# Enabling USB 3.0 Support for VMware Workstation 10 Guests

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When running virtual machines (VMs) under VMware Workstation 10, you may encounter issues with recognizing USB devices connected to your host machine's ports within the guest operating system. This problem is particularly common when using newer hardware like USB 3.0 drives or docking stations.

## Background and Solution Overview

The issue at hand stems from a combination of factors including:

* VMware Workstation 10 itself not properly handling USB 3.0 devices natively.

* Guest Operating System (GOS) limitations in recognizing the host's USB ports correctly due to virtualization layer overheads.

To circumvent this problem and enable proper functioning of your USB 3.0 peripherals within a VM, you'll need to take some additional steps beyond simply plugging them into an available port on both your physical machine and guest OS instance:

### Step-by-Step Instructions

#### Step 1: Ensure VMware Workstation is Up-to-date

Firstly, ensure that all versions of VMware Workset are updated to the latest version. This will provide you with any necessary patches or fixes related to USB device compatibility.

#### Step 2: Enable USB Support within VM Settings

Within your virtual machine's settings (accessible via Virtual Machine > Edit), navigate to the 'Hardware' tab and click on the '+' button at bottom right corner under 'Other Devices'. From this dropdown menu, select 'USB Controller'.

#### Step a) Choose USB Mode:

A dialog box will appear prompting you to choose between two options: 'Use PC overrride' or ' (Safe)'. For maximum compatibility and performance, it's recommended to opt for the first option.

#### Step 3: Map Virtual USB Ports with Physical Host Devices

Once a virtual USB controller has been added successfully inside your VM settings window:

* Click on 'Edit...' next to each newly created virtual port under 'Virtual Machines > 'VM Name' > Hardware' section.

* In resulting dialog box, click '+' button again below 'Port mapping'.

* Map the corresponding physical host device (e.g., USB3.0 drive) with its respective guest operating system equivalent by selecting appropriate entries from drop-down menus provided.

#### Step 4: Reboot Both Host and Guest OSes

After completing all above steps:

* Completely power down your virtual machine(s).

* Then, restart both host machine and VM to apply changes made at hardware level.

* Finally, log in back into guest operating system instance(s) where you should now be able to access newly mapped USB devices without any issues.

### Troubleshooting Tips

If after following these instructions above USB 3.0 still doesn't work as expected within your VMware Workstation guests:

1. Verify that BIOS/UEFI settings on both host and guest systems are configured correctly for booting from SATA (not Legacy) mode.

2 Check Event Viewer logs in Windows or equivalent system log files on Linux distributions for any error messages related to USB device recognition failures.

By following these detailed steps, you should be able to successfully enable full functionality of your USB 3.0 devices within VMware Workstation 10 guest operating systems running under a host machine equipped with compatible hardware and drivers installed correctly.

Vmware workstation 10 usb 3