Connect a USB drive plugged into PC to a VM?

[craig.stephens]

Hi,

Is there a way that I can connect a USB drive plugged into my PC to a VM, so that the VM can copy files directly to the USB drive?

I previously used VMWare and it was quite a straightforward task using VMWare workstation.

Thanks,
Craig

 

[l.leahu-vladucu]

Hello craig.stephens! Yes, you can do this using USB Passthrough. Click on the VM and go to Hardware -> Add -> USB Device.

 

[craig.stephens]

"The second type of passthrough is SPICE USB passthrough. If you add one or more SPICE USB ports to your VM, you can dynamically pass a local USB device from your SPICE client through to the VM. This can be useful to redirect an input device or hardware dongle temporarily."

Sorry, but SPICE client? What's this?

 

[l.leahu-vladucu]

It's an open source remote access solution - see their website and the Wikipedia page for more information. If you want, you can use SPICE as a display for connecting to the VM using Proxmox VE, as an audio device, for folder sharing, or for USB passthrough. You don't have to, though - you can also do USB passthrough without SPICE.

 

[craig.stephens]

My apologies, I am quite new to Proxmox.

Does USB Passthrough work with Windows? This reddit article would suggest that (7 months ago) it doesn't.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Proxmox/comments/1emg0we/usb_passthrough_not_working_over_spice_from/

 

[l.leahu-vladucu]

Yes, it does. You don't have to use SPICE. Simply select the USB device or USB port in the Proxmox VE web UI and it should be passed through to Windows.

 

[craig.stephens]

That only shows things connected to the Proxmox host. Which is in a data centre. I want to be able to connect a USB disk/device connected to an end user device running Windows to a Windows VM running on Proxmox.

 

[craig.stephens]

 

[craig.stephens]

 

[craig.stephens]

 

[l.leahu-vladucu]

Ah, now I understand what you're trying to do. The easiest way to achieve Windows -> Windows USB passthrough is by connecting to the Windows VM using Remote Desktop and sharing the USB device, as explained here.

Otherwise you may be able to achieve the same using SPICE, but it's not as well supported under Windows. The SPICE website says that you can install UsbDk to get it working under Windows. I must admit that I never tried it, so feel free to try it and report back.