Hyper V and USB

[karldenton]

We have some Mifare door lock software and it uses a USB device to program the cards.

 

I have put the software on a virtual server on hyper V and connected the USB to the physical server.

 

Is it possible to make the hyperv server see the physical USB connection?

[jmak]

I'm sure there's a "proper" way to do it, but in the meantime could you rdp to it from a client and make local (to the client machine) USB devices available through the session?

[CAWJames]

I think USB passthrough came along in Hyper-v 2012R2, but not available in lower versions

[Julian]

We are using the "Salto" door locks (which use mifare cards), the software is run from a virtual server (VMware), however I also have the software locally installed on selected computers. If you are using a similar system, just point the software, at the database on the virtual server.

[Jawloms]

I think USB passthrough came along in Hyper-v 2012R2, but not available in lower versions

 

You think correctly;

 

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn282274(v=ws.11).aspx

[Norphy]

Hmm. That's not really the same thing. With VMware, you can redirect a USB port on the virtual host to a VM. Enhanced Session Mode in Hyper-V is effectively opening an RDP session to the VM through the Virtual Machine Connection program. Drives/Devices/Printers are then passed through to the session from the computer that's being connected from.

 

For this to work, you'd have to connect the USB device to the server then open the console each time the server boots to redirect the USB device. Even then, that assumes that the device can be passed through to an RDP session. Not all can.

[free780]

There are 3rd party solutions. Hyper-V just isn't has feature complete as VMware. Sounds like you need a physical server if you need USB passsthru .

[karldenton]

Sorted it. Managed to put the door lock software onto another PC and just get it to access the database on the server