Using Keyspan USB server on a VM

[Mike_Deardurff]

I know this probably is NOT a supported feature by Vmware, but it is a neat way to share USB devices via IP. My problem is that I've tried this Keyspan USB server device on physical servers and it has worked fine but when i add the software to a VM and try to connect to a device, either win2k or 2k3, windows states that the device cannot be used because

"Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)".

Has anyone here tried using this particular device on a VM?

Any idea why this error would be generated on the VM but not on a physical server?

Any help is great. Thanks

[admin]

I have heard others who have had success using USB over IP in a VM using Anywhere USB from Digi.

http://www.digi.com/products/usb/anywhereusb.jsp

[jlanders]

In addition to the Keyspan USB server software, you may also

need to install the driver for the actual USB device. For example,

you may need the driver for USB dongle or flash device. This is

probably mentioned in the Keyspan manual in the "USB Device

Compatibility" section.

The server software only provides the management and transport

for USB over IP. You don't say if the guest was P2V'd. If it wasn't,

then the initial install didn't see a USB devices and may not have

installed any drivers.

Joe

[Mike_Deardurff]

Well, as an update, I have tried installing drivers but have had no luck. Im really stumped here. The problem lies in getting the proper driver, i think.... I can go to the site for the driver but since most usb device drivers are native to the latest OS's (XP, server 2003 etc.) I am not able to get anything but drivers for Win98. I have also tried some other USBdrivers off the net but had no luck. However, i can get the device to be recongnized, meaning device manager will see it as for example, a Dell USB key, but still show its driver is not correct and makes it unusable.

Is there a driver that i should be using that has proven successfully in VM situations? Im assuming this is related to the fact the Vmware doesnt mix well with USB. Am i wasting me time or can there really be a fix for this?

Thanks

[jlanders]

Sorry to hear that you're still having trouble.

Yes, if you're using something simple like a Dell USB storage key,

you won't need to install drivers into XP or Windows Server 2003.

The Keyspan server claims USB 2.0 compatibility, so maybe this KB

article from Microsoft will help:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892050/en-us

As Pang mentioned, a fair number of customers have been successful

with the Digi Anywhere USB over IP product. It's possible that there

are timing requirements in Keyspan's driver that make it unsuitable

in a virtualized guest. You may want to contact Keyspan directly.

Joe

[Mike_Deardurff]

Thank you all for you input, but unfortunately, there is no good outcome for this device. As some of you have mentioned, it appears only the AnywhereUSB device will work in this situation, especially after hearing from Keyspan support that USB is not supported. Fortunately, we have order a DigiDoc device and will hopefully have good luck with that!

thanks for all your help

-mike

[jlanders]

Thanks for the update.

Did Keyspan say that they didn't support ESX, or that there

was a problem using the device as part of a virtual infrastructure?

Joe

[grizzly]

If you get the error:

"Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)".

You'll have to copy the usbd.sys from your Windows OS CD (Server 2003 or XP) \i386 to the virtual machine folder c:\windows\system32\drivers. You might have to restart your VM.

The file usbd.sys doesn't get installed during the OS setup because Windows won't find any virtual USB controller hardware on an ESX server.

Try connecting to your Keyspan usb server. I've tried it and it worked! I could use my USB memory sticks with my VMs running on an ESX Server 2.5.

[SteveOB]

Wow grizzly, you were right on with that answer. Thanks, you saved a project!!

Steve

[sheetsb]

We just purchased the Keyspan USB server and I'm doing some testing. Has anyone used it with a USB modem? We have a Multitech MT5634ZBA USB modem. I can attach to it and the system (both a VM and a physical) load the drivers, but it appears that after the installation they cannot communicate with the modem. I plugged in a thumb drive and that works correctly, just not the modem.

Any ideas?

Bill S.

[britton_kerr]

I have it working on 2003 but I cannot get it working on XP after doing the same procedure. The driver installation for the keyspan never executes. Anyone have any suggestions?

UPDATE: Disregard...Damn windows firewall....Works.

Message was edited by:

britton.kerr

[Runa]

You can try USB Redirector[/b] software by incentivespro.com

[SteveLem]

Thanks. I'll try USB Redirector. It seems it's really good solution.

[SteveLem]

I've just tested it and my test system is frozen now.

OS: Windows XP Pro SP2

USB Device: USB flash drive

System frozen immediately after device sharing Safe mode saved me this time. Still searching for working software solution.

[SteveLem]

Just answered in another topic.. USB redirector does not work for me. I tried to share flash drive and my system becomes frozen. I'm still looking for really working software solution.

[admin]

.

Message was edited by:

rgrodevant

[admin]

Serial comms and peripherals should be okay, but I don't know that I'd say mass storage over shared usb / ip would be optimal.

You could share the flash drive -to- the VM from a non-virtualized host .. as a regular share (samba, etc) over IP rather than the shared usb client. Nothing additional would need to be installed on the VM and .. really, there would be no need for the keyspan product in the case of mass storage anyway. That's more appropriate for peripherals like modems / dongles / printers.

I read a lot of kudos on the keyspan product, but I've opted to avoid that approach for the one system that requires access to a USB dongle.

The only server I have remaining, that isn't on ESX (or going onto ESX) at this point, is our avaya voicemail/management system with a USB dongle. I settled for running that particular VM under VMWare Workstation Sure, this setup makes me cringe if I give it too much thought, but the device works okay if its plugged in / driver installed while the guest has focus. This allows me to get the P2V part out of the way and find another solution without buying additional third-party software. When we get a dongle that plugs directly into the phonesystem, this VM is ready for ESX.

Message was edited by:

rgrodevant

(Made a correction when I re-read the question, sorry)

[trentjensen]

I just want to thank you for posting this solution. It's sad how long it took me to realize it was the VM causing the problem, and your solution worked perfectly. Thank you!