VMware vSphere 4.1 – USB Pass-through

USB Devices Supported for Passthrough from an ESX/ESXi Host to a Virtual Machine

Device Model	Vendor ID:Product ID	Device Display Name
SafeNet Sentinel Software Protection Dongle (purple)	04B9:8000	Rainbow SafeNet Sentinel
SafeNet Sentinel Software Protection SuperPro Dongle (gray)	04B9:3000	Rainbow USB UltraPro
SecuTech Unikey Software Protection Dongle	0403:C580	Future Devices HID UNIKEY
MAI KEYLOK II Software Protection Dongle	07F2:0001	Microcomputer Applications USB Device
MAI KEYLOK Fortress Software Protection Dongle (Designed to work only with Windows operating systems.) Note: This dongle is not designed for Linux systems. If you connect it to Linux systems, the connection resets frequently and can cause unexpected behavior.	0471:485e	Philips KEYLOK Device
Aladdin HASP HL Drive	0529:0001 (13fe:1a00 Hub, 13fe:1d00 Drive)	Aladdin Knowledge HASP HL 3.21, Kingston drive
Aladdin HASP HL Basic Software Protection Dongle	0529:0001	Aladdin Knowledge HASP HL 3.21
Aladdin HASP HL Pro Software Protection Dongle	0529:0001	Aladdin Knowledge HASP HL 3.21
Aladdin HASP HL Max Software Protection Dongle	0529:0001	Aladdin Knowledge HASP HL 3.21
Aladdin HASP HL Net Software Protection Dongle	0529:0001	Aladdin Knowledge HASP HL 3.21
Aladdin HASP HL NetTime Software Protection Dongle	0529:0001	Aladdin Knowledge HASP HL 3.21
Kingston DataTraveler 101 II 4GB	0930:6545	Toshiba DT 101 II
Lexar JD FireFly 2GB	05dc:a701	Lexar Media JD FireFly
Western Digital My Passport Essential 250GB 2.5 HDD	1058:0704	Western Digital External
Cables To Go USB 2.0 7-Port Hub Model# 29560	04cc:1521	Not applicable

 

USB pass-through has been part of the likes of VMware Workstation for quite some time, but is new to vSphere with the 4.1 release 

To connect a USB device to a virtual machine (VM) in vSphere you need to first add a USB Controller to the VM.

Select the virtual machine in the vSphere inventory, then right click it and click Edit Settings.

Click the Add button and then select USB Controller from the list. (You can only add a single USB Controller to a VM).

Now you can connect a USB device – but if the device does not show up then it not supported.

Click Edit Settings again and then click the Add button and then select USB Device.

Select the USB device that you want to connect to the VM from the available device(s). Here you can see that I already have one device connected to a VM already.