Mar 29, 2019

HI, I have the New NUC 7i Gen8 and a tp-link UE300.
Drivers installed but I don't see the nic. :(
Here is my info:
[root@localhost:/dev] vmware -vl
VMware ESXi 6.7.0 build-10302608
VMware ESXi 6.7.0 Update 1

[root@localhost:/dev] chkconfig usbarbitrator --list
usbarbitrator

[root@localhost:/dev] lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 413c:301a Dell Computer Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 2357:0601
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 13fe:6300 Kingston Technology Company Inc.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 413c:2101 Dell Computer Corp. SmartCard Reader Keyboard
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0e0f:8003 VMware, Inc.

[root@localhost:/dev] localcli system module list | grep usb
vmkusb_nic_fling true true

[root@localhost:/dev] esxcli network nic list
Name PCI Device Driver Admin Status Link Status Speed Duplex MAC Address MTU Description
------ ------------ ------ ------------ ----------- ----- ------ ----------------- ---- ------------------------------------------------
vmnic0 0000:00:1f.6 ne1000 Up Up 1000 Full 94:c6:91:a9:fb:f4 1500 Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (6) I219-V

2019-03-30T03:05:55.277Z cpu0:2097529)Activating Jumpstart plugin vmklinux.
2019-03-30T03:05:55.277Z cpu0:2097529)Jumpstart plugin vmklinux activated.
2019-03-30T03:05:55.277Z cpu0:2097529)Activating Jumpstart plugin vmkdevmgr.
2019-03-30T03:05:55.345Z cpu0:2097564)PCI: 1254: 0000:00:1f.6 named 'vmnic0' (was '')
2019-03-30T03:05:55.348Z cpu0:2097564)PCI: 1254: 0000:00:17.0 named 'vmhba0' (was '')
2019-03-30T03:05:55.352Z cpu0:2097564)PCI: 1254: 0000:6d:00.0 named 'vmhba1' (was '')
2019-03-30T03:05:55.400Z cpu0:2097565)Loading module vmkusb_nic_fling ...
2019-03-30T03:05:55.402Z cpu0:2097565)Elf: 2101: module vmkusb_nic_fling has license VMware
2019-03-30T03:05:55.410Z cpu0:2097565)Device: 192: Registered driver 'vmkusb_nic_fling' from 17
2019-03-30T03:05:55.410Z cpu0:2097565)Mod: 4962: Initialization of vmkusb_nic_fling succeeded with module ID 17.
2019-03-30T03:05:55.410Z cpu0:2097565)vmkusb_nic_fling loaded successfully.

Can you help?
Thanks for all you do.

Apr 01, 2019

I see the issue. the new TP-link have new Vendor and Product codes.
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 3.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 9
idVendor 0x2357
idProduct 0x0601
bcdDevice 30.00
iManufacturer 1 TP-LINK
iProduct 2 USB 10/100/1000 LAN
iSerial 6 000001000000

I would love to help keep these up to date with the newest codes.
How Can I help?

Jun 03, 2019

This might explain why I'm having so much trouble, I picked up the UE300 only 3 or 4 weeks ago and all the tutorials explaining how to do this have failed for me.

I wonder who can fix this?

