Introduction
With all honesty my experiences with trying to get any Apple product to work properly in Ubuntu has not been great. I have found a solution that works great for me although may not be for you.
The solution in question involves a Virtual Machine with VMWare Player that the Windows operating system can be installed onto. This allows for programs such as iTunes to be installed and run.
Downloading & Installing VMWare Player
I have the free VMWare Player installed which you may get from here:
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/free#desktop_end_user_computing/vmware_player/5_0
After downloading the relevant .bundle file do the following to install it:
- Open Terminal
Assuming you downloaded it to the default Downloads directory type the following:
cd ~/Downloads
Give the .bundle file permissions to execute (this may not be necessary) by doing the following:
chmod +x VMware-Player-5.0.2-1031769.i386.bundle
Install it through the following command:
sudo sh VMware-Player-5.0.2-1031769.i386.bundle
It goes without saying that if your downloaded .bundle file is named differently then use that name instead of "VMware-Player-5.0.2-1031769.i386.bundle"
Setting up the Virtual Machine & Installing Windows
Setting up the virtual machine is quite simple.
- First open VMWare player
- Once select "File" from the menu and then "Create a new virtual machine"
- The following window will open:
Select "Use a physical drive" if you want to install Windows from a DVD or select "Use ISO image" if you have an image of a Windows installation disk.
In the next few steps you can tweak the Virtual Machine and set things such as how much storage space the Virtual Machine can use and how much memory. After that you'll need to power-on the Virtual Machine and complete the Windows installation.
Installing VMWare Tools
Once Windows is installed and running you will need to shutdown and close VMWare player in order to prepare for installing VMWare Tools.
VMWare Tools is a software package that helps to stabilise the running Virtual Machine a bit and also integrate its programs into Unity (Ubuntus desktop interface) should you desire.
The reason I have asked you to close VMWare Player is due to the fact that I personally have had many problems installing the VMWare Tools package. To fix this so that you do not encounter the same problems do the following:
- Open Terminal
Type the following:
sudo vmplayer
After entering the above command you will be asked to enter your password. Enter it and then VMWare Player should open as the root user. You should now be able to start your Windows virtual machine as normal. Once it is up and running do the following to install VMWare Tools:
Select "Virtual Machine" from the menu and "Install VMWare Tools" then follow the instructions provided.
Downloading iTunes
After you have VMWare Tools installed you're all set to open your browser of choice (most likely Internet Explorer) and download iTunes. If you get stuck the information here may be of help to you:
https://www.apple.com/uk/support/itunes/install/
Configuring iTunes
After you have iTunes up and running you may want to setup some shared folders in the Virtual Machine Settings. To do this select "Virtual Machine" from the menu and then "Virtual Machine Settings". Once the settings window opens select "Options" and then "Share Folders". From there you can add different directories that you would like to access in the Virtual Machine.
For example I have a shared folder setup to provide access to my Music folder. From there I can adjust iTunes's settings so that my library is located within the shared folder as opposed to the default location in the Windows Music folder.
To change the default library location in iTunes do the following:
- Press CTRL + B on the keyboard to bring up the menu bar if it is not already visible
- Select "Edit" from the menu bar and then "Preferences"
- Once the preferences window opens select "Advanced" and then near the "iTunes Media folder location" select the "Change" button in order to change the location.
When the window to choose a new location opens select "Network" in the bottom left hand corner and then double click on "vmware-host".
Once vmware-host opens double click on "Shared Folders" and then double click again only this time on the shared folder that you would like to contain your iTunes Library. To confirm select the "Select Folder" button.
After you have done this you will then be able to access your entire Media Library both in the Virtual Machine and in Ubuntu.
After adding some Music to iTunes you should then be able to sync your iPod as normal.