Unable to add a USB device to a virtual machine

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• You are unable to add a USB device to a virtual machine.
• Even though the USB Controller has been added to the virtual machine, the USB device is not listed.
• The lsusb command indicates that the USB device is being detected by the ESX/ESXi host. The output looks similar to:
  
  Bus 01 Device 04: ID 0951:1642 Kingston Technology
  Bus 01 Device 03: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
  Bus 01 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
  Bus 05 Device 02: ID 0624:0248 Avocent Corp.
  Bus 05 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
  Bus 03 Device 02: ID 04d9:1400 Holtek Semiconductor, Inc.

• The usbarbitrator log in /tmp/vmware-root (/var/log/usb.log in ESXi 5.0) contains entries similar to:

Apr 12 06:49:40.443: usbArb| USBArb: 1 Devices enumerated
Apr 12 06:49:40.443: usbArb| USBArb: Device 0:name:Kingston\ DT\ 101\ G2 vid:0951 pid:1642 path:1/2/0 speed:high family:storage id:1000409511642 owner:(null)
Apr 12 06:54:43.040: usbArb| USBArbPipeConnected: Connected to client, socket:9

• The hostd logs contains entries similar to:

[2011-04-12 07:11:19.948 20965B90 warning 'Libs'] USBGL: Error connecting to arbitrator socket: No such file or directory (2)
[2011-04-12 07:11:19.948 20965B90 warning 'Libs'] USBGL: Giving up on connecting to USB arbitrator

• Stopping and starting the usbarbitrator daemon under /etc/init.d/ does not resolve the issue.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded

Resolution

This issue is resolved in vSphere 4.1 Update 2 and vSphere 5.0 Update 1.

This issue occurs if the usbarbitrator process does not completely initialize before the hostd process attempts to access it.

To work around this issue, restart the hostd process by using services.sh in the SSH session of the host. If not, restart the management agents in the DCUI, for more information, see Restarting the Management agents on an ESX or ESXi Server (1003490).

Additional Information

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For information regarding USB device passthrough requirements and limitations, as well as steps to add a USB controller and a USB device, see USB support in ESXi/ESX 4.1 and ESXi 5.x (1022290)
If you cannot mount a USB key or disk device media to an ESX/ESXi host, see Cannot mount a USB key or disk device media to an ESX/ESXi host (1036340). Restarting the Management agents in ESXi
USB support in ESXi/ESX 4.1, ESXi 5.x, and ESXi 6.x
Cannot mount a USB key or disk device media to an ESX/ESXi host