Solved Hyper-V host machine can't see USB dvd drive

Good evening

I've just installed Windows 11 Pro on a new PC and was having a play with Hyper-V.

It all seemed to be going very well and I was surprised how easily instances of Windows could be created... However, I've just been having issues getting MSFS to install from the Xbox app on the host machine (maybe a separate thread) and have decided to try installing from DVDs instead. Unfortunately, the host machine doesn't recognise the USB drive when I plug it in, though the VM does. I've tried this with the VM on and off, but the host machine just doesn't see it. It did work before I started using Hyper-V.

I've tried updating the drivers, applying all updates, and uninstalling the USB device in Device Manager but to no avail.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Best regards,

Bill

When you say it won't recognize it - you mean you aren't seeing it in Windows Explorer? Even after you insert a DVD, or when it is empty?

Thanks for the reply, John

When I plug it in, I can't see it in host machine's Windows Explorer and it doesn't seem to be recognised as a DVD in Device Manager.

However, when I load up Hyper-V and go into a recently created Windows 11 pro VM (created from a MS ISO image and barely changed), it appears in File Manager as 'DVD Drive (D:)', where I can access all of the files. It also appears as a 'Microsoft Virtual DVD-ROM' in Device Manager.

I might have expected the behaviour the other way around and there are plenty of posts from people wanting to access hardware in a VM, but I can't find anything like my problem!

Best regards,

Bill

OK, so there is a DVD loaded when you're trying. Not seeing an empty drive was an easy fix, as Explorer can be set to hide empty drives. But not seeing it with a DVD loaded....

This is a bit of a conundrum. Let me look and also hope others can reply with ideas.

Are you using enhanced mode. The only way I know of seeing a dvd drive in Hyper-v rather than a virtual dvd drive is if you tick the options in screenshot. It may well be you have ticked something but I do not understand why it is not released if vm is shut down.

Show us your settings in hyper-v from main settings menu.

Ok - One donkey point for me!

Whilst trying to find the Local Resources screen, I noticed that the DVD drive that is showing in the VM is actually the Windows ISO image and does not reflect the DVD I've just put into the drive. I was able to navigate the drive and it did have the kind of files I was expecting, it isn't actually seeing the USB drive.

Whilst the above isn't my current concern, it may put a slightly different slant on the problem. Maybe I should look at reinstalling other drivers for the host installation and not assume that it is a VM-related problem.

As an aside, I couldn't see a Local Resources screen like the one above in the Hyper-V Settings page. Below is what I see (including the Win11 ISO image under 'DVD Drive':

Okay, just to summarize where we are now:

Your VM is seeing a DVD drive, but that DVD drive is actually just an ISO image. In other words, your actual physical DVD drive is not being seen by either the VM or the host system.

There are no drivers needed for a DVD drive - everything needed, including the drivers, are already a part of the OS. The only exception would be if you are connected to some special SATA port that itself does not have a driver.

Most typically, this comes down to either a cabling issue or a configuration issue in the BIOS. I would suggest checking the following:

1) Make sure that both the power cable AND the SATA cable are properly attached to both the DVD drive and to the motherboard and power supply. Since you can load a DVD, we know that power must be connected okay, but check the SATA cable as well.

2) Verify the BIOS settings for the SATA port used by the DVD drive. Some BIOS will require that you specifically set the port to note that an optical drive is attached. Definitely make sure that this port is not configured to something like Intel RAID!

3) Within the BIOS, you will usually see a summary of all disks attached to the system. If the BIOS itself does not see the DVD drive, then the problem is not within Windows!

BillA said:

As an aside, I couldn't see a Local Resources screen like the one above in the Hyper-V Settings page.

Click to expand...

You'll see the local resources screen if you use Enhanced session to connect to your VM (only available is the guest OS is Pro).



Click the More button....



Your guest will not have direct physical access to the hardware, but will see and be able to use all the drives. It's similar to mapping a network drive.

Thanks all for your help

I'm not 100% sure what finally kicked it into action, but after reviewing USB settings in the BIOS and multiple re-boots, I seem to have the drive back :)

Many thanks for your input and patience - It is much appreciated

Best regards,

Bill

Bree said:

You'll see the local resources screen if you use Enhanced session to connect to your VM (only available is the guest OS is Pro).

Click to expand...

Bree, thanks for that info. I was not aware that an enhanced session was not available on the home edition of Windows guests. I only use Pro so this is simply something I was unaware of.

hsehestedt said:

I was not aware that an enhanced session was not available on the home edition of Windows guests.

Click to expand...

Yes, enhanced session relies on the guest accepting an RDP connection which is a feature only available in Pro.

BillA said:

Ok - One donkey point for me!

Whilst trying to find the Local Resources screen, I noticed that the DVD drive that is showing in the VM is actually the Windows ISO image and does not reflect the DVD I've just put into the drive. I was able to navigate the drive and it did have the kind of files I was expecting, it isn't actually seeing the USB drive.

Whilst the above isn't my current concern, it may put a slightly different slant on the problem. Maybe I should look at reinstalling other drivers for the host installation and not assume that it is a VM-related problem.

As an aside, I couldn't see a Local Resources screen like the one above in the Hyper-V Settings page. Below is what I see (including the Win11 ISO image under 'DVD Drive':

Click to expand...

Glad you got it all figured out. I wasn't around yesterday, but I was going to ask you to verify that it was reading the DVD correctly by removing the DVD and seeing if the VM still saw the files.

And no worries - we all make simple mistakes like that - Heck, I one time let the Microsoft Media Creation Tool format my 1 TB HDD because it somehow picked it instead of my thumb drive that was plugged in while I was changing options and didn't notice - and had a nicely formatted 1 TB HDD that thought it was a nicely formatted 32 MB USB drive for a long time lol.