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MikeB20
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Unable to connect USB drive on VM with Linux Mint

On a Mac with OSX 10.15.6, I have VMWare Pro 11.5.6 running, with a VM running Linux Mint 20 (Ulyana) - kernel 5.4.0-47

When an external USB drive is connected, and redirected to the VM i get an error message:

The device "WD2TB (Western Digital Elements SE 25FE)" was unable to connect to its ideal host controller.

An attempt will be made to connect this device in the best available host controller.

And then nothing happens anymore.

fdisk -l doesnt show the external drive.

When I connect another driver, i get the same message.

When I connect to the Mac, then there is no issues, the drives can be read.

Any thoughts how to fix this?

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KamenGopin84
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Hi MikeB20​,​

The device "WD2TB (Western Digital Elements SE 25FE)" was unable to connect to its ideal host controller.

One situation where the above warning can happen is if you try to attach a 5 Gbit/s (SuperSpeed) USB device to a USB 2.0 virtual USB controller.

Can you please try adding a USB 3.0 controller to the VM and see if this would resolve the issue. Navigate to "Virtual Machine -> Settings -> USB & Bluetooth -> Advanced USB options" and set "USB Compatibility" to "USB 3".

Regards,

Kamen

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scott28tt
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Moderator: As you mention MacOS as your host OS, you must be running Fusion Pro - I've moved the thread to that area.

You started this thread in the Workstation Pro area, that product runs on a Windows or Linux host OS.

There is no such thing as VMware Pro.


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MikeB20
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Hello scott28tt

My bad, I overlooked the icon too quickly

Thank you for correcting my mistake.

Mike.

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KamenGopin84
VMware Employee
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Hi MikeB20​,​

The device "WD2TB (Western Digital Elements SE 25FE)" was unable to connect to its ideal host controller.

One situation where the above warning can happen is if you try to attach a 5 Gbit/s (SuperSpeed) USB device to a USB 2.0 virtual USB controller.

Can you please try adding a USB 3.0 controller to the VM and see if this would resolve the issue. Navigate to "Virtual Machine -> Settings -> USB & Bluetooth -> Advanced USB options" and set "USB Compatibility" to "USB 3".

Regards,

Kamen

MikeB20
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Hello KamenGopin84

Can you please try adding a USB 3.0 controller to the VM and see if this would resolve the issue. Navigate to "Virtual Machine -> Settings -> USB & Bluetooth -> Advanced USB options" and set "USB Compatibility" to "USB 3".

This was the correct solution.

The previous setting was set to USB2.0, and after changing to 3.1, the drive was immediately recognized.

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miki_2006
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Thank you this worked for me.

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