USB 3.0 support ?

[IvarREW]

I've been trying to mount a USB3.0 drive in a VM on my MBP(Mid 2012, OSX 10.8.3)  but I keep getting the following error before it even gets to the VM:

The device 'XXX' was unable to connect to its ideal host controller. An attempt will be made to connect this device to the available host controller. This might result in undefined behavior for this device.

This bug exists in VMware Fusion 5.0.3 and is a serious pain. I've searched the forums and release notes, and the closest I could find was from : VMware Fusion 5 and VMware Fusion 5 Professional Release Notes

Unable to boot a virtual machine from some USB 3.0 devices on MacBook Air 5.1
You might be unable to boot a virtual machine from some USB 3.0 devices on MacBook Air 5.1.
When attaching a USB 3.0 device, you might see the error message The device 'XXX' was unable to connect to its ideal host controller. An attempt will be made to connect this device to the available host controller. This might result in undefined behavior for this device.

You can ignore the error message and finish installing the guest OS on the USB device. However, after restarting the virtual machine, the USB 3.0 device does not show up on the Boot Menu.

Workaround: Use a USB 2.0 device as a replacement.

Although I'm not trying to boot from USB, I still get this error. Does this mean that USB 3 devices are not supported ? If they are expected to work, how can I file a bug ?  If they are not supported, is there a roadmap or some sort of indication of when we might be able use USB 3 devices ?

Thanks

[wila]

Hello IvarREW,

Welcome at the VMware communities forum.

What guest OS are you trying to load the USB3 device in?

I'm asking this as not all guest OS's actually have USB3 support. For example for many devices there are no working USB3 drivers when trying to use them in Windows XP.

--

Wil

[IvarREW]

Hi Wil,

Thanks for welcome and quick response.

I'm trying to connect a USB3 flash drive to a Debian Linux based guest. I'm using an unmodified, included Linux kernel - 3.2.0-4-686-pae. I can't say for sure if USB3 is supported, but it seems very likely.

[wila]

Hello,

Yes AFAIK that should work.

The same level of the Workstation product has this knowledge base article about it: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2041591‎ It's for workstation, but it should normally also apply for this version of Fusion due to the shared code base.

One thing you can do as a quick workaround is to insert a USB2 hub inbetween, at least your driver will then work at USB2 speed. Not a solution, but a way to get at the data without having to change settings.

You mention you get the error before it even gets to the VM. Do you mean the error is presented in OS X?

--

Wil

[IvarREW]

Thanks for suggestion of a hub, that should provide a workaround for now.

In terms of the error happening before the VM, I'm not certain, but it doesn't appear there is any indication that the usb3 device is even recognized by the guest OS. I would imagine there would be some signal to Linux, which would then try to make sense of the new device and fail. Instead, I just get the popup error msg from Fusion.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Except that fusion doesn't even pass USB 3 to the Linux guest, so it won't see it at all.

[wila]

dlhotka wrote:

Except that fusion doesn't even pass USB 3 to the Linux guest, so it won't see it at all.

Oh :smileyshocked: it does not? I was under the impression that it was supported with linux guests, but I'm sure you're better informed as me.

That would explain Fusion coming up with the error of not being able to use it.

I'm not seeing it as a new feature on the new open beta of "Fusion 2013" either.

--

Wil

[ColoradoMarmot]

Unless I'm missing something, only Win8 has USB3 support.

But it wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong :-)

Now if I could just figure out where the setting to not get email notifications set to 'on' automatically (after the forum upgrade) is......

[WoodyZ]

dlhotka wrote: Now if I could just figure out where the setting to not get email notifications set to 'on' automatically (after the forum upgrade) is......

Have a look at: Preferences

Also have a look at: Following

[WoodyZ]

dlhotka wrote: Unless I'm missing something, only Win8 has USB3 support.

I have no problems connecting/using a Toshiba 1.5 TB USB 3.0 External Hard drive to an Ubuntu 12.04 Guest running under VMware Fusion 5.0.3 on my 2013 15-inch 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 MacBook Pro with Retina display, with 16 GB RAM and 768GB flash storage as a USB 3.0 Device.

This is confirmed not only by timed transfer speeds but the output of lsusb in a Terminal under Ubuntu.

[wila]

Thanks Woody for jumping in. That was what I thought I had read a while ago, but since I currently not have a guest here at the moment to test with it was not more as an assumption.

Somehow not finding it in the docs now.

Time for me to get some more test VMs up and running :smileyhappy:

--

Wil

[WoodyZ]

wila wrote: Somehow not finding it in the docs now.

