After 25H2 upgrade, connect removable USBs intermittent errors: "] USBArbLib: Received message size(1701667190) exceeds maxmium size(4096).

[Loren Gordon]

Did upgrade to VMWorkstation Pro 25H2 on Win11 host. After the upgrade:

• Connect of USB Removable flash drive to Win11 guest mostly fails. When this happens, VM/Removable volumes list is mostly empty.
• Drop-down list of guest VMs to connect a new flash drive is empty (with 2 VMs running).

Log msgs:

2025-10-17T17:56:48.674Z -WARNING vmware-vmx.exe 14856 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] UsbEnumArb: DevID(2d0bda48f0): Failed to convert 'name' to device properties.

2025-10-17T17:56:48.674Z -WARNING vmware-vmx.exe 14856 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USBArbLib: Received message size(1701667190) exceeds maxmium size(4096).

2025-10-17T17:56:48.674Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 14856 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] SOCKET 2 (-1) owner closed connection in recv callback

2025-10-17T17:56:48.674Z -NOTICE vmware-vmx.exe 14856 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USBGA: DevID(1000003107815530): Failed to connect device, failedStatus(11).

[James Lin]

Thanks for reporting this.  We're investigating.

[Loren Gordon]

Have regressed to 17.6.4 which is (again) stable as a rock.
Details of configuration: Plugable Thunderbold Doc, Bitlocker to Go encrypted USBs, also Yubikeys)

Reproduced instability under different conditions:

  * with standalone laptop (ie no docking station, Usb key plugged directly into laptop).

  * with VM guest USB compatiblity set to 2.0 instead of 3.2.

  * with bl2go pwd precoded into win11 guest vm so that there was no prompt for pwd.

Note that my ubuntu guest VM was also exhibiting strange behaviour (i.e. Removable Volumes drop-down list basically empty)

Tried with VMWare Global Edit / Preferences  == "Connect (new USB) device to host" (instead of Default "Ask me what to do").

  * When running with "Ask me what to do", drop-down list of VMs was not populated even though 2 VMs were running.

Tried with USB compatiblity 2.0 on Win11 guest Vm. Still same problem.

Both guest VMs are patched to "latest & greatest".

If you need more information, or full logs / config files etc, please post & I will try to reproduce & respond.

This value looks to me like either a mismatch of data interpretation (or possibly) a mixup in signed / unsigned number interpretation. In either case, probably would be a good idea to find /fix this issue since might be exploitable.

Thanks for ur help! -lg

[Loren Gordon]

Should also mention that problem is intermittent. Most of the time anomaly is present but if I keep banging on "Removable Volumes", from time to time, the full list of Removable Volumes would populate and behaviour would then become normal.

Also mention that I display HID USBs in the Removable Volumes list since I use Yubikeys.

Thanks again for your kind attention & help. -lg

[Dingyan Li]

FYI, we've found the cause of the issue and are discussing how to fix it internally.

[ch12]

Has any progress been made resolving this? I use quite a few USB devices so this completely breaks things for me. This update was pushed by our IT making a rollback not so simple.

I note the bad size converted to 4 bytes looks like some ASCII

[Dingyan Li]

Team members are still trying to figure out the root cause of it.

If you are not relying on features which only exist on 25h2 release, I would recommend that you fall back to last GA release version as a temporary workaround.

[François GUERIN]

Hello @Dingyan Li, what is the status on this issue, is there a fix in next update and any ETA for resolution, any ticket i could follow? i am still using previous 17.6 version because of this issue (not able to use my vpn usb key in ws#25H2). Thanks for your help.

[Dingyan Li]

Hi @François GUERIN , the issue seems to be impacted by a series of changes which was introduced by another component and unfortunately impacted USB. One colleague from a different area is still investigating it. So far the root cause is still unclear and I cannot provide any ETA now.

[BriGrigg]

A few of us at work have been having issues with 25H2 as well, specifically with USB redirection of peripherials. Mine was working fine, then it started acting up sporadically, then just stopped working completely. Go to redirect a device, and it would never connect, but then for 1-2 minutes, if I went back to the redirection menu, all I had was CD, Network, and Sound card, all removable devices were gone. Then wait a minute or two, and the full menu was there again, but of course nothing would redirect anyway. I just reverted to 17.6.4, and everything is working fine again. I see one suggestion is to do a complete removal of 25H2, but I'd rather not as that's a lot of work to setup all my VMs again (was pleasantly surprised that 17.6 saw the config from 25).

[Dingyan Li]

Good news, recently we've fixed this issue internally, which should be able to go with next release.

[Peter Simpson]

I have also found a USB issue with 25H2 (WIn 11 VM running on Intel/Win 11 PC). My build machine signs executables using a code signing certificate that is held on a USB security token.

The token requires a password on first use, and caches it for subsequent uses. This worked perfectly for 2 years but, after upgrading to 25H2, the token seems to intermittently disconnect and reconnect, causing signing to fail or a need to enter the password again.

I wonder whether this is another manifestation of the issue reported in this thread?

When is the USB bug fix mentioned above going to be released? If its a 6 month wait for 26H1 I'm going to have to risk backing out to the previous version, which I'm really not keen on doing.

