Tell me more ×
Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 2 down vote favorite
1

How can I boot a VM off USB in VMWare Workstation 9? I don't see the USB I have attached in the bios boot order.

It's clearly attaching before boot, as this shows up before the VM even starts running: enter image description here

enter image description here

share|improve this question
Is USB icon in status bar active? And, you are talking about virtual BIOS of VM. Right? – Sachin Shekhar Feb 1 at 19:17
@SachinShekhar Yup, it's connected. And yes, virtual BIOS. No, I'm not restarting my computer and entering the BIOS to configure my virtual machine. – Tanner Feb 1 at 19:25

1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote accepted

There is a workaround, in your virtual machine settings, add a new "harddisk", and when prompted to select the type, choose "physical disk" , and then point it to the usb stick.

This way, the usb will appear as a real drive to the virtual machine.

share|improve this answer
Had to remove the USB controller to get this to work. I'm guessing it's because it didn't like attaching the same disk twice. I probably should have just removed the device itself from the VM but lazy. Thanks for the fix! – Tanner Feb 1 at 19:33
While I did greatly appreciate your solution, I just wanted to note for future users that this is a really, really messy way to do this. MBR ended up my flash drive somehow, and half the time it won't recognize the drive anyway. – Tanner Feb 4 at 23:16
@Tanner It work fine with me, however one thing you need to take care of, when you set it up, it is assigned to a specific physical device by number, like: Device: \\.\PhysicalDrive2, and when you remove it and/or restart the host computer, it might get assigned a different number and will require to re-create a new harddisk, and the old reference could be pointing to a totally different drive. – sharp12345 Feb 4 at 23:54

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.