vMotion fails when USB passthrough devices reside on the virtual machine

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• vMotion fails when USB passthrough devices reside on the virtual machine.
• You see an error similar to:
  
  Currently connected device 'USB 1' uses backing 'path:1/7/1', which is not accessible.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x

Resolution

You must select all USB devices on a virtual machine for migration for vMotion to be successful. If one or more devices are not enabled for vMotion, migration fails.

You must remove then re-add the USB device and enable vMotion.

Note: Make sure that the devices are not in the process of transferring data before removing them.

To remove then re-add the USB device and enable vMotion:

1. Unmount or eject the USB device from the guest operating system.
2. Right-click the virtual machine in the vSphere Client and choose Edit Settings.
3. Click the Hardware tab and select the USB device.
4. Click Remove and click OK to save your changes and close the dialog.
5. In the vSphere Client inventory, right-click the virtual machine, and choose Edit Settings.
6. Click the Hardware tab and click Add.
7. Select USB Device and click Next.
8. Select Support vMotion while device is connected.
9. Select the device that you want to add.
10. Click Finish. "New USB Device (adding)" appears in the hardware list as Present.
11. Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog.