6.5.1

Prerequisites
Verify that the USB devices are not in use.
Procedure
u
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 Web Client is running. The vSphere Web 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.
A USB device is available to only one powered-on virtual machine at a time. When a virtual machine
connects to a device, that device is no longer available to other virtual machines or to the client computer.
When you disconnect the device from the virtual machine or shut the virtual machine down, the device
returns to the client computer and becomes available to other virtual machines that the client computer
manages.
For example, when you connect a USB mass storage device to a virtual machine, it is removed from the
client computer and does not appear as a drive with a removable device. When you disconnect the
device from the virtual machine, it reconnects to the client computer's operating system and is listed as a
removable device.
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
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