[root@localhost:~] lsusb -v

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 2357:0601 TP-Link
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 3.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 9
idVendor 0x2357 TP-Link
idProduct 0x0601
bcdDevice 30.00
iManufacturer 1 TP-LINK
iProduct 2 USB 10/100/1000 LAN
iSerial 6 000001000000
bNumConfigurations 2
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 57
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xa0
(Bus Powered)
Remote Wakeup
MaxPower 256mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 3
bInterfaceClass 255 Vendor Specific Class
bInterfaceSubClass 255 Vendor Specific Subclass
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 3
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 3
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 3
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x83 EP 3 IN
bmAttributes 3
Transfer Type Interrupt
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0002 1x 2 bytes
bInterval 8
bMaxBurst 0
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 98
bNumInterfaces 2
bConfigurationValue 2
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xa0
(Bus Powered)
Remote Wakeup
MaxPower 256mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 1
bInterfaceClass 2 Communications
bInterfaceSubClass 6 Ethernet Networking
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 5 CDC Communications Control
CDC Header:
bcdCDC 1.10
CDC Union:
bMasterInterface 0
bSlaveInterface 1
CDC Ethernet:
iMacAddress 3 503EAAD14472
bmEthernetStatistics 0x00000000
wMaxSegmentSize 1514
wNumberMCFilters 0x0000
bNumberPowerFilters 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x83 EP 3 IN
bmAttributes 3
Transfer Type Interrupt
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0010 1x 16 bytes
bInterval 8
bMaxBurst 0
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 1
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 0
bInterfaceClass 10 CDC Data
bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 0
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 1
bAlternateSetting 1
bNumEndpoints 2
bInterfaceClass 10 CDC Data
bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 4 Ethernet Data
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 3
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 3
Binary Object Store Descriptor:
bLength 5
bDescriptorType 15
wTotalLength 22
bNumDeviceCaps 2
USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 16
bDevCapabilityType 2
bmAttributes 0x00000002
Link Power Management (LPM) Supported
SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:
bLength 10
bDescriptorType 16
bDevCapabilityType 3
bmAttributes 0x02
Latency Tolerance Messages (LTM) Supported
wSpeedsSupported 0x000e
Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)
Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)
Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)
bFunctionalitySupport 2
Lowest fully-functional device speed is High Speed (480Mbps)
bU1DevExitLat 10 micro seconds
bU2DevExitLat 2047 micro seconds
Device Status: 0x0000
(Bus Powered)

Mar 27, 2019

Hello,

Is there any way to make this work by injecting the driver into the image? I injected the offline bundle, but it doesn't appear to recognize the USB network adapter on install, although it is the correct vendor/dev ids. The vmkusb driver appears to load and find the device, but I can't seem to get the network nic list to enumerate, and the esx.conf file doesn't make reference to a vusb0 during install. Here is a link to a picture of some commands I ran: https://photos.app.goo.gl/s7hZaTfaagSaQYUPA

Is there something I can do from shell that will allow the network adapter to be recognized?

Mar 27, 2019

Hi @Rennyfuchs,

I just checked the picture you shared on the link.
The device you are using should be work with the fling. It is not recognized, because the 'vmkusb_nic_fling' module is not loaded as expected.
Please help to check if your install is corrected? As you ar

localcli system module list | grep usb

You should be able to see the module is listed.

vmkusb_nic_fling true true

Please help to double check it is installed and rebooted the host as detailed in the instructions tap.
Thanks,
Songtao

Mar 27, 2019

Thank you Songtao,

This is in the install environment, on booting to install media it says "no network devices detected" so I entered shell while within the install to check. Do I need to manually enter the device into esx.conf in order for the OS install to continue?

Mar 27, 2019
Mar 27, 2019

Songtao,

The method that I used to inject the driver is with the ESXi Customizer script from here: https://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer-ps.html

I did check the module and it is loaded/enabled (true/true).

I can certainly try the above mentioned link, just need to find a linux box to do so. Thanks!

Mar 27, 2019

The work around was to actually remove the vib from the ISO, and use /bin/mcopy -i from another USB key to copy the vib to /tmp, then localcli software vib install in the live install environment. Appears to be working, much appreciated!

Apr 12, 2019

Rennyfuchs, Please can you explain how you made your TP-Link UE300 to work. I don't understand fully your comment above.
Thanks In advance!

