Cannot use USB device in a virtual machine on a RHEL 4 x64 host

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

After connecting an USB device to a host running the RHEL 4 x64 operating system, the following symptoms are seen:

• USB devices do not connect to the guest
• The USB device in the virtual machine cannot be seen
• The following error is observed:
  
  The existing driver (usbhid) could not be successfully disconnected. (Operation not permitted) Unload the driver manually then try again.

Environment

VMware Player 5.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 12.x (Linux)
VMware Player 7.x (Linux)
VMware Server 1.0.x (Linux)
VMware Server 2.0.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 11.x (for Linux)
VMware Workstation 6.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 15.x (Linux)
VMware Player 6.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 15.x (Linux)
VMware Player 4.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 10.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Player 14.x (Linux)
VMware Player 3.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 8.x (Linux)
VMware Player Pro 7.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation Pro 14.x (for Linux)

Resolution

This issue occurs because the host does not release the device to the guest.

The driver cannot be unloaded manually from the host because it does not exist as a module—it is compiled directly into the RHEL 4 x64 kernel. The kernel does not support the required ioctl (control device) function to allow VMware to disconnect the device from the usbhid driver.

To workaround this issue, recompile the host's kernel with usbhid as a module and then remove it using the rmmod command. The usbhid driver is necessary to allow the host and guest operating systems to interact with a USB mouse and keyboard. But, removing the module from the recompiled kernel might not be appropriate for the system. Therefore, it may be necessary to use an upgraded kernel or a different operating system. For more information, see the Red Hat documentation on kernel modules.

Additional Information

For general troubleshooting information on using USB Devices in Workstation, Server, and Player, see Problems Using Some USB Devices in a Virtual Machine.