Mount Host USB Device in VMRC or Web Client

[tp47]

Hi folks,

Im tearing my hair out over this one.

I have spent the last day poring over google and trying to work out how to mount a USB drive from my host device to my VM on ESXi 6.5.

I have added a USB Host controller without issue. However, there is no further option available to add a Host USB Device (as i have seen on some tutorials) or to Select USB Device from the menu in VMRC - in VMRC I only have the option for DVD, Floppy(!), and Network adapter, but no USB (not even a greyed out option).

I even tried to enable Passthrough so that at least I could connect the drive to the server host and perhaps access the USB device that way, but that didnt work either.

Is there anybody that can help here with perhaps a checklist? Am I missing some settings buried deep within the advanced settings panel?

For such a relatively simple thing (it was so simple in VMWare workstation) - I just cant fathom why its not working.

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated!

Best.

TP

[TheBobkin]

Hello TP,

"I even tried to enable Passthrough"

There is no other way of getting a USB device direct to a VM unless you are talking about storage medium in which case can just put an FS on it.

Checklist:

- Add USB controller to host:

docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.0/com.vmware.vsphere.hostclient.doc/GUID-73BBD0B9-3AAA-40F3-81E8-8F7126B91B33.html#GUID-73BBD0B9-3AAA-40F3-81E8-8F7126B91B33

- If the host is not picking up the USB then try disabling vmkusb driver (so that legacy drivers are loaded instead after reboot),

kb.vmware.com/s/article/2147650

as this appears to be causing issues for some folks (+ other info including possibly necessary vmx configurations in this thread):

communities.vmware.com/thread/547408

- Add USB device to VM via Web Client:

docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.0/com.vmware.vsphere.hostclient.doc/GUID-3E6E58AA-2AD4-4370-9955-07E5FBDE800D.html

thesolving.com/virtualization/how-to-configure-usb-passthrough-from-an-esxi-host/

- Ensure that the VM Guest OS has the drivers necessary to use such a device.

Bob

[tp47]

Hi Bob,

Finally I have found the root cause issue. The VMWare USB Arbitration service was not running on the Client running VMRC.

Once I rebooted the machine the service was running again and I had the option to connect a USB device (once the USB host controllers were installed on the VMs).

Many thanks anyway for you useful pointers.