Remove USB Devices from an ESXi Host

You can remove USB devices from the host if you must shut down the host for maintenance or if you do not want those devices to be available to virtual machines that run on the host. When you detach a USB device from the host, the device disconnects from the virtual machine.

Caution: If data transfer is taking place when you remove USB devices from a host, you can lose data.

Prerequisites

Verify that the USB devices are not in use.

Procedure

• ♦ Follow the device manufacturers instructions to safely remove the device.
  When you remove the device from the host, it is no longer available to the virtual machines that run on the host.