Many thanks, Peter

[James Lin]

I wonder whether this is another manifestation of the issue reported in this thread?

Peter, you can inspect the VM's vmware.log file and look for a line like:

USBArbLib: Received message size(1701667190) exceeds maxmium size(4096).

If that line is present, you are encountering this bug. (That line should be easy to search due to the typo in "maximum".)

[Peter Simpson]

@james james LIN Yes I see that message in relation to my USB security token, I've included a section of the log below.

I had to revert to 17.6.4 a couple of days ago because I couldn't complete a build (it takes about 30 minutes) without the code signing tool throwing an error and halting the build.

Best wishes, Peter

2025-12-24T15:06:38.406Z -WARNING vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USBArbLib: Received message size(1701667190) exceeds maxmium size(4096).
2025-12-24T15:06:38.406Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] SOCKET 21 (-1) owner closed connection in recv callback
2025-12-24T15:06:38.406Z -NOTICE vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USBGA: DevID(1000000605290620): Failed to connect device, failedStatus(11).
2025-12-24T15:06:38.406Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] Msg_Post: Warning
2025-12-24T15:06:38.406Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] [msg.usb.connectFailedErr] The connection for the USB device 'Aladdin Knowledge Token JC' was unsuccessful. USB device error.
2025-12-24T15:06:38.406Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] ----------------------------------------
2025-12-24T15:06:38.406Z -WARNING vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USBArbLib: OUT SET_AUTO_CONNECT: Not connected to arbitrator, autoconnect(0) for client 'Build machine', connectState(3).
2025-12-24T15:06:38.422Z -WARNING vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USBArbLib: OUT SET_AUTO_CONNECT: Not connected to arbitrator, autoconnect(1) for client 'Build machine', connectState(3).
2025-12-24T15:06:38.422Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USB: DevID(1000000605290620): Disconnecting device.
2025-12-24T15:06:38.422Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USBG: DevID(1000000605290620): Disconnecting device, port(0), reservedPort(1EC817C33D0).
2025-12-24T15:06:38.422Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USBGW: DevID(1000000605290620): Disconnecting device.
2025-12-24T15:06:38.422Z -WARNING vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USBArbLib: OUT DISCONNECT: DevID(605290620): Not connected to arbitrator, connectState(3).
2025-12-24T15:06:38.422Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USB: New set of 1 USB devices.
2025-12-24T15:06:38.422Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 2744 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USB: Found device [name:Shared\ SafeNet\ Token\ JC\ 0 vid:0e0f pid:0004 speed:full family:smart-card deviceType:virtual-smartcard version:5]

[Julian Hall]

I have the same issue and would also like to know when the fix might be available.

E.g.

2026-01-02T03:43:38.100Z -WARNING vmware-vmx.exe 18456 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USBArbLib: Received message size(1701667190) exceeds maxmium size(4096).
2026-01-02T03:43:38.100Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 18456 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] SOCKET 28 (-1) owner closed connection in recv callback
2026-01-02T03:43:38.100Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 18456 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USB: New set of 0 USB devices.
2026-01-02T03:43:42.903Z -WARNING vmware-vmx.exe 18456 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USBArbLib: OUT SET_AUTO_CONNECT: Not connected to arbitrator, autoconnect(0) for client 'Ubuntu 22.04 64-bit', connectState(3).
2026-01-02T03:43:43.103Z -INFO vmware-vmx.exe 18456 [ws@4413 threadName="vmx"] USB: New set of 11 USB devices.

[Stewart Scott]

@Dingyan Li, Except for this USB issue, I'm enjoying the features and stability of this release.  Is there any workaround, patch, or hotfix that can be used before the next release, aside from loading an older release?  Can you drop a hint on the nature of the bug and why it appears to be intermittent? If it involves specific software or devices on our systems, we consider altering them as a workaround. 

Thanks!

[Dingyan Li]

@Stewart Scott, sorry that I don't think there is any workaround for this USB related issue with 25H2 release. You have to wait until next release or use previous releases if you really can't wait to use the USB passthrough feature. Besides, I am not the one who actually fixed this issue, but it seems to be related to the instability of Windows APIs. No third-party softwares are related to this issue either.

[Lucas Ribeiro]

I also face this problem since updating from 17.6.2. What is even more painful is that on VMware website the old version was removed, so I cannot roll back to it. Any official download link that I can use?

[James Lin]

I also face this problem since updating from 17.6.2. What is even more painful is that on VMware website the old version was removed, so I cannot roll back to it. Any official download link that I can use?

Are you sure?  I see VMware Workstation 17.6.4 (and 17.6.3, 17.6.2, 17.6.1, etc.) through Broadcom's download portal (somewhat confusingly under "VMware Workstation 17.0").

[Lucas Ribeiro]

Thanks, after finding the download link I could rollback. If someone needs the it: https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/productfiles?subFamily=VMware%20Workstation%20Pro&displayGroup=VMware%20Workstation%20Pro%2017.0%20for%20Windows&release=17.6.4&os=&servicePk=533272&language=EN&freeDownloads=true

[Peter Simpson]

Workstation 25H2 Update 1 has just been released and it has fixed the USB disconnection issues I was seeing.