USB passthrough, but it might change the workflow.
Well I get why you stick to a hardware device you like... but honestly that's 15 years old. You can get something better and cheaper delivered to your door tomorrow.
I personally went down a similar path while discovering https://www.rockbox.org/ was still a thing, looking for old iPod or Archos I could refurbish, checking 2nd hand market, etc. As much as it pains me to say, unless you are a collector it's not "worth" it. You can get something ridiculously smaller, with more memory, more features, etc for the price of a meal.
IMHO it's better to get rid of Windows by purchasing new hardware that is genuinely interroperable by supporting standards.
Ideally you'd check something like https://www.hanselman.com/blog/how-to-update-the-firmware-on-your-zune-without-microsoft-dammit but it might be more work than you want to put it. Maybe your local HackerSpace could help though.
My point finally is that freedom is quite important and feeling trapped daily is not worth ~$50.
My only reason to dualboot Windows is I own two Xbox controllers that randomly decide, from time to time, that they need to be updated and will refuse to connect to Linux otherwise.
It annoys me to no end that they can't be updated on linux
The new Steam Controller is gonna go CRAZY once it comes out!!! Nahhh, screw Microsoft.
Apparently gmtp is a reliable tool for transferring music to a Zune. Or this: https://github.com/whoozle/android-file-transfer-linux/
It’s been a few years since I tried making my Zune work on Linux, I should give it another try, thanks.
Can second mtp, works like a charm. As does the alt of a windows 7 VM with the Zune software installed, though that's a bit more painful.
You can run windows in docker. https://github.com/dockur/windows
That's just a VM running atop Docker container; convenient, perhaps, but a little misleading to users who don't understand how Docker works and might think it's better performance-wise than a VM.
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
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Sometimes I need to show off that I beat Microsoft Minesweeper on Expert in slightly less than 200 seconds.
My time is by no means competitive, the current record for Expert is less than 30 seconds. I am also aware the score could be faked by rewriting the .ini file. In fact there are numerous cheats which could simulate a win. That is why when I share this accomplishment in person, it is only with those who know I would never compromise my integrity with such dishonest behaviour.
Most people have been more impressed (if impressed at all and haven't left by the time Windows has booted) that the drive Windows is installed on still works, since it was made in 2005 (Seagate ST3160023AS).
You really can’t run it in Bottles, or a VM of Windows? I’ve managed the occasional peripheral using a VM.
Zune was underrated. I had one and it was godly. I loved it more than the apple products at the time. It had so much potential!
Windows keeps trying to override grub or something. I had to reinstall grub once. Also windows keeps trying to update and reboot and fails. I have it for steam games.
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BEST reason, I miss my Zune so much, they ruled.
For me it's hdmi 2.1 on AMD. Starting to really hate my decision of buying a TV as a gaming display, purely because of how much windows sucks. Just booted it up to see if my samba server was working, only to find it has no internet connection whatsoever. Wifi also connects but no internet access, but i know for a fact it's working because both on linux and my phone it's working fine. Already tried a bunch of troubleshooting, including resetting the adapters competely. I'm starting to suspect the mullvad vpn app somehow fucked something up, because i'm not connected to their servers right now because i haven't added more time to my account. Internet should work if i disable the vpn app though, so idk what's wrong there.
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All the VM suggestions are good. But have you ever looked In to winboat as well?
Winboat is just a VM in a container, so the performance hit will not change/be worse
I remember back in the day when I used mp3 players, I had a good experience using banshee to manage them from linux, both an iPod and a Sansa Fuze. Of course it looks like banshee was last updated in 2014.
There is one app that only runs on Windows and that's my dual boot cross to carry. I hate it so much that I am running a Windows VM and run the same app there until the lag is too much and have to boot to Window to finish the job.
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this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2026
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