ESXi 4 - Mount USB Stick in GuestOS

[MTMoX]

Hello @ all,

I'm not able to see a plugged in USB stick in my guest os. The machine has a USB controller installed in it's settings, but whatever I'm doing the plugged in stick doesn't appear in the machine. I've tried XP & 2003, same behaviour.

Does this work at all?

[vmroyale · Accepted solution]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

You can add USB controllers to virtual machines, but attaching devices is not supported.

Good Luck!

[AndreTheGiant]

You can try with VMDirectPath. Some people was able to virtualize some USB device.

See:

Andre

[AntonVZhbankov]

... but attaching devices is not supported yet.

---

MCSA, MCTS, VCP, VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

[MTMoX]

What's about the Passthrough function, does this help when I know which bus device it is?

[DSTAVERT]

Passthrough won't work but as Andre suggested have a look at VMDirectPath if your hardware supports it.

For simple USB connectivity you can also look at a network USB device. Digi, Belkin, Silex and others make network devices that allow you to connect USB devices to Virtual machines.

[vmroyale]

Its on the list, along with snapshots for FT virtual machines

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Moved to the ESXi 4.0 forum.




Dave

VMware Communities User Moderator

Now available - vSphere Quick Start Guide

Do you have a system or PCI card working with VMDirectPath? Submit your specs to the Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL.

[MTMoX]

Ok, if it is on the roadmap, then I'll stop here. It is not such critical.

Thanks to everybody.