Apr 19, 2019

CikaKure, what I wound up doing was using PowerCLI to create a new image profile, then used v-front.de's customizer script to make it an ISO (https://www.v-front.de/p/esxi-customizer-ps.html)
Download and install PowerCLI
Download the offline bundle of your choosing
From PowerCLI:
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot C:\path\to\zipfile
Get-EsxImageProfile to list the profiles it has
New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile (name of profile from previous step) -Name MyNewImage -vendor "Me" -AcceptanceLevel CommunitySupported
Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile MyNewImage -ExportToBundle myimage.zip

Then use the customizer script to make it an ISO, and add the driver:
.\ESXi-Customizer-PS-v2.6.0.ps1 -izip .\myimage.zip -pkgDir (location of fling driver)

Apr 19, 2019

In hindsight, this can also be done just by using the customizer script, for some reason when I ran it before it didn't modify the image profile from the script, but have verified that this should work:
.\ESXi-Customizer-PS-v2.6.0.ps1 -izip -v6X (specify v65 or v67) -pkgDir (location of fling driver)

Dec 24, 2019

@rennyfuchs, I am trying to do the same thing as you (install ESXI with only a USB NIC). I can get the esxi installer running but it fails at 85% with the following:
Exception: No vmknic tagged for management was found

Did you ever run into this?

Mar 26, 2019

Songtao/William,

Please add the TP-Link UE300 to the devices list? Chipset: RTL8153, Product: 0x0601, Vendor: 0x2357.

Thanks in advance!

Mar 27, 2019

Thanks aviegas for the feedback, sure, we will add it in the supported list :)

Jun 03, 2019

Hi Songtao/William, is there an ETA for the next version of this fling? I have the same adapter and they are relatively easy to get here.
Thanks,
Tony

Mar 23, 2019

Mine is not install :(

[root@EX-Server:~] ls
ESXi670-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-20124247-offline_bundle-11613968.zip local.tgz tardisks.noauto
altbootbank locker tmp
bin mbr usr
bootbank opt var
bootpart.gz proc vghetto-ax88179-esxi65.vib
bootpart4kn.gz productLocker vmfs
dev sbin vmimages
etc scratch vmupgrade
lib store
lib64 tardisks
[root@EX-Server:~] esxcli software vib install -d /ESXi670-VMKUSB-NIC-FLING-20124247-offline_bundle-11613968.zip
Installation Result
Message: Host is not changed.
Reboot Required: false
VIBs Installed:
VIBs Removed:
VIBs Skipped: VMW_bootbank_vmkusb-nic-fling_0.8-1vmw.670.2.48.20124247
[root@EX-Server:~]

Mar 23, 2019

Would you please check if the host in Maintenance Mode or not? As 'Instructions'

Step 2 - Place the ESXi host into Maintenance Mode using the vSphere UI or CLI (e.g. esxcli system maintenanceMode set -e true)

Mar 23, 2019

Yup. That's the first thing I did and it returns it is enabled..

Mar 23, 2019

Would you please share the vmkernel.log for analysis and build number(vmware -vl), so I can check more on my side? Thanks!

Mar 23, 2019

Thanks arod!

From the log, it seems the vmkusb_nic_fling has already installed successfully, and loaded.
I only see xhci is working as expected, but no device claimed.
Is there any USB NIC device plugged on the host?
Thanks,
Songtao

2019-03-24T01:53:58.382Z cpu2:2097593)vmkusb_nic_fling loaded successfully.
2019-03-24T01:53:58.384Z cpu4:2097592)VMK_PCI: 914: device 0000:00:14.0 pciBar 0 bus_addr 0xa1220000 size 0x10000
2019-03-24T01:53:58.384Z cpu4:2097592)WARNING: xhci_pci_attach:208: xhci devid 0xa36d8086: Success
2019-03-24T01:53:58.406Z cpu4:2097592)DMA: 679: DMA Engine 'xhci0 dma' created using mapper 'DMANull'.

Mar 23, 2019

Looks like it sees my USB =/

(RTL8152)

[root@EX-Server:~] lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 062a:4101 Creative Labs Wireless Keyboard/Mouse
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:c52f Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:8152 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8152 Fast Ethernet Adapter
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0e0f:8003 VMware, Inc.

Mar 23, 2019

Yeh, it is. Currently the module supports RTL8153 (Gagibit), but not RTL8152 (100M). We will add it in the supported list in next update. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Thanks,
Songtao

Mar 23, 2019

[root@EX-Server:~] vmware -vl
VMware ESXi 6.7.0 build-10302608
VMware ESXi 6.7.0 Update 1