How to Pass Through USB in Hyper-V on Windows 11

Hyper-V does not feature native, direct USB controller passthrough for all hardware, but you can successfully connect physical USB peripherals to a Windows 11 virtual machine using multiple built-in and alternative methods. This guide details how to use Enhanced Session Mode for standard USB peripherals, Disk Management for physical USB storage drives, and USB-over-IP solutions for specialized devices like license dongles and serial converters.

Method 1: Enhanced Session Mode (Peripherals and Storage)

Enhanced Session Mode utilizes the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) pipeline to redirect local devices and resources from your Windows 11 host directly into the guest VM.

Step 1: Enable Enhanced Session Mode Globally

  1. Open Hyper-V Manager.
  2. In the left pane, right-click your host machine name and select Hyper-V Settings.
  3. Under Server, select Enhanced Session Mode Policy and check Allow enhanced session mode.
  4. Under User, select Enhanced Session Mode and check Use enhanced session mode.
  5. Click OK.

Step 2: Enable Integration Services on the VM

  1. Right-click your virtual machine in Hyper-V Manager and select Settings.
  2. Under the Management section, click Integration Services.
  3. Ensure Guest services is checked.
  4. Click Apply and OK.

Step 3: Redirect the USB Devices

  1. Start and connect to your virtual machine.
  2. In the connection prompt window that appears before login, click Show Options.
  3. Navigate to the Local Resources tab.
  4. Click More… under the Local devices and resources section.
  5. Expand Drives or Other supported RemoteFX USB devices and select the physical USB devices plugged into your Windows 11 host.
  6. Click OK, then click Connect. The selected USB peripherals will now be accessible inside the guest operating system.

Method 2: Physical USB Hard Drive Passthrough

For dedicated block-level access to external USB hard drives or high-capacity flash drives, you can attach the drive directly via the SCSI controller.

  1. Connect the physical USB drive to your Windows 11 host.
  2. Press Win + X and select Disk Management.
  3. Locate the USB drive in the lower pane, right-click the disk number label (e.g., Disk 2), and select Offline.
  4. Open Hyper-V Manager, right-click the target VM, and select Settings.
  5. In the left pane, click SCSI Controller.
  6. Select Hard Drive and click Add.
  7. In the Hard Drive settings, select the Physical hard disk radio button.
  8. Choose your offlined USB drive from the drop-down menu.
  9. Click Apply and OK. The drive is now mounted directly to the VM.

Method 3: USB-over-IP Software (Specialized Devices)

For devices that require direct hardware-level communication—such as security dongles, webcams, smart card readers, or USB-to-Serial adapters—Hyper-V’s native features may be insufficient.

  1. Install a USB-over-IP application (such as VirtualHere, USB Network Gate, or FlexiHub) on your Windows 11 host (Server).
  2. Install the corresponding client software inside the guest VM (Client).
  3. Connect the USB device to your physical computer and share it via the host server application.
  4. Open the client software inside the VM, locate the shared USB device over the virtual network adapter, and click Attach or Connect. The VM will recognize the peripheral as if it were plugged directly into a physical motherboard port.