topic Re: VIRTUAL USB FLASH DRIVE? in VMware Workstation Pro Discussions

VIRTUAL USB FLASH DRIVE?

opmitja — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 00:24:28 GMT

Hi, can add bootable virtual usb flash drive?

Re: VIRTUAL USB FLASH DRIVE?

bluefirestorm — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 02:29:19 GMT

If you mean using a physical bootable USB drive such as to install Windows 10/11 OS or some variant of Linux into a VM

The VM firmware needs to be EFI. So the line

firmware="efi"

needs to be present in the vmx configuration (or choose UEFI for the Firmware type in the Advanced in the Options tab)

Once firmware is set to efi, follow these steps

Assuming you are using Workstation Pro
1 Select "Power on to firmware" from VM -> Power menu
2 Connect the USB drive to the VM from the VM -> Removable Device menu
3 Choose "Power off"
4 Choose "Power on to firmware" again, "EFI USB" should now appear as one of the boot options

Player does not have Power on to firmware in the menu, but needs editing of vmx and the steps would be different.

Re: VIRTUAL USB FLASH DRIVE?

opmitja — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 05:51:23 GMT

Virtualbox can virtual flasdrive, but don't bootable.

May be vmware can?

https://ibb.co/brsYcYB

Re: VIRTUAL USB FLASH DRIVE?

bluefirestorm — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 06:00:12 GMT

So you mean you are not looking to boot from a physical USB but instead use a virtual disk as USB and then boot from this virtual USB?

Re: VIRTUAL USB FLASH DRIVE?

bluefirestorm — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 06:50:03 GMT

If you want to use virtual disk as bootable USB device or use ISO file as bootable USB device look at this thread

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/Idea-Feature-Suggestion-Useful-to-have-vmdk-disks-usually-SCSI/m-p/1412650

The thread offers both optoons (using virtual disk as USB device or ISO file as USB device). Whether it is bootable or not would depend on the contents of the virtual disk/ISO.

To boot from the virtual USB device, the same rules/methods in my earlier reply (i.e. VM needs to be using UEFI, use Power On to Firmware). The exception is that you don't need steps (2) to (4) as specifying the virtual USB in the vmx would already make it connected and you should already see "EFI USB" as a boot option the first time you powered on to firmware