6.7

Remove USB Devices from an ESXi Host
You can remove USB devices from the host if you must shut down the host for maintenance or if you do
not want those devices to be available to virtual machines that run on the host. When you detach a USB
device from the host, the device disconnects from the virtual machine.
Caution If data transfer is taking place when you remove USB devices from a host, you can lose data.
Prerequisites
Verify that the USB devices are not in use.
Procedure
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Follow the device manufacturers instructions to safely remove the device.
When you remove the device from the host, it is no longer available to the virtual machines that run
on the host.
USB Configuration from a Client Computer to a Virtual
Machine
You can add multiple USB devices to a virtual machine when the physical devices connect to a client
computer on which the vSphere Client is running. The vSphere Client must be logged in to an instance of
vCenter Server that manages the ESXi host where the virtual machines reside. USB passthrough
technology supports adding multiple USB devices, such as security dongles, mass storage devices, and
smartcard readers to virtual machines.
How USB Device Passthrough Technology Works
The USB controller is the USB hardware chip that provides USB function to the USB ports that it
manages. USB controller hardware and modules that support USB 3.0, 2.0, and USB 1.1 devices must
exist in the virtual machine. Two USB controllers are available for each virtual machine. The controllers
support multiple USB 3.0, 2.0, and 1.1 devices. The controller must be present before you can add USB
devices to the virtual machine.
You can add up to 20 USB devices to a virtual machine. This is the maximum number of devices
supported for simultaneous connection to one virtual machine.
Note If you connect to a USB device on a Mac OS X client computer, you can add only one device to
the virtual machine at a time.
You can add multiple devices to a virtual machine, but only one at a time. The virtual machine retains its
connection to the device while in S1 standby. USB device connections are preserved when you migrate
virtual machines to another host in the datacenter.
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
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