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I don't want iTunes on my laptop due to the stupidly bloated amount of system drivers and services it installs. Win7 offers XP mode which allows you to virtualise USB devices to the VM.

Does anyone know if I could install iTunes into XP Mode and sync to an iPhone that way, preferably bringing in an Outlook address book from the host machine as well.

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You should try it. I see no particular reason it should work. – mechko Jan 10 '10 at 11:51
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Well I might if I had an iPhone. But I don't, and I want to see if someone has tried it before I buy the phone. Hence the question. – blowdart Jan 10 '10 at 12:11
Following in the theme of (un)helpful comments, get an Android... – grenade Jan 11 '10 at 10:12
Just a quick note: while playing with MS VPC XP mode, it was possible to assign an ip to the VM and communicate (here, ping) back and forth with my main OS. I have not examined this further, but this should allow the possibility of establishing a mini outlook network that syncs, just like you would with a home network. I don't know a thing about Outlook, however. – mtone Jan 11 '10 at 16:11
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6 Answers

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Yes you can. (I do this with an Ipod Touch, not Iphone)

However, I last tried this in the Beta, and since RC, I use VMWare Workstation.

The only problem I had was the pass through of USB wasn't flawless - each time I plugged in the Ipod, it detected 4 new unknown devices on the host and it was annoying, but when I launched Itunes, it did find the Ipod and work fine... I am hoping that this was a beta issue.

As for contact sync (I tried contact and calendar), I haven't found a good way, I messed around for a while but just thought in the end the best way was to install Outlook inside the virtual machine and simply export from host and import in to VM.

... (Not helpful, but in addition, I can 100% guarantee that it works with VMWare Workstation.)

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You can run iTunes in the XP vm and update the iPhone but you can only do this with the VM running ie. not running virtual iTunes on the Win7 host as iTunes doesn't pick up the fact a USB device has been attached.

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I wouldn't be planning to install iTunes on the host computer at all, that's what I want to avoid. However would the USB passthrough work without the drivers on the host? – blowdart Jan 10 '10 at 13:55
I run iTunes in the XpMode vm and it works perfectly, updating the iPhone music and firmware etc. – user24284 Jan 10 '10 at 13:59
"I wouldn't be planning to install iTunes..." no you're misunderstanding the answer. With Win7 Virtual PC you can run apps on 2 modes: on the guest desktop like old Virtual PC, or in their own "seamless"window on the host desktop. What the answerer is saying is that you have to run the iTunes on the guest desktop, rather than using the the seamless windows mode. – Duncan Smart Jan 10 '10 at 16:42
Ah but USB notifications should flow in XP mode - they certainly do for hard drives and smart cards – blowdart Jan 10 '10 at 16:44
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up vote 0 down vote

i don't know about the MS VPC capabilities regarding USB throughput, but using iTunes on a 'disposable' virtual virtual machine to sync iPhones and iPods (which i think is what you want) works like a charm in VirtualBox.

the good thing: you can use MS VPC images in VirtualBox without conversion.

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Spent some time setting this up recently on Windows 7 with XPM. It works like a charm. No tweaks or special set up, it just works. Start the VPC, logically attach the USB connection and away you go. My music is stored on a network drive so its a tad slow at importing music, but I can live with that.

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Installing iTunes in win 7 XP Mode is a perfect way to protect your base system from the Apple bloat of iTunes and Quicktime. You can decide when plugging your iPhone into the PC is either a battery charging or picture transfer opportuntity, without messing with iTunes.

You decide when to bring iTunes into play for synching and updating by starting XP Mode and select USB attach iPhone. It works!

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FYI... it won't "attach" to the virtual machine when directed on a USB 3.0 port. USB 2.0 works fine

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