esxi listing usb devices on host console: lsusb

Searching for esxi list usb devices on host console did not return meaningful results, but after a few more deeper tries I found that ESXi has lsusb at

• [WayBack] See if USB drive is connected |VMware Communities
• [WayBack] https://www.reddit.com/r/vmware/comments/5ck0rc/esxi_6_host_not_detecting_usb_devices_at_all/

Here the difference when connecting another USB hub with devices to an existing ESXi machine:

[root@ESXi-X10SRH-CF:~] lsusb
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0781:5583 SanDisk Corp. Ultra Fit
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0557:2419 ATEN International Co., Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0557:7000 ATEN International Co., Ltd Hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 8087:8002 Intel Corp. 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:800a Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0557:2221 ATEN International Co., Ltd Winbond Hermon
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0e0f:8002 VMware, Inc. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0e0f:8002 VMware, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0e0f:8003 VMware, Inc. 
[root@ESXi-X10SRH-CF:~] lsusb
Bus 001 Device 010: ID 0409:005a NEC Corp. HighSpeed Hub
Bus 001 Device 009: ID 0922:0019 Dymo-CoStar Corp. LabelWriter 400
Bus 001 Device 008: ID 06bc:0324 Oki Data Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 0409:005a NEC Corp. HighSpeed Hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 1a40:0101 Terminus Technology Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0781:5583 SanDisk Corp. Ultra Fit
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0557:2419 ATEN International Co., Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0557:7000 ATEN International Co., Ltd Hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 8087:8002 Intel Corp. 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:800a Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0557:2221 ATEN International Co., Ltd Winbond Hermon
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0e0f:8002 VMware, Inc. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0e0f:8002 VMware, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0e0f:8003 VMware, Inc.

A few odd things about the devices listed above:

1. are in none of the /var/log/* files when searching for Oki, Dymo or NEC
2. are listed differently in Windows:
   • Windows lists the 06bc:0324 Oki Data Corp.  as a “Composite device” with a few sub-devices “MC5(3)x2/ES5(3)4×2” and “USB Printing Support”
   • Windows lists the 0922:0019 Dymo-CoStar Corp. LabelWriter 400 as “USB Printing Support” with a subdevice “DYMO LabelWriter 400”
3. are listed differently when assigning them to a VM:

Two indispensable tools on Windows for dealing with USB devices are:

• [WayBack] View any installed/connected USB device on your system
• [WayBack] USBView | Microsoft Docs

They give a much easier to read view than devmgmt.msc, this despite the “hidden devices” trick at [WayBack] Tweak Device Manager for a more Complete View of Devices

Related:

• lspci: lsusb – Wikipedia
• [WayBack] lsusb(8): USB devices – Linux man page lsusb is a utility for displaying information about USB buses in the system and the devices connected to them.
• 18 Useful Commands to Get Hardware Information on Linux – Linuxslaves

–jeroen

• ESXi 6 host not detecting USB devices at all from vmware