Hi All,
I am trying to add a USB device to my ESXi 4.1 box. I have followed the KB article on how to: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102229...
I also have a USB compatible (Western Digital My Passport Essential 250GB 2.5 HDD) for pass through according this VMWare KB:
I have added the USB controller to my virtual machine. When I go to add the USB device, the option is greyed out and states USB Device (unavailable).
Does the USB need to be plugged into a certain USB port on the server or Is there another step that needs to be done so ESXi recognize the USB device?
Thanks!
Hello,
Check your virtual machine hardware version, it needs to be version 7 in order to be able to add USB passthrough.
Hope this helps,
--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com
Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net
Twitter: @wilva
Hi Wil,
On my case all of my VMs are version 7 and running under ESXi 4.1, even if my USB drive appears in the VM properties as USB 1 with its unique USB ID (host : esx4i01.local path: 1/3), my VM still can`t access the Western Digital Mybook 1TB USB drive.
VM running Windows Server 2008 R2 64 bits.
What else do I need to check? that was the only reason I move to 4.1 -> use a bunch of 1TB external drives for archiving.<
Regards,
Luis
do you have same issue with 1GB - 2GB or 4GB usb keys?
Yes it is version 7. The guest O/S is Windows SBS 2008.
Hi Luis,
I'm sorry I don't have any other tips. I rolled back my lab to 4.0 last friday, so can't test it anymore either at the moment.
Here's a few blog articles on the subject that might help.
http://vninja.net/virtualization/using-usb-pass-through-in-vsphere-4-1/
http://vstorage.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/usb-passthrough-in-vsphere-4-1/
--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com
Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net
Twitter: @wilva