Legacy USB devices with VMWare?

Does VMWare work with legacy USB devices connected to the host machine?

I want to use a console cable from my laptop to my Cisco device but I do not have any serial ports so I picked up a USB to serial adapter. Unfortunatly, because the drivers are not digitally signed, Windows 7 will not let me use the device. I tried a few known work arounds with elevated permissions in command prompt but still no luck so I was thinking I can just run an XP VM on the laptop.

Do you think this will work? (VMWare Workstation 6.5)

Thanks.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

dynamik

I believe I've done that with the one I have. I'm not sure if it'll work for your specific device. It's probably more of a driver issue than a VMware issue.

Devilsbane

I bet it works.

Windows 7 doesn't allow you to use an unsigned driver? XP is set to warn by default, but that is a simple configuration to bypass it entirely.

I had a friend once that had to boot in a special mode (I forget what) because his laptop was really fussy with unsigned drivers. Maybe it was because he had 7?

Nobylspoon

Devilsbane wrote: »

I bet it works.

Windows 7 doesn't allow you to use an unsigned driver? XP is set to warn by default, but that is a simple configuration to bypass it entirely.

I had a friend once that had to boot in a special mode (I forget what) because his laptop was really fussy with unsigned drivers. Maybe it was because he had 7?

On some machines you can hit F8 in POST to disable the check driver signing but unfortunatly I don't get that option in my POST.

astorrs

Can I assume you're running 64-bit Windows 7 (given the driver signing requirement)?

Nobylspoon

astorrs wrote: »

Can I assume you're running 64-bit Windows 7 (given the driver signing requirement)?

Correct. Win7 Home Premium 64bit.

astorrs

Nobylspoon wrote: »

Correct. Win7 Home Premium 64bit.

What kind of serial-to-USB adapter is it? There is likely a generic driver that is available that will work with it.

Nobylspoon

astorrs wrote: »

What kind of serial-to-USB adapter is it? There is likely a generic driver that is available that will work with it.

It is made by Cables Unlimited.

Cables Unlimited

They make another adapter very similar that is plug and play with Win7 64bit, no software required.