I haven't looked for it in the "documentation" lately but I did read it at some point, probably the Release Notes.  Also if you plug a USB 3.0 Device in a Linux Virtual Machine and look at the USB & Bluetooth Settings it says, "Using USB devices with a USB 3.0 controller requires Linux kernel 3.2 or newer." so I'd call that defacto documentation. :smileywink:

[Changhai Jiang]

IvarREW

>>The device 'XXX' was unable to connect to its ideal host controller. An attempt will be made to connect this device to the available host controller. This might result in undefined behavior for this device.

Before you connect USB 3.0 device to Debian 7 GOS, you need configure your USB 3.0 controller by hand referring to following  Action Plan:

Action Plan

=========

1. Power off the Debian GOS.

2. Click Settings==>USB&Bluetooth, you would see the inserted USB device detected.

3.Go to Advanced USB options,

. USB compatibility: USB 3.0

. VMware Fusion should: Connect to this Virutal Machine

4. Power on the Debian VM again and check lsusb output whether USB 3.0 device works or not.

if it does not work still, please upload your fusion vm-support log bundle to us.

By the way, It works on my side with below environment.

Test environment

=============

Mac hardware: MacBook Pro 13-inch 2012 mid

Mac OS X:    10.8

Fusion:   6.0 TP1

GOS:    Debian 7.0  (kernel: 3.2.0-4-amd64)

lsusb output:

vmware@debian:~$ lsusb |grep "Bus 002"

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Bus 002 Device 004: ID 125f:312b A-DATA Technology Co.,Ltd. Superrior S102 Pro

Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware,Inc. Virutal USB Hub.

...

Best Regards,

changhai

[PittMac]

Hi,

I've tried this in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, trying to mount a USB3 compatible drive (HFS+ noJhfs) but do not see the drive mounted on either Unbuntu desktop, nothing showing up in the Disk Utility not in the /media/.  I don't get any more of the error message described here  and the disk icon disappears from the Mac's desktop (but still mounted according to diskutil).  Any ways to mount this USB drive ?

OSX

ProductVersion:	10.8.4
BuildVersion:	12E55

late 2012 Mini

Fusion 503.

[ziggy90127]

I'm running VMWare Fusion 5.0.3 on Mountain Lion 10.8.5.  I'm running as guest Ubuntu 12.10.  I plugged in my shiny new 4TB Seagate Backup Plus USB 3 disk in.  "lsusb" shows the device, but "fdisk -l" does not show it.

I followed your advice and shut down the guest, and checked the box "USB Compatibility: USB 3.0"  under "Advanced USB Options", and now it automounts and works fine!  Thank you.

[Calz]

Thanks changhai,

You saved me a lot of trouble. I had to change the USB compatibility to USB 3.0 and its working like charm :smileyhappy: on my RHEL virtual machine.

[commissairefise]

Hi, in my Kali, using VMWare Fusion Pro 13, i have a different output when doing "lsusb |grep "Bus 002" :

Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0e0f:0003 VMware, Inc. Virtual Mouse
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

 

But if i do "lsusb" alone, then i see the 3.0 : 

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0e0f:0003 VMware, Inc. Virtual Mouse
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0e0f:000b VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual USB Video Device
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

 

Then, if i check the box in USB & Bluetooth representing my USB cable, and i do "lsusb |grep "Bus 002" i have the following output:

Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 1a86:7523 QinHeng Electronics CH340 serial converter
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0e0f:0003 VMware, Inc. Virtual Mouse
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

 

And by doing "lsusb" alone i have this:

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 1a86:7523 QinHeng Electronics CH340 serial converter
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0e0f:0003 VMware, Inc. Virtual Mouse
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0e0f:000b VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual USB Video Device
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0e0f:0002 VMware, Inc. Virtual USB Hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Tried to give as much info as possible.

I tried different things as i can't display my Kali on my second screen which is connected through USB-C. Option "Use All displays in full screen" is greydout. Any input ? Very little doc on this topic from VMWare

Best,

Joseph

 

[ColoradoMarmot]

No need to resurrect a 5 year old thread for the same topic you posted separately.  Your monitor issue has nothing to do with USB support.

[IvarREW]

dlhotka wrote:

Unless I'm missing something, only Win8 has USB3 support.

Question : Do you mean to say that USB3 is only supported for Win8 under Fusion, or did you mean to say that no other OS has USB3 support ? My understanding was the Linux was the first OS to support USB3, and I would expect that even 'older' versions would have support baked in by now.

[ColoradoMarmot]

As Woody pointed out, my memory was faulty regarding Linux.

[incide]

Thank you! Very Helpful