microsoft.. If you go to their website and virtual pc support pages you will see how Virtual PC 2004 and above supports usb devices...
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Browse All TopicsI cannot get my usb connections working with Virtual PC 2007.
I have tried loading chipset and other drivers and for some reason the usb portion of device manager is not loading up. Microsoft says that usb does work with Virtual PC
I have a Abit KV-80 motherboard.
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From http://www.essjae.com/VPC/
USB keyboards and mice are recognized, but USB devices that require the installation of their
own USB drivers (Zip disks, scanners, etc.) are not recognized by Virtual PC
http://support.microsoft.c
I tried loading a printer via usb and the option to use a usb connection did not present itself.
You're obviously alread figured out the Virtual PC for Windows does not support USB devices (other than a mouse and keyboard ... which are not actually emulated via USB, but are simply "used" through the host) ... but just to confirm the "official" statement of this:
http://support.microsoft.c
Unfortunately, Microsoft did NOT add USB support in Virtual PC 2007 (a widely anticipated addition that simply didn't happen).
VMWare Server DOES support USB devices (through the host) with some exceptions. From the documentation: "... Modems and certain streaming data devices, such as speakers and Web cams, do not work properly." You may want to read the details of using USB devices with a VMWare virtual machine starting on page 232 here: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/
You can download Virtual Server for free here (You'll need to register and request a free key ... a painless process): http://www.vmware.com/down
Note that VMWare Workstation provides more extensive USB support ... it includes support for USB v2.0 and will (with USB 2 support enabled) work fine with those devices that VMWare Server will not (Modems, speakers, Web cams, etc.). But VMWare Workstation is not free ... it's $189 ... although you can download a 30-day evaluation version for free.
Both VMWare Server and VMWare Workstation open Virtual PC images just fine (I've done it many times).
I came up with an alternative solution: why not share the printer from the host OS and then install it via UNC address to the virtual machine? That's what I did for a user experiencing the above problem and it works immediately.
There really isn't a downside because the guest OS can't be on without the host OS being on, thus printing can only occur when the hosted machine is on.
=]
I stabled across this old thread as well wondering the same thing how do I make the USB devices available to Virtual PC 2007 evironments?
I was a little disappointed to learn that MS does not directly support anything beyond keyboard and mice.
You can access alot of your USB Device through Virtual PC 2007 even though USB is not supported.
Like the commit made it 01.2010 - your printer can be shared, you can also share USB drives.
If you have built a supported enviroment that has the virtual pc additions installed you can also "share" drives such as USB drive without actually having to share the that drive or folder on the host OS. This is set in the virtual environment settings. The advange of the later is that you are not opening up the share to the whole network - it is just shared between the guest and host OS's.
A couple of USB device that I either cannot figure out how to share or I dont know if it is possible are:
Scanners - to my knowledge thier is no native wqy to share a scanner or to access a scanner via ip Address. There are, however, a number of thrid party application that claim to be able to do it.
USB bluetooth dongle and attached devices - again there are thrid party tools to make usb available over.
So yes while Native USB emulation/simulation is not available with Virtual PC 2007 - there are was to make it work.
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by: leewPosted on 2007-07-12 at 06:40:19ID: 19471484
Who said it supports USB devices? Many people online, including articles in major windows magazines say it does not.
If you need USB support, try VMWare - it's free too and DOES support USB devices.