Connecting a passthrough device to the virtual machine fails with the error: Device x:y.z is already in use

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot set a PCI device as passthrough to the virtual machine
• Setting a device as passthrough to the virtual machine fails
• You see the error:
  
  Device x:y.z is already in use

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1

Cause

This issue occurs if the PCI device or its dependent or parent PCI device is already set as a passthrough device to another virtual machine.

A PCI device can be set as passthrough to only one virtual machine.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, ensure only one virtual machine has access to this PCI passthrough device.

For more information, see Configuring VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on a VMware ESX or VMware ESXi host (1010789).

Additional Information

Configuring VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on a VMware ESX or VMware ESXi host