HID Devices under VMWare

07/05/20 08:02 Filed in: vmware

How do you configure a HID device using Windows under VMWare Fusion?



My new X-Bows Ergonomic keyboard turned up, but I opted for the version with the original firmware with multicoloured lights.

X-bows

Unfortunately the dev working on the multi-platform configuration software didn't finish that bit. So I have to use a Windows based solution. The keyboard is not visible to the configuration software under VMWare until you make a few changes.

Making HID devices available to Windows under VMWare Fusion



  1. Shut down the virtual machine
  2. Plug in mouse/keyboard to Mac.
  3. Edit virtual machine's .vmx and add:
    • usb.generic.allowHID = "TRUE"
    • usb.generic.allowLastHID = "TRUE"
  4. Power on your virtual machine.
  5. Connect USB devices in the VMs config menu

And if you are configuring an X-Bows keyboard: Do NOT let windows install the Gaming Keyboard Drivers it will automatically want to choose; you will have to disable the, to use the X-Bows software.

References



https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1003418