ESX4 USB Support

kingpeter

Hi guys,


I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction with this one. I'm fairly new to ESX (I have previously been using VMware server) and I've noticed that in ESX4 the option to add a USB controller to a virtual machine.


My aim is to hook up my HP printer to one of my virtual machines to use as a print server but I just can't seem to get it working. I see under the server configuration options there is a section for mapping devices to vm's which I assume is where I would map the connected USB printer to the appropriate virtual machine.


One problem though…it merely says “Host does not support passthrough configuration”. Can anyone shed any light on my situation? Am I looking at the right option and if so is there any way to allow my host to support passthrough configuration?


I am running an HP ML115 (G5 I think – I bought it a couple of months ago from Servers Plus).


Any help would be greatly appreciated!


Cheers!

kalebksp

When I took the vSphere 4 class my instructor made it pretty clear that ESX does not support USB devices and he had no idea why there was an option to add a USB controller to the VM.

If you really need USB in a VM your best bet is to get one of those networked USB hubs.

astorrs

kalebksp is correct, USB is not supported in ESX. The option is there for compatibility with virtual hardware specifications from other VMware products. You're best bet for making use of USB devices with ESX/ESXi is to pickup one of these (you will require 1 per guest as they cannot be shared between VMs): AnywhereUSB - Network-Enabled USB Hub - USB over IP - Digi International

kingpeter

Thanks for the clarification guys, much appreciated!