Accessing USB storage and other USB devices from the service console
Details
The technology that supports USB device passthrough from an ESX/ESXi host to a virtual machine does not support simultaneous USB device connections from USB passthrough and from the service console.
Solution
To access USB storage and other devices from the console, disable USB passthrough.
- Start the ESX host and enter the following command at the Linux service console command line:
chkconfig usbarbitrator off
- Reboot the host.
The devices are available to the service console.
Note: The service console is typically used only when you contact a VMware technical support representative. In earlier versions of ESX, the service console was one of the interfaces to ESX hosts. Many of the service console commands are now deprecated.
The vSphere SDK is used for scripted manipulation of vSphere. The vSphere Client is the primary interface to all nonscripted activities, including configuring, monitoring, and managing virtual machines and resources.