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Redirecting USB storage and other USB devices to Hyper-V VMs is challenging since it does not offer a simple ready-made solution, unlike other hypervisors. There are a few possible routes a user can take to enable Hyper-V USB passthrough.
This article will describe 4 methods that will help you with redirecting USB devices to Hyper-V, each having its peculiarities and strong sides. So, let’s jump right into the tutorial and explore these methods.
USB Network Gate is a USB redirector software that provides an easy way for accessing USB devices in a virtual machine, including Hyper-V USB passthrough and Hyper-V USB drive redirection. This specialized redirection app enables you to attach USB devices in Hyper-V by sharing a USB over the network.
USB Network Gate is a client-server solution, meaning that its server-side gives access to USB devices to other computers on the network or to Virtual Machines, and the client side allows using them as local resources. You can use any computer connected to the network as a server.
That’s how easy it is to mount a USB peripheral to Hyper-V. You will see the peripheral in your VM’s Device Manager and be able to access it as if it was directly connected to your virtual machine.
Enhanced Session mode can be instrumental in many various scenarios where a VM needs to interact with local resources but may not be able to achieve network connectivity.
Here are some examples:
On top of that, Hyper-V USB passthrough is widely used by software and hardware developers, especially the ones focused on products for Windows users. The enhanced session mode makes testing and debugging USB applications from within a VM much faster and easier.
Enhanced Session Mode is perfect in the following conditions.
✓ The OS of the virtual machine supports Enhanced Session Mode, which is Windows only.
✓ You need to access the device on the host as well or on multiple clients.
✓ Enhanced Session Mode can be used to redirect various types of USB devices, not just USB mass storage.
If you are a Linux user, you can find instructions on how to set up Enhanced Session on Linux in this guide.
The server-side Hyper-V USB passthrough, in a few words, means that you’ll be connecting a USB device physically to the host via the SCSI controller. As a result, the Hyper-V VM should have direct access to that USB device.
The server-side redirection will work under the following conditions:
Once you click OK, the Virtual Machine will immediately recognize the USB device. If not, you may need to use the VM’s Disk Management Console to add a drive letter. As you can see, it's very similar to redirecting storage devices or other local resources to a VMware workstation. In the same way, you can use this built-in USB redirector to set up a passthrough for a USB dongle.
Hyper-V USB passthrough with the help of Remote Desktop Connection is ideal for those who don’t want or cannot use VMConnect as their Hyper-V client (as in all the previous methods).
All the difference is that the USB device will be redirected via RDP and connected to an RDP client, instead of VMConnect which attaches a USB device directly to the Hyper-V host.
Though Hyper-V USB passthrough is not available for users right out of the box, now you know several methods that will help you enable it: attaching USB devices to Hyper-V over TCP/IP with USB Network Gate, redirecting over RDP, or via the Hyper-V virtual machine settings.