Esxi 4 USB support?

[tbaror]

Hello,

Is new ESXi 4 have a support usb for guest os ?

Thanks

[TomHowarth]

Not native. there is no USB in the Virtualised Hardware spec

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Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert

VMware Communities User Moderator

Blog: www.planetvm.net

Contributing author for the upcoming book "[VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment|http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780136083214]”. Currently available on roughcuts

[weinstein5]

Actually you can have a VM access a USB device now in ESX/ESXi 4.0 - check out page 164 in the Basic System Administration Guide http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf on how to add a USB controller to your VM

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[JaroF]

And as it seems serial port is supported too... Can anyone confirm it can be added in ESXI 4.0 to guest machines?

[AntonVZhbankov]

Take a look at this topic: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/211171?tstart=0

---

VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[Formatter]

According to what I see with my esxi 4 it now has usb and also serial

[sbrys]

This bites, I spent all day working with this becuase it advertised that it will do usb and pci passthrough. It seems as always they only give you half the story.

[HimanshuDhamija]

Hello sbrys,

Could you please clarify as to what the other half of the story is? as in, what have you found about the USB functionalicy?

[Mignus]

Hi all,

Is there a way to add a serial 56k Modem to a ESXi 4 Host and use it with Winfax software on a Windows 2003 VM guest ?

When I configure Serial Port 0 and 1 on the VM settings i select " Use physical serial port on the host " but then in the drop down menu no device is shown..

Any suggestion ? Thanks

[AntonVZhbankov]

You need ESX instead of ESXi to use physical serial or parallel ports.

---

VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[J1mbo]

pg 166 on the guide says,

Add a USB Controller to a Virtual Machine

Although you can add a USB controller to a virtual machine, attaching USB devices is not supported.

[ViennaAustria]

@weinstein5: whatever this USB controller might be designed for - you CAN NOT add any (real) USB device to it, sais http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_admin_guide.pdf page 9:

+The topic “Add a USB Controller to a Virtual Machine,” on page 166

now reflects that although you can add a USB controller to a virtual

machine, adding USB devices is not supported.+

[TomHowarth]

So what exactly is the point of it then,

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Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert

VMware Communities User Moderator

Blog: www.planetvm.net

Contributing author for the upcoming book "[VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment|http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780136083214]”. Currently available on roughcuts

[J1mbo]

The point of it is to enable USB-over-IP adapters. It is designed such that the drivers for these devices hook on to the virtual USB adapter (and hence real USB devices can be presented to the OS).