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SaverioBaq
Contributor
Contributor

Why an external disk drive is NOT seen in the W7 host machine, however you can see it in the XP guest machine

Hello,

This is a strange situation and is happening to me with a new Toshiba 500GB Canvio® Slim Portable Hard Drive.

  1. If I install the drive in a W7 machine, without VMWare Workstation 9.02, the disk is automatically detected with no problems.
  2. If I install the drive in a W7 machine, with VMWare Workstation 9.02, the system try to find a driver and finally it says that could not find it. Please see image "01" that shows the status in the W7 Device Manager. The drive is there in "Other devices/External USB 3.0" but flagged with this yellow sign: !   Smiley Sad
  3.   BUT here is the most strange thing. In the situation detailed in (2) above, if I start a Windows XP guest machine, I can see the "Toshiba external Drive USB 3.0" drive and connect it to the guest machine!! Please see image "02" and see this drive in the XP Device Manager :smileyconfused:.

Appreciate a hint.

Thanks a lot

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5 Replies
Scorpion99
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Try to find the drivers for USB 3.0 of your motherboard and note that when you use the VMware , the Disk may be detected on the host or on the guest machine depending on the settings you are using. Anyway note that it can be available on one of them , either host or guest. You can always use Disk Management in Windows 7 to see if the HDD is detected and assign it a drive letter in case it was not assigned a one by default.

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SaverioBaq
Contributor
Contributor

Hello Scorpion99,

Thanks for your kind reply, but please see my comments in CAPITAL LETTERS:

Try to find the drivers for USB 3.0 of your motherboard and note that when you use the VMware ,

UNFORTUNATELY I WAS NOT ABLE TO FIND ANY DRIVERS SUITABLE FOR MY NOTEBOOK:

VAIO VGN-NW170TJ

WINDOWS 7 ENTERPRISE 64 BITS

VMWARE WORKSTATION 9.02

GUEST INSIDE VMWARE WIN XP

the Disk may be detected on the host or on the guest machine depending on the settings you are using.

WHEN I CONNECT THE USB 3.0 EXTERNAL DISK TO THE WIN 7 YOU SEE IT TRIES TO DETECT IT, BUT IN THE DEVICE MANAGER, UNDER "OTHER DEVICES" YOU CAN SEE "EXTERNAL USB 3.0" BUT FLAGGED WITH A YELLOW MARK.

IF I RUN VMWARE, I CAN SEE AMONG THE "REMOVABLE" DEVICES THE DEVICE "TOSHIBA EXTERNAL USB 3.0", AND I CAN CONNECT IT TO THE XP AND WORK WITH IT. MEANWHILE, IN THE WIN 7 DEVICE MANAGER, THE YELLOW FLAGGED DEVICE IS GONE (BECAUSE IS IN THE XP GUEST).

Anyway note that it can be available on one of them , either host or guest.

IT IS AVAILABLE ON XP, BUT NEVER IN WIN7 (SHOWN WITH THE YELLOW FLAG AND DOES NOY SAY THE WORD "TOSHIBA".. IN WIN 7 I CAN NOT WORK WITH THE DISK.

You can always use Disk Management in Windows 7 to see if the HDD is detected and assign it a drive letter in case it was not assigned a one by default.

NO. UNFORTUNATELY WHEN THE YELLOW FLAGGED DEVICE IS IN WIN 7, IT IS NOT SHOWN AT ALL IN DISK MANAGEMENT.

I'LL BE GLAD TO LET YOU IN IF YOU WHISH TO TAKE A KIND LOOK.

BEST REGARDS

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WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal

SaverioBaq wrote: Thanks for your kind reply, but please see my comments in CAPITAL LETTERS:

Just an FYI...  Typing in all caps is metaphorically shouting and is consider to be rude!  It is also harder to read! Smiley Wink

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SaverioBaq
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

Yes, you are right. When I was replying to this forum, I wanted to put my remarks below the questions Scorpion99 did, I did not find, in the editor, how to assign a different color to my comments, therefore, I choose to capitalize the words. I also hate capital letters and will not happen again. Sorry for this.:smileyblush:

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a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

With the upgrade of the forums, the default editor changed. If you want to highlight, color, ... text, click the "Use advanced editor" in the upper right of this editor.

André

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