Updating Garmin GPS with Linux Mint

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Sierra048

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My wife and I have Garmin GPS devices for our vehicles. In order to update the maps, Garmin requires a Windows laptop. Does anyone know if it's possible with Linux Mint. I wiped Windows from both of our laptops, not thinking I'd ever need it again. If it is possible, how would I go about doing it. I've read some old threads on this issue dating back to 2011 where some said there were some possible ways but they were so technical in a programming kind of way I was lost.
 
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There's an open street maps project you could look into. The maps could be even better than garmins. It's been a few years but I think you just copy an iso type file to an SD card, with a specific name, and the GPS figures out the rest.
 
I need to back track from my first post. We just received the Garmin units and it's recommended that you register the devices, update the software and load any new map data.
 
Since you have a valid license for Windows, within Linux install a VM (virtualbox) and then setup Windows for the few times you may need it.
 
Newtoncd8,

I installed virtualbox on my laptop. Not sure what to do next. Not sure where I would get Windows from. I don't have a copy of Windows. What is my next step? Thanks.
 
Originally Posted by Sierra048
My wife and I have Garmin GPS devices for our vehicles. In order to update the maps, Garmin requires a Windows laptop. Does anyone know if it's possible with Linux Mint. I wiped Windows from both of our laptops, not thinking I'd ever need it again. If it is possible, how would I go about doing it. I've read some old threads on this issue dating back to 2011 where some said there were some possible ways but they were so technical in a programming kind of way I was lost.


Virtualbox is probably the easiest way to do this. Install it, use your key to install Windows 10 in it (7 and up keys will work for 10) and then do your Garmin stuff.
 
There's always more than one way to skin a cat. The virtualbox business is probably the best suggestion and most sensible one, though I've got no experience with that. If it were me, I'd simply borrow someone's Windows computer, or use dual boot (which I have, but some claim is not for the faint of heart), or, most likely, I'd see what these updates actually involve. If the utility is simply just a fancy way of moving an update file to a card/device and then the device updates itself upon next power up, then that could be conceivably done from Linux. I've done it with dash cams.

I can direct you to this official Garmin site. Is your product shown on that page?
 
Use Virtualbox or Vmware Workstation- You can install Windows 10 without a key, and download WIn 10 from Microsoft to burn a DVD or USB memory stick. The drawback to not having a valid key is that you cannot customize the appearance, and a few other things: for your purposes it should work fine.
 
Appreciate all the suggestions and help. I installed Virtual Box. I went to the Windows site to do the ISO thing. I created a flash drive and put the image on it. I run Virtualbox, select the flash drive but I get an error message that it doesn't see the USB with the flash drive in it. I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. trying to figure this out. I think I'm way out of my element here. Unless someone can help me move forward, I'm going to surrender and admit defeat. As some might remember from my Linux Mint conversion threads, I'm not a techie by any means. Again, thanks for the help.
 
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Originally Posted by Sierra048
Appreciate all the suggestions and help. I installed Virtual Box. I went to the Windows site to do the ISO thing. I created a flash drive and put the image on it. I run Virtualbox, select the flash drive but I get an error message that it doesn't see the USB with the flash drive in it. I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. trying to figure this out. I think I'm way out of my element here. Unless someone can help me move forward, I'm going to surrender and admit defeat. As some might remember from my Linux Mint conversion threads, I'm not a techie by any means. Again, thanks for the help.


I am going to guess you just copied and pasted the ISO on the flash drive? That isn't going to work. The ISO is a disk image and needs to be extracted/imaged onto media, be it USB or DVD. You should be able to simply mount the ISO as a disk image in VirtualBox and boot from it for your install, no USB needed.
 
Originally Posted by Sierra048
Unless someone can help me move forward, I'm going to surrender and admit defeat. As some might remember from my Linux Mint conversion threads, I'm not a techie by any means.

You're doing fine, you just made one wrong turn. OVERKILL's diagnosis is the one. You cannot just cut and paste an ISO, unless you're simply trying to move ISOs around, which does happen. As OVERKILL states, you have to "author" it. You can't copy an ISO to a CD or DVD (you can, but you won't like the result). You take Brasero, for instance, in your case, and have it handle it. That package will be installed on your Mint and here is a page that provides some good help, with instructions how to burn an image.

For a USB stick, others will have to provide some suggestions, since I'm stubbornly stuck in the optical media era.
wink.gif
 
i have been running Linux so long i dont know how long. my trouble iam not good with Linux if it needs attention. as my son who set it up is a long way away. and have only one tech guy available here. I love Linux.
 
If you have the ISO, the easiest thing to do is just put it on your HD and then when you go to start the VM if you are not prompted for the path to the ISO, then choose Optical Drives in the Devices drop down menu. Choose the ISO and it should "mount" it like it was a disk in the drive and you can install from that. Unless you are short on disk space, there really is no reason to put the ISO image on a thumb drive nor is there a reason to make a bootable thumb drive for this. VirtualBox will emulate a DVD from the ISO image.

Once you get Windows installed, at some point, you'll have to pass along the Garmin to the Windows VM. There is a USB menu under the devices pull down and I believe you can give your VM access to the Garmin via that.

Originally Posted by Sierra048
Appreciate all the suggestions and help. I installed Virtual Box. I went to the Windows site to do the ISO thing. I created a flash drive and put the image on it. I run Virtualbox, select the flash drive but I get an error message that it doesn't see the USB with the flash drive in it. I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. trying to figure this out. I think I'm way out of my element here. Unless someone can help me move forward, I'm going to surrender and admit defeat. As some might remember from my Linux Mint conversion threads, I'm not a techie by any means. Again, thanks for the help.
 
Not a quitter by nature. I'm a little PO'ed at myself for writing that I was giving up (more like plain frustration). After that post, I spent numerous hours web surfing and watching Youtube videos. I realized that since I downloaded the ISO file and it was in my downloads folder, I could choose that location to run it from via the storage option under settings. I actually progressed to a point where Windows actually started to load. Problem is that it would go through the motions and then somewhere along the way I'd get an "oops, something went wrong" message and then it would stop. I tried three different times and all ended the same way. It would never tell me what the problem was. So, some questions:

1) Do you think it could be a bad ISO download?

2) My Garmin won't charge via the USB cable it came with either of my Linux Mint laptops but fully charged with my neighbors Windows laptop (I took Garak's advice and was able to accomplish the registration and downloads). The USB ports work fine when working in Linux Mint. My concern is if I can get Windows working properly in Virtualbox, will I still have issues trying to use a USB port for future updates.

3) Was it a fluke or will the Windows ISO file in my download's folder be OK going forward?

4) The first time Windows was going through the install process it came to a point where it asked for a license key. I just typed the one in that was on the bottom of the laptop. It didn't let me go any further after doing that. So, I started the process over and at that point I chose the "I don't have a license key" option and I was able to move forward. Then it came to a screen where I could chose a standard install, or a custom install. I chose the standard one the first time and it stopped cold and would not let go forward. The next try, I chose custom installation and that's when it seemed I was really making progress until the before-mentioned "oops" message appeared. Can someone help me understand, If I can get Windows to load correctly, how I'm going to satisfy the requirement for needing a license key for validation since it didn't like the one pasted on the bottom of the laptop.

Sorry for the wordiness. If my ramblings are confusing, please ask for clarification. I would really consider this a major accomplishment, especially for me, getting this process to work. Took me two weeks to get Linux Mint installed but I have never regretted it. That should tell you my level of tech knowledge. As always, thank you for your patience and guidance.
 
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