connecting USB Device on VM

[GRama]

I have read somewhere that ESX server does not have support for connecting USB device within VM. The reason why i've asked is because we have a VM (guest os is windows 2003) and I need to have a USB port created so I can have a USB License key connected to it. Is this possible? If yes, how?

[jayolsen]

Check this article

[AntonVZhbankov]

There are several options. As already stated, ESX does not support USB redirection to VM, so you can:

1) Buy USB-over-IP solution - your VM still can be VMotioned to any host. Most flexible solution.

2) Just for this VM (maybe several others) create Linux Host with VMware Server 2.0 - it supports USB redirection, and install all your license servers here. Why VM? It's simpler to backup entire VM. No VMotion, least flexible solution, but you can use old box build from garbage.

3) If your hardware supports VMDirectPath I/O (Intel Nehalem) then you can upgrade ESX to ESX 4.0 and redirect whole PCI USB controller to VM. VMotion will not work in this case, and you need latest generation server.

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MCSA, MCTS, VCP, VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru