Connect USB Devices to a Virtual Machine

Parallels Workstation allows you to connect up to eight USB 2.0 and eight USB 1.1 devices to a single virtual machine. This means that you can plug up to eight USB 2.0 devices and eight USB 1.1 devices into the host computer and connect them to your virtual machine. To use this feature, the virtual machine must have a USB controller.

By default, when you plug a USB device into the host computer with one or more virtual machines running, the New USB device detected dialog appears:

In this dialog, you need to specify where the detected USB device will be connected:

• Point to Computer and click it if you want to use this USB device in the host OS.
• Point to the virtual machine and click it if you want to use this USB device in the virtual machine you are currently working with.

  Note: If you select to connect the detected USB device to the virtual machine and then reboot this virtual machine, the New USB Device dialog will not appear again after the reboot. The USB device will still be connected to this virtual machine.

If you want Parallels Workstation to remember your choice, press the Alt button on the keyboard and keep holding it when choosing where to connect a USB device. The next time you plug this USB device into the host computer, it will be automatically connected to the destination you specified in this dialog. To change the destination, use USB pane in the Preferences dialog .

If you do not want Parallels Workstation to display this dialog each time a USB device is plugged into the host computer, configure USB Preferences in the Preferences dialog .

To be able to use the USB device in the virtual machine, you may need to install the necessary drivers in the guest OS. By default, such drivers can be obtained from the manufacturers of this device.

Note: If you plug a USB 1.1 device into the USB 2.0 port, the port will be identified as USB 1.1.

To disconnect a USB device from your virtual machine, do one of the following:

• Right-click the USB controller icon in the status bar and click this USB device listed in the context menu or
• Click the Devices menu, point to the USB item, and click this USB device in the displayed submenu.