When you remove USB devices from a virtual machine, devices that use passthrough technology from a host to the virtual machine revert to the host. The devices become available to other virtual machines that run on that host.
Prerequisites
- Verify that the devices are not in use.
- To minimize the risk of data loss, follow the instructions to safely unmount or eject hardware for your operating system. Safely removing hardware allows accumulated data to be transmitted to a file. Windows operating systems typically include a Remove Hardware icon located in the System Tray. Linux operating systems use the umount command.
Note: You might need to use the sync command instead of or in addition to the umount command, for example, after you issue a dd command on Linux or other UNIX operating systems.
Procedure
- Unmount or eject the USB device from the guest operating system.
- Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
- To remove the device, move the pointer over the device and click the Remove icon.
- Click OK to save your changes.
