USB SUPPORT

[silentbob30]

Hello All,

I have just installed a test version of ESXi 4. As part of a VM setup you can add a USB controller. Does this mean that the VM in question will be able to see USB storage plugged into it. Basically I have a VM of XP and I want to add an external drive but I cant seem to do this. As it has a USB controller what am I doing wrong??

thanks

[lurch89]

I'm also curious about this, and have not come up with any definitive solution. I also have not found the missing link to make USB work. Thoughts?

[Gabrie1]

Did you try attaching an USB device to the host and then see if you can see it inside the VM?

[lurch89]

I gave that a shot, andhad no luck. There was no new dialog box or added option to attach the device to a VM. It was a generic USB thumb drive.

[AntonVZhbankov]

Found on some german forum, looks like an answer from VMware guy:

Are USB devices supported in a VM in ESX 4?

• Yes, but only devices attached to a host can be presented to a VM. Devices attached to a machine running the vSphere Client cannot be redirected and presented inside a VM by ESX/ESXi alone. (USB redirection can be found in VMware View and is supported through RDP.)

• USB support requires installation of VMware Tools.

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VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[lurch89]

Wonderful! Now, how do you do that?

I had the device plugged in to the host. I couldn't find where to add the USB device to the VM.

[AntonVZhbankov]

Unfortunately, can't help you today with technical details. It's already 10PM here, so I'm not at work

---

VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[lamw]

We haven't installed the final GA release of ESX(i) 4.0 but looking at the RC bits, you should be able to add a vUSB through the standard VM configurations, where you normally add your disk/network. This assumes that you do have a valid USB controller on your host

=========================================================================

William Lam

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at:

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

[lurch89]

I added the USB controller to the guest via the Edit Settings dialog. It says it has no configuratble settings.

Also, how would I tell if my host USB controller is supported?

[lamw]

I don't see anything specific in the release notes about know issues with USB: http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_esxi40_vc40_rel_notes.html

The only mention is when trying to boot ESXi off an USB, that 2.0 is required and 1.1 is not supported. I would double check your hardware against the vSphere HCL to see if it's on the list and probably double check the version of USB. You might also want to check the technical documents http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vs_pages/vsp_pubs_esxi40_i_vc40.html to see if there's any more specifics, but I think if the message says it it can't configure one perhaps the USB controller is not supported

=========================================================================

William Lam

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at:

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

[lurch89]

Although I've yet to dig through the documentation, thanks for linking me to it. I've been having a hard time finding it because it's buried with the ESX stuff. We're using the free products here, and really would like to use USB passthrough for license server dongles.

Hopefully within the docs is an explanation on USB in ESXi.

[AntonVZhbankov]

There is a mention of adding USB devices in "Basic administration" regarding available privileges on page 312

"Host USB device" Attach a host-based USB device to a virtual machine

---

VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[silentbob30]

sorry been away from my PC, ill take a look through the documentation and see what I can find

[lurch89]

I'm about ready to give up. It just feels like this was a feature they half-implemented and have not fully released yet. The evidence on page 312 indicates that the object permissions are available, but the UI element to add devices has not been created yet.

[Dave_Mishchenko]

My understanding from the beta was that ESXi would not do passthrough USB or serial.

[silentbob30]

That seems daft, other similar products passthrough that are usb and it is also a feature that you would think is desired by a lot of users

[AntonVZhbankov]

As for my opinion all the USB security keys are useless with ESX(i). ESX is first of all a cloud OS, where VM can go to any physical server. USB passthrough binds VM to a particular host.

So the best way is to install specialized USB-over-IP hardware, you can even VMotion machines with USB keys attached. Or get 200$ PC, install some PCI-USB controllers, install linux and VMware Server 2 on top. That would be enough to support license servers.

---

VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[lurch89]

We don't have any of the advanced cloud components of ESXi available to us (we're using the free version on standalone servers) so pinning the USB to one VM on one server is not an issue. If Linux and VMware Server 2 will work with USB, then we may use that. We haven't had good mileage with VMware server around here, but we really love ESXi.

[silentbob30]

A long shot I know but is there anyone from Vmware than can comment on this post and advise if you can pass through a USB device to a HOST?

[seanborman]

It is not possible to pass through USB devices which are connected to the ESX host or to the host running the VI client to a virtual machine. Although virtual USB controllers are now available as part of the VM virtual hardware, they cannot be connected to external devices.