However when I re-applied those changes I got an error running the script (see end of post).
Poking around a little more I found this advice which seemed cleaner, except it was a little flawed, when I tried adding the line as given to /etc/fstab, it didn't help and I noticed that if I actually tried to invoke the line, I got the following error:
# mount /proc/bus/usb [mntent]: line 10 in /etc/fstab is bad
The "usbfs" on the begining seemed wrong to me, so I dropped that, resulting in the following line:
/dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb usbfs auto 0 0
Then I restarted VMWare ("/etc/init.d/vmware restart") and my USB devices appeared!
Changes I made to /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh:
# diff -c mountdevsubfs.sh.orig mountdevsubfs.sh *** mountdevsubfs.sh.orig 2008-12-13 08:19:38.000000000 -0600 --- mountdevsubfs.sh 2008-12-13 08:20:25.000000000 -0600 *************** *** 39,44 **** --- 39,51 ---- # Mount /dev/pts. Master ptmx node is already created by udev. # domount devpts "" /dev/pts devpts -onoexec,nosuid,gid=$TTYGRP,mode=$TTYMODE + # + # Magic to make /proc/bus/usb work so USB devices appear in VMWare + # + mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs + domount usbfs "" /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644 + ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices + mount --rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb } case "$1" in
Error from I got from those changes:
# /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh start Usage: mount -V : print version mount -h : print this help mount : list mounted filesystems mount -l : idem, including volume labels So far the informational part. Next the mounting. The command is `mount [-t fstype] something somewhere'. Details found in /etc/fstab may be omitted. mount -a [-t|-O] ... : mount all stuff from /etc/fstab mount device : mount device at the known place mount directory : mount known device here mount -t type dev dir : ordinary mount command Note that one does not really mount a device, one mounts a filesystem (of the given type) found on the device. One can also mount an already visible directory tree elsewhere: mount --bind olddir newdir or move a subtree: mount --move olddir newdir One can change the type of mount containing the directory dir: mount --make-shared dir mount --make-slave dir mount --make-private dir mount --make-unbindable dir One can change the type of all the mounts in a mount subtree containing the directory dir: mount --make-rshared dir mount --make-rslave dir mount --make-rprivate dir mount --make-runbindable dir A device can be given by name, say /dev/hda1 or /dev/cdrom, or by