Remove USB Devices That Are Connected Through an ESXi Host

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

1. Unmount or eject the USB device from the guest operating system.
2. Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
3. To remove the device, move the pointer over the device and click the Remove icon.
4. Click OK to save your changes.