
For example: Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0280:a00c Toshiba America Info. To display the list of USB devices:įind the line related to the USB drive in the output. If a host has multiple USB controllers, you can identify a connected USB device and a controller number through the ESXi shell. In this case, it is better to add an additional PCI USB controller to the server. If only one USB controller is installed on a server and you redirect it to a VM, you won’t be able to use USB devices connected to your host locally (keyboard, mouse). To use it, your server chipset must support Intel Directed I/O or AMD I/O Virtualization Technology (AMD IOMMU), and this mode is enabled in the BIOS/UEFI settings. VMware PCI Passthrough (VMDirectPath): Redirect a USB Controller to a VMĪnother, less convenient method to provide access to a physical USB device from a VM is to redirect the whole USB controller from the ESXi host. In this case you can redirect the whole USB controller to a VM from the ESXi host. Check the “ USB Devices tested for Passthrough from an ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine in ESXi 6.7” section in the article. You can find the list of compatible USB devices on the official VMWare website (the list is not long). If when adding a new USB device a vSphere client shows a message that no USB devices has been found ( No available USB devices), it means that VMWare doesn’t support your USB drive for redirecting in the USB passthrough mode. ESXi hosts with the VM and a physical USB device must be accessible via vmk0 over TCP Port 902.DPM mode is not supported, since vCenter can shutdown a host with the connected USB device to save power.If you turn on the machine, you must manually migrate it to the host the USB device is connected to There are some vMotion restrictions for VMs with a redirected USB drive: Then the USB drive will appear in the guest OS of the virtual machine.To enable vMotion support for a VM with a connected physical USB drive, check the Support vMotion while device is connected option.Select a connected USB device from a dropdown list to add it.Add a new Host USB device in the VM settings and click Add.A VM boot from the attached USB device is not supported.Īfter adding a virtual USB controller for a VM, you can redirect a USB drive connected to the host:.The maximum number of redirected USB devices for a VM is 20.You can provide direct access to a USB device for one VM only.The main requirements and restrictions of this redirection method: In the native USB Passthrough mode, you can connect a physical USB device from a host to a VMWare virtual machine. Windows 8.1/Windows Server 2012 R2 and Linux with the kernel version 2.6.35 or newer are supported as a guest OS. To support it, an xHCI controller must be running in a guest OS.
#Vsphere usb passthrough Patch
USB 3.0 mode is available starting from vSphere 5.5 patch 3. USB 3.0 (xHCI) – supports fast USB 3.0 devices, requires virtual hardware version 8 or higher.USB 2.0 (EHCI+UHCI) – a controller supporting USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 devices.When adding a USB controller, select its type:
#Vsphere usb passthrough install
To install a USB controller for a VM on VMWare ESXi, open the VM settings and add a new device - a USB controller.
