USB Passthrough Not Working

[williamvoyek]

On a vShpere server I'm trying to add a USB device (a USB HDD) to a guest. I have marked all USB controllers on the host for passthrough and have rebooted the host. I have added the EHCI+UHCI controller to the guest and have the guest powered on. When I try to add the device to the guest the Add Hardware wizard shows "USB Device (unavailable)" and when I select it I see "There are no USB devices available on the host."

How can I diagnose what's going on here? I think I've followed the proper steps to configure USB passthrough but I just can't seem to get it working.

Hardware:

HP ProLiant DL380 G7

Intel 5520 Chipset

Intel I/O Controller Hub 10 (82801JI)

[UmeshAhuja]

Hi,

1. Are you sure the USB is properly connected to the server?

2. Are you able to see the USB drive at ESXi level i.e. Add storage under  Storage configuration of ESXi?

3. Is you virtual machine is hardware version 7 or later to which you are trying to attached the USB?

[williamvoyek]

1. The USB drive is connected to the front USB port on the server
2. No I do not see the drive in the "Add Storage" wizard. (I thought that when you configured the USB controller for Passthrough it would remove any attached storage devices from this section)
3. Yes the VM is version 11

[williamvoyek]

I have just booted the server from a Ubuntu 16.10 Live CD and have confirmed the USB drive appears when I plug it into the front port. I am able to read and write to the drive.

[williamvoyek]

Any other suggestions?

[UmeshAhuja]

Hi,

What is the USB version you are using ?

Below is the table that is support on

Version	ESXi/ESX 4.1	ESXi 5.0	ESXi 5.1	ESXi 5.5	ESXi 6.0
USB 2.0/1.1 Host-Connected	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
USB 2.0/1.1 Client-Connected	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
USB 3.0 Host-Connected	No	No	No	Yes*	Yes
USB 3.0 Client-Connected	No	Yes (with xHCI driver)	Yes (with xHCI driver)	Yes (with xHCI driver)	Yes (with xHCI driver)

* Requires ESXi 5.5 Patch 3.

[UmeshAhuja]

Hi,

What is the USB version you are using ?

Below is the table that is support on

Version	ESXi/ESX 4.1	ESXi 5.0	ESXi 5.1	ESXi 5.5	ESXi 6.0
USB 2.0/1.1 Host-Connected	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
USB 2.0/1.1 Client-Connected	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
USB 3.0 Host-Connected	No	No	No	Yes*	Yes
USB 3.0 Client-Connected	No	Yes (with xHCI driver)	Yes (with xHCI driver)	Yes (with xHCI driver)	Yes (with xHCI driver)

* Requires ESXi 5.5 Patch 3.

[williamvoyek]

It is a USB 2.0 device. I'm running vSphere 6.0.

I have tried a mix of 1.1, 2.0, and 3.0 devices though and none work in vSphere but all do work without exception when booting from an Ubuntu LiveCD.

[flchristoph · Accepted solution]

You should not need to do a passthrough of the USB controller. Try removing it from the passthrough configuration and then see if you can add the USB device to the VM.

If you really want to do it with passthrough, try adding a PCI Device to the VM (the physical USB controller should show up there).

[williamvoyek]

That did it. Thanks!

[techadmin1]

Hi, How do I remove the passthrough configuration? Thanks