ESXi 4.1 USB Passthrough

[mikelane]

Reading the help files it appears that USB for vSphere 4.1 requires Virtual Center ... I wish I had known this before upgrading as I was really looking forward to using this feature.

Oh well, I can't be the only one who didn't know

[bovineone]

What did you upgrade from? ESXi 4.0 doesn't support USB (or serial) pass-through at all.

[mikelane]

I upgraded from 4.0.

VC 4.1 donations are gladly accepted :smileysilly:

[bovineone · Accepted solution]

Are you sure USB Passthrough requires vCenter? That doesn't appear to be mentioned in this KB.... http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1022290

[mikelane]

Well my initial assumption was that I would not need VC - I read something in a help file that mentioned VC polling and jumped to conclusions.

When I try to add a USB device I can't because ESXi says that there are no USB devices present.

The USB device I am trying to add is a USB CD-ROM.

I'll try some other devices and see what happens

[mikelane]

Other devices work

It's a shame that my USB CDROM drive doesn't - oh well - thanks for the link

[DSTAVERT]

Are you sure the CD doesn't show up as a host device. If it does, you can attach that device to a guest like any other Host CD drive.

[mikelane]

Sadly it does not show up as a host device.

[eytanes]

So what's the consensus, does it work without virtual center? I attached a usb hd to the host but then did not have an option to add a USB device to the vm. As stated in the final step http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1022290

[mikelane]

Yes it works without VC

[raxman]

Yes, I can confirm, it works without VC and I could connect a usb-hd and a avm modem ... great work vmware :smileygrin:

[eytanes]

I'm still not getting the option to add a USB device. When I go to "Configuration" -> "Advanced Settings" I get a message that shows "Host does not support passthrough configuration" (attached). Anyone seen this? Could it be that my PowerEdge 2900 isn't compatible?

[mikelane]

I just checked mine and I see the same message as you - USB pass-through is working though (for some - not all USB devices).

[eytanes]

You are 100% right. I forgot to upgrade the Virtual Hardware to version 7. That did the trick. Thanks

[raxman]

the screenshot is right ... that is for direct passthrough ... e.g. graphics or scsi devices ... this has to be supported by the cpu ... has nothing to do with usb :smileyblush:

[maumar]

hello there, sorry for beginner question ;(

i have ESXi 4.1 and one and only vm installed, ubuntu 11.4;

i have added an usb controller to vm; then i have attached an usb disk, but tailing  sysog on ububtu i cannot see any changes; what should i do to connect the usb disk to ubuntu guest vm?

thnx

PS: vmware-tools need to be installed?