Windows 8.1 virtual machine is slow or unresponsive when a USB device is connnected

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When a USB device is connected to a Windows 8.1 virtual machine with an xHCI controller for USB 3.0 compatibility, the device might not be recognized by the Windows operating system. The operating system might become slow or unresponsive.

Environment

• VMware Workstation 9.x (Windows)
• VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
• VMware Fusion 5.x
• VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0

Resolution

Remove the xHCI controller from the Windows 8.1 virtual machine and add a EHCI+UHCI controller to the Windows 8.1 virtual machine.