connect a usb device to a VM (vSphere 6.5)

[rschmid]

Hello,

we need to connect a barcode scanner (usb) to a Windows 10 VM.

Above mentioned VM ist hosted in vSphere 6.5.

usb-controller 2.0 and 3.0 are added to the VM.

Barcode scanner is physically connected (usb) to a physical Computer (also Windows 10)

Colleagues are connecting to VM using remoted Desktop Client.

How do I connect my barcode scanner to my VM?

Kind regards,

Roland

[RickVerstegen]

You need to connect the barcode scanner to the physical ESXi host and configure passthrough. After that you can add the device to the virtual machine, so that the VM will be able to access device.

Below are the devices that are supported for ESXi:

VMware Knowledge Base

Also be aware that your device is probably not supported.

[rschmid]

our physical EXSI host and the location where my colleagues need to work with the barcode scanner are in different buildings/locations

does it work?

Kind regards,

Roland

[bluefirestorm]

You may have to use VMware Workstation or VMware Remote Console (VMRC) to access the VM on the ESXi server and connect the USB barcode scanner locally.

[rschmid]

does the VMware Remote Console (VMRC) work alone (without VMware Workstation or Player)?

[bluefirestorm]

It should be able to work as a standalone without Workstation/Player.

Not sure if it is still the case, one release of VMRC on Linux host would not work if the Linux host already has Workstation installed on it.

Visually, the VMRC looks like a scaled down version of Workstation.

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=VMRC1003&productId=742

[rschmid]

it works so far in local webbrowser, but how does the user login to VM without knowledge of vCenter Server admin user/password?

My browser session always first asks for vCenter Server admin user/password

[bluefirestorm · Accepted solution]

I don't know how to work out that part. But I suppose you need to create a new ESXi user with limited role/rights so that he/she/they cannot go around creating/deleting VMs or even shut down the ESXi server.

Both Workstation Pro and VMRC would have the same issue (the need to have user ID/password to connect to the ESXi server but with limited roles/rights) but Workstation Pro licence cost can probably buy half dozen USB barcode readers.

[bluefirestorm]

It looks like you can use a clone authentication ticket.

If you invoke the vmrc -? from command line it shows a dialog with the different options. Sorry I don't know the detailed steps on how to clone the ticket but a web search result will give you better advice than I can on this.

[rschmid]

it works now. I created a user and restricted its permission only to the one VM he needs

I have no VMware Workstation/Fusion but VMRC opens perfect in the local webbrowser.

[bluefirestorm]

Came across this old post VMRC Shortcut and it shows some steps to get to the clone ticket.

As for the USB barcode scanner, if you had not already done so, you should also try the "USB autoconnect" feature. It works for Fusion/Workstation, so I would think it would work also with VMRC. You should be able to use the vendor ID/product ID that the barcode scanner automatically connects when the VM powers up. It is much better to use autoconnect to avoid having to instruct the end-user(s) on how to connect the USB device and make it a seamless experience for them. The moment end-user(s) have to deal with manual connect/disconnect of USB devices it potentially introduce support issues whether the USB device is connected or not.

You should be able to use this KB as reference

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1648