ESXi 4.1 - Adding a USB Device

[sdietz]

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:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102134...

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!

[wila]

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

[gatox]

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

[kopper27]

do you have same issue with 1GB - 2GB or 4GB usb keys?

[sdietz]

Yes it is version 7. The guest O/S is Windows SBS 2008.

[wila]

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/

USB via VMDirectPath

--
Wil
_____________________________________________________
VI-Toolkit & scripts wiki at http://www.vi-toolkit.com

Contributing author at blog www.planetvm.net

Twitter: @wilva