USB passthrough no longer works since upgrading from ESX5.1u2 to 5.1u3

[ComfortablySad]

USB passthrough no longer works since upgrading from ESXi 5.1.0 2191751 to ESXi 5.1.0 2323236. Is this a known issue? Figured I'd ask here before contacting support.

[NealeC]

Hi ComfortablySad,

A lot of users saw issues moving from 5.0 to 5.1

However as you had it working under 5.1u2 afaik it should work under 5.1u3.

Have you checked kernel logs and dmesg logs to check for something specific ESXi is having an issue with?

Is this just on one host or on multiple hosts? e.g. do you have a working host to compare against?

Regards

Chris

[ComfortablySad]

Hi Chris and thanks for the reply,

I haven't checked the kernel or dmesg logs since I'm not sure how but I'll Google it and check them right after this post. In the meantime I'll provide some extra info.

It does affect multiple hosts, we have 3 hosts and I've applied 5.1u3 on 2 of them. Both of those cannot see my USB device which is actually a dongle needed for an ancient application to run. Our third host is still running 5.1 2191751 and CAN see the dongle so I've moved the VM to it (was originally running on one of the 2 that have been updated).

I've tried removing and recreating passthrough from both updated hosts as well as removing the device and controller from the VM with no luck. Again, it works just fine on the 3rd host which hasn't been updated to 5.1u3.

I connected to the shell on one of the hosts running 5.1u3 and stopped the usbarbitrator service. I then plugged the dongle into that host and checked for it using lsusb but it wasn't listed. There also wasn't a "NO NAME" volume listed under /vmfs/volumes/. Starting the usbarbitrator service and rechecking both places didn't help.

Thanks,

[NealeC]

to check the logs

go to the DCUI or in front of the server and hit F2. 

Log in with your root/admin credentials

Arrow down to "View System Logs" and you can press numbers to view each of them

To look at them with vi or from the command line after F2 and Login select Troubleshooting Options

Enable ESXi Shell

Press Alt+F1 and log in again

now you can navigate to /var/log and more or use vi to view the logs