Connected external hard drives don't show up in Windows 7 VM

[thinhpham]

Hello,

I've been trying to connect my two external hard drive to my VM running Windows 7. However, none of the two shows up in Windows. I tried to reinstall VMWare Tools as well as updating USB driver (followed the instruction here: A connected USB storage device is not displayed in a Windows virtual machine (1004584) | VMware KB), but nothing worked.

What is happening here and how can I get my drives to work in Windows VM?

Thanks

[wila]

Hi,

You mention Windows 7, but not what type of external disks you are trying to connect.

If they are USB3 then that matters.

Unfortunately Windows 7 itself does not come with USB3 support (this is sometimes referenced as windows 7 not having an inbox driver for USB3).

In order to use a USB3 device under VMware Fusion you have the following options:

- Use an operating system with USB3 support (eg. Windows 8.x or similar)

- Use a USB2 hub or USB2 cable between your computer and the USB3 device you want to use to downgrade the USB3 interface to USB2

- Connect to a USB2 connector on your computer if your computer provides such a connector.

- You can try setting the USB compatibility under menu Virtual Machine -> Settings -> USB & Bluetooth -> Advanced -> Compatibility -> USB2

Starting with VMware Fusion 8 your Windows 7 guests can have USB3 support, but you will have to install an additional driver.

Have a look at the following KB article for the details: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2128105

--

Wil