topic Re: Windows 11 ARM device manager shows yellow exclamation for VMCI Bus Device and USB2 EHCI control in VMware Fusion Discussions

Windows 11 ARM device manager shows yellow exclamation for VMCI Bus Device and USB2 EHCI controller

semakj — Sun, 29 Oct 2023 19:55:31 GMT

I'm running ARM Windows 11 Home 22H2 Build 22621.2506 under VMWare Fusion 13.5.0 on a Mac mini M2 2023 and VMware Tools 12.3.0

Device manager shows that it cannot find the device drivers (Error code 28) for VMware VMCI Bus Device and VMware USB2 EHCI controller.

Earlier posts from 2015 suggests that this is because of missing VMware Tools.

I have completely uninstalled VMware tools and then performed a new Full install, with no difference though.

VMware VMCI Bus Device
PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_0740&SUBSYS_074015AD&REV_10
PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_0740&SUBSYS_074015AD
PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_0740&CC_088000
PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_0740&CC_0880

VMware USB2 EHCI controller
PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_0774&SUBSYS_197615AD&REV_00
PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_0774&SUBSYS_197615AD
PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_0774&CC_0C0300
PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_0774&CC_0C03

Re: Windows 11 ARM device manager shows yellow exclamation for VMCI Bus Device and USB2 EHCI control

Technogeezer — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 19:42:29 GMT

What is the virtual hardware version of the VM (in the VM's Settings > Compatibility), It should be 21, especially if you want the improvements in VMware Tools (3D support, drag/drop/copy/paste performance enhancements, suspend/resume, host time sync, etc) to work on Fusion 13.5

I'm looking at a similarly configured Windows 11 ARM Home 22621.2506 VM on my Mac mini 2020 M1 with Fusion 13.5 and Vmware Tools 12.3.0.22234872. Those devices aren't displayed in Device Monitor at all - and everything is working fine.

Was this a VM that was created on 13.5 or the 2023 Tech Preview, or was it upgraded from a VM created on Fusion 13.0.x version?

Here's something you might try (take a snapshot first):

Run Device manager and delete the two devices.
Then reboot the system and see if the devices return.

Re: Windows 11 ARM device manager shows yellow exclamation for VMCI Bus Device and USB2 EHCI control

Technogeezer — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 20:04:10 GMT

Ack.. never mind. I dug a little further and found that these two devices (named a bit differently) do exist in my VMs and like you see don't have a driver.

There's nothing wrong here and what you see is normal. Don't worry that the devices exist and don't have a driver attached. Fusion works just fine without these devices, having a driver, and the VMware Tools work fine.

Re: Windows 11 ARM device manager shows yellow exclamation for VMCI Bus Device and USB2 EHCI control

semakj — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 09:49:04 GMT

So in summary:

VMware-tools-12.3.0-22234872-x86_64 has the drivers and installs correctly:
System devices
VMware VMCI Bus Device
and
Universal Serial Bus controllers
Standard Universal PCI to USB Host Controller

but

VMware-tools-12.3.0-22234872-arm lacks the drivers and shows:
Other devices
Base System Device
Orange exclamation mark
The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)
and
Other devices
Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller
Orange exclamation mark
The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)

This means that VMware-tools ARM needs to be corrected!

Re: Windows 11 ARM device manager shows yellow exclamation for VMCI Bus Device and USB2 EHCI control

Technogeezer — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 14:16:16 GMT

Again, I think VMware knows what it’s doing here. I’m sure they are aware that they have devices on Windows 11 ARM that Tools doesn’t supply drivers for. Remembef that the Tools on ARM still do not have the same functionality as on Intel.

VMware has documented the differences between Tools on Intel and ARM Windows - see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/95031 .Other than the missing drivers is there something that doesn’t work as documented on Windows 11 ARM?

Re: Windows 11 ARM device manager shows yellow exclamation for VMCI Bus Device and USB2 EHCI control

semakj — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 20:40:11 GMT

I found a KB article that explains this:

Compatibility considerations for Arm guest operating systems in Fusion VMs on Apple silicon (90364)

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/90364

......

1. Generic requirements and limitations for all Arm Guest Operating Systems

Other virtual devices:

EHCI and UHCI are not fully supported at this time

2. Windows

Other functionalities enabled by VMware Tools are not available at this time, including:
Drivers: PVSCSI, VMCI, VSOCK, VMMEMCTL, VMMOUSE

.......

I tried to disable the devices by editing the .vmx file setting vmci0.present and ehci.present to "FALSE", but that did not have any effect on the Device Manager list.

I don't know what VMCI is supposed to do, but EHCI is for USB 2.0. Since XHCI also supports USB 2.0, EHCI is not necessary.

Re: Windows 11 ARM device manager shows yellow exclamation for VMCI Bus Device and USB2 EHCI control

coolryg — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 02:26:36 GMT

Windows ARM drivers for VMCI/vsock will be included in an upcoming release of VMtools.

VMware does not actively maintain EHCI drivers.

Microsoft has eliminated inbox EHCI drivers for Windows ARM.

To disable the EHCI device, add usb.uhci.present = "FALSE" to the vmx configuration.

Re: Windows 11 ARM device manager shows yellow exclamation for VMCI Bus Device and USB2 EHCI control

Technogeezer — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 04:53:02 GMT

@coolryg wrote:
Windows ARM drivers for VMCI/vsock will be included in an upcoming release of VMtools.
VMware does not actively maintain EHCI drivers.
Microsoft has eliminated inbox EHCI drivers for Windows ARM.
To disable the EHCI device, add usb.uhci.present = "FALSE" to the vmx configuration.

That's a good tip, and I'll include it in the next version of the Companion document.