ESXi 7 Free Version on Dell 7050 Micro - Unable to use external USB drive

[R_Combs]

Hey folks:

I'm using ESXi 7 [Free Version] on a Dell 7050 Micro, 4-core, 500GB NVMe, 16Gb Memory that has a USB 2.0 and USB3.0 controller. I've got a couple of headless Linux VMs going on it. I wanted to use an external USB drive for storage on one of the VMs and so, I plugged in an external WD USB drive and I do see it when doing a lsusb report [from ESXi console]. But, I can't seem to see it within VMWare - not in Hardware settings, or within the VM. When I check the VM's settings, I do see a USB 2.0 Hub / Controller but I do not have any USB devices beneath it, to select. I've attempted to reboot, attempted to remove the USB 2 controller and select / add a USB 3.0 controller [to which I receive an error that, only 1 controller can be added and that USB 3.1 is not supported]. Has anyone attempted to use ESXi on such a PC and if so, been successful at utilizing an external USB drive? Do I, perhaps need to install some sort Dell drivers?

Thanks in advance

[DCasota]

Hi,

lsusb displays only that an usb device has been attached. That said, an usb device usually is eligible for passthrough or for vm connectivity.

You can check this with esxcli hardware usb passthrough device list .

Here  an example.

[root@localhost:~] esxcli hardware usb passthrough device list
Bus Dev VendorId ProductId Enabled Can Connect to VM Name
--- --- -------- --------- ------- ------------------------- ----
1 3 30c9 13 true yes Luxvisions Innotech Limited
1 4 bda b00e true yes Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
1 6 781 55ab false no (passthrough disabled) SanDisk Corp.
1 7 bda 8153 false no (passthrough disabled) Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
1 8 1058 2665 false no (passthrough disabled) Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

If an usb device has been configured for passthrough, it cannot be added for vm connectivity. For vm connectivity, your usb device needs enabled true and yes for Can Connect to VM.

With esxcli hardware usb passthrough device disable -d x:x:xxx:xxxx (example 1:6:781:55ab) you can disable the selected usb device for passthrough and it should be eligible for vm connectivity.

If you have double checked this ESXi setting, go to your vm.

Now, adding an usb controller to a vm is not the same as adding an usb device to the vm. Choose a supported vm hardware version and os for your use case.

Hope this helps.
Daniel

[R_Combs]

Thank you for the quick reply, Daniel. I will try and check those steps, tonight - thank you. That is one item I failed to mention - these are Debian and Fedora linux VMs that I am trying to attach the USB WD drive to, via passthrough.

I will also search for and verify that the hardware / os are supported. I was very surprised to not find many others trying / doing the same thing that I was - but, if the hardware / OS is not supported - this would explain the absence of related articles on here.

Thanks again,

Richard

[R_Combs]

On my ESXi host, v7.0.0. with an NVMe drive attached via USB, I ran the: esxcli hardware usb passthrough device list

I don't see my NVMe drive:

[root@esxihost:~] esxcli hardware usb passthrough device list
Bus Dev VendorId ProductId Enabled Can Connect to VM Name
--- --- -------- --------- ------- ----------------- ----
1 2 8087 aaa true yes Intel Corp. Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP)

I also downloaded Dell's Custom ESXi VMWare ISO, v7.0.3 and 8.0 - both of which give me an error: No Network Adapter found [cannot continue installation]

[DCasota]

Well, the Dell Optiplex mini pc isn't supported accordingly to the VMware Compatibility Guide but that was obvious.

The on-board LAN controller and the WiFi network controller aren't detected by the latest Dell and VMware ESXi images. But the Optiplex supports USB3.1 Gen 1 and TPM2.0 (sha256). So for this homelab, I would add an USB2Ethernet adapter and run ESXi 8.0 with the USB Network Native Driver for ESXi . See the fling requirements for choosing an appropriate USB2Ethernet adapter. See the fling comments, too, as they contain information about the setup experience e.g. in ESXi DCUI configure management network > select vusb0, and reboot persistency limits+workarounds. It's a good fling and it's good to know that sometimes good flings are added to the ESXi product.

For Linux virtual machines, you could go with a passthrough of the Intel wireless network adapters. For VMware Photon OS, @Butch0379 added a while ago a nifty recipe in the forum.

edited December 20th 2022:
The Community Network Driver for ESXi fling has been added to the VMware ESXi 8.0 image, but since you wrote "No Network Adapter found" for the ESXi 8.0 setup, too, the Optiplex on-board LAN controller rather isn't included.

[maksym007]

Check this KB how to set up it correctly: 

Connecting USB devices to ESXi VMs with VMware USB (nakivo.com)

[R_Combs]

Thanks very much for that KB link. I will check it out

[R_Combs]

I had hoped, by using Dell's custom VMWare ISO that the Dell mini pc would have been supported (or, in the least - just worked). However, you appear to be correct - at least as far as the 3060M model goes. I tried the v7.0.3 AND the v8.0.0 of Dell's custom ESXi ISO - both give me the "No Ethernet Controllers Found" error. I am able to install ESXi 7.0.3 from the VMWare ISO, on a 9020M, 7050M, 3040M [detects the on-board LAN controller perfectly] - just not on the 3060M for some odd reason. Different chipset, perhaps. Using ProxMox7.3-1, on this 3060M, I was able to get it working without issue.

Thank you for the tip about flings - I was unaware of these. For the 3060M installation, I can scout out for a cheap [fling approved] USB2Ethernet adapter and try installing ESXi 8.0 with one of these.

These, indeed, are going to be Linux VMs, but I have a slight aversion to using wireless for servers, personally. However, thank you for the tip on using the passthrough for wireless. It's good to know that this is possible - just in case.