# http://www.easyvmx.com

# It can be used with Player
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"

# Selected operating system for your virtual machine
guestOS = "win2000pro"

# displayName is your own name for the virtual machine
displayName = "Win2k4MSi"

# These fields are free text description fields
annotation = "Virtual Machine created with EasyVMX! Super Simple Edition"
guestinfo.vmware.product.url = "http://www.easyvmx.com"
guestinfo.vmware.product.class = "virtual machine"

# work if this number is higher than the number of your physical CPUs
numvcpus = "1"

# Memory size and other memory settings
mainMem.useNamedFile=FALSE
memsize = "320"
MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"
MemTrimRate = "-1"

# Unique ID for the virtual machine will be created
uuid.action = "create"

# This setting has no effect in VMware Player
tools.remindInstall = "FALSE"

# This setting has no effect in VMware Player
hints.hideAll = "TRUE"

# and virtual machine
tools.syncTime = "TRUE"

# This config activates USB
usb.present = "TRUE"
usb.generic.autoconnect = "FALSE"

# First serial port, physical COM1 is available
serial0.present = "TRUE"
serial0.fileName = "Auto Detect"
serial0.autodetect = "TRUE"
serial0.hardwareFlowControl = "TRUE"

# It is set to bidirectional for more functionality
parallel0.present = "TRUE"
parallel0.fileName = "Auto Detect"
parallel0.autodetect = "TRUE"
parallel0.bidirectional = "TRUE"

# Sound settings
sound.present = "TRUE"
sound.virtualdev = "es1371"

# This config activates logging, and keeps last log
logging = "TRUE"
log.fileName = "Win2k4MSi.log"
log.append = "TRUE"
log.keepOld = "1"

# computer and the virtual machine
isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "FALSE"
isolation.tools.dnd.disable = "FALSE"
isolation.tools.copy.enable = "TRUE"
isolation.tools.paste.enabled = "TRUE"

# This config activates this NIC by default
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "vlance"

# Settings for physical floppy drive
floppy0.present = "FALSE"

# Settings for physical CDROM drive
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
ide1:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
ide1:0.autodetect = "TRUE"

# This disk image is selected by default
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.fileName = "Win2k4MSi.vmdk"
ide0:0.mode = "persistent"
ide0:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
ide0:0.writeThrough = "TRUE"

# Setting shared folders
sharedFolder.option = "alwaysEnabled"
sharedFolder0.present = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.enabled = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.readAccess = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.writeAccess = "TRUE"
sharedFolder0.hostPath = "/media/sda1"
sharedFolder0.guestName = "sda1"
sharedFolder0.expiration = "never"
sharedFolder1.present = "TRUE"
sharedFolder1.enabled = "TRUE"
sharedFolder1.readAccess = "TRUE"
sharedFolder1.writeAccess = "TRUE"
sharedFolder1.hostPath = "/media/hdb5"
sharedFolder1.guestName = "my docs"
sharedFolder1.expiration = "never"
sharedFolder2.present = "TRUE"
sharedFolder2.enabled = "TRUE"
sharedFolder2.readAccess = "TRUE"
sharedFolder2.writeAccess = "TRUE"
sharedFolder2.hostPath = "/media/hdb6"
sharedFolder2.guestName = "downloads"
sharedFolder2.expiration = "never"
sharedFolder.maxNum = "3"

# END OF EasyVMX! CONFIG

extendedConfigFile = "Win2k4MSi.vmxf"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
tools.upgrade.policy = "manual"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:d2:08:38"
uuid.location = "56 4d 2a 72 b3 1d 2f c9-ff 8c dd 05 ef d2 08 38"
uuid.bios = "56 4d 2a 72 b3 1d 2f c9-ff 8c dd 05 ef d2 08 38"
ide0:0.redo = ""
parallel0.startConnected = "FALSE"

checkpoint.vmState = "Win2k4MSi.vmss"

usb.autoConnect.device0 = ""

Solution

To work around this issue, mount USBFS to /proc/bus/usb.

To do this while the host is running, execute the following command as root:

mount -t usbfs none /proc/bus/usb

You need to power cycle the virtual machines after the mount command to have access to available USB devices.

To configure the host to mount USBFS automatically on bootup, add the following line in the /etc/fstab file:

usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs auto 0 0

If this line is already present in /etc/fstab, it likely has the noauto option set in the options column (4th column). Change this to auto.

Some of the Linux distributions that are known not to mount USBFS by default include:

*
Ubuntu Linux 6.06
*
SUSE Linux 10.1
*
SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 10
*
Mandriva Linux 2006
*
SLES9 SP3 64 bit

Note: This issue affects these operating systems only when they are used as a host for VMware virtual machines. These operating systems, when used as guests, do not exhibit this problem."

That worked for me. I'm running Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon as host and WIn XP as guest. After mounting with

mount -t usbfs none /proc/bus/usb or appending usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs auto 0 0 to /etc/fstab and restarting all you have to do to make win xp guest recognise the usb device is click on VM>Removable Devices>USB Devices>[your device] and of course make sure you have installed the drivers.ubuntix