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6 Replies Last post: Aug 3, 2009 8:50 AM by afoxinsocks

USB device issues in Windows 7 posted: Jan 13, 2009 12:26 PM

woodmeister

43 posts since
Jul 12, 2008

So far my experience with Windows 7 has been positive with Fusion 2.01.

There is one issue, it may be a Fusion issue or could be a Windows issue.
There are a few USB devices that I have which are basically a "plug in when needed"
and "unplug when done". In XP with a Fusion VM, these work fine in such a manner.
However, in Windows 7, they are only recognized if they are attached when booting.
If I plug them in after the VM is started, they show as attached to the VM (the little icon
pops up in the VM bar at the bottom of the window and is active), but Windows
never sees the devices. They don't show up in the device manager.

If they are hooked up before the VM boots, they all work just fine.

The devices are: USB-to-serial converter, a couple microcontroller programmers, and
a USB headphone/microphone combo.

What makes things stranger, I have a couple USB memory sticks that pop-up
every time when plugged in after the VM is booted.

Has any one else seen this sort of behavior? What can I look for in log files
to see if it is a VM issue? Is it just an issue with Windows 7 driver handling?

Re: USB device issues in Windows 7

1. Jan 13, 2009 1:24 PM

in response to: woodmeister

WoodyZ

11,090 posts since
Apr 22, 2004

Without having the devices connected reboot the Virtual Machine and then do the following...

1. Turn on Show hidden devices from the View menu in Device Manager

2. Are there any flagged devices?

3. Plug in the Devices and does the hardware tree change at all?

4. Right-click the Parent Node of the Hardware Tree and select Scan for hardware changes.

Do the devices show now?

Re: USB device issues in Windows 7

2. Jan 14, 2009 7:44 AM

in response to: WoodyZ

woodmeister

43 posts since
Jul 12, 2008

woodyz said:

4. Right-click the Parent Node of the Hardware Tree and select Scan for hardware changes.

Nothing showed up initially or was flagged initially. Did the above and devices loaded
and were up and running.

Thanks!

Is there some setting, some where that I can change to solve his issue
or should I flag this as a bug and send it to Microsoft? Or could it stiil
be some strange Fusion issue?

Re: USB device issues in Windows 7

3. Jan 14, 2009 11:02 AM

in response to: woodmeister

WoodyZ

11,090 posts since
Apr 22, 2004

Is there some setting, some where that I can change to solve his issue
or should I flag this as a bug and send it to Microsoft? Or could it stiil
be some strange Fusion issue?

If this condition could be reproduced on a Physical Machine then I'd tend to think it was a bug and would report it however since this is happening in a Virtual Machine I'd want to do further testing before I declared it a bug (in Windows 7).

I haven't tried this in Windows 7 however I use DevCon in XP in various Scripts so maybe an easy work-a-round is to create a shortcut to DevCon and place it on the Desktop. Set it to run minimized. Then when you plug something in that isn't recognized automatically just double-click the shortcut.

Have a look at: The DevCon command-line utility functions as an alternative to Device Manager

Re: USB device issues in Windows 7

4. Jul 31, 2009 3:43 PM

in response to: WoodyZ

afoxinsocks

2 posts since
Jul 31, 2009

I'm having this exact issue on 2.0.5 with the Windows 7 RC, both 32 and 64 bit. Right-clicking in device manager and scanning for devices DOES work, but you have to do it literally every time you plug in the device.... clearly not intended behavior.

This issue doesn't appear when running natively on the same machine (using Bootcamp).

If you have anything for me to try, or any suggestions, please let me know.

Re: USB device issues in Windows 7

5. Jul 31, 2009 5:25 PM

in response to: afoxinsocks

jeburnett

3 posts since
Jul 25, 2009

I'd like to add my observations as well;

When booting Win7RC (64-bit) from a boot camp partition, everything works very well. Plugging/unplugging USB hubs and devices is seen by Windows and the device manager assigns drivers and applications that use these devices then work perfectly.

When I return to Mac OS 10.5.7 and launch a Win7 guest from this same partition (using Fusion 2.0.5), USB for the most doesn't work. It doesn't see any or all devices upon boot-up. Plugging and unplugging them has no effect in Windows. The status bar on the Fusion window DOES show its recognition that USB devices are being added or removed. However, Windows doesn't see them UNLESS I tell the Device Manager to rescan for them. When it does that, it sees that things are plugged in but not all of them get started and assigned drivers. Also, in the case of USB serial adapters, the previously assigned COM ports don't get used but new ones get assigned. Again, not every one of the device will successfully have a driver installed.

As many components are not yet in some official state of support, I suppose these kinds of problems are to be expected. If, however this sort of thing is NOT explained by that, I'd appreciate some advice and/or tips to try.

Thank you,

Jonathan

Re: USB device issues in Windows 7

6. Aug 3, 2009 8:50 AM

in response to: jeburnett

afoxinsocks

2 posts since
Jul 31, 2009

I'd just like to echo that I saw exactly the same behavior when booting my Win7 Bootcamp partition as a guest under Fusion 2.0.5 as well.... USB worked fine booting natively, but under Fusion it did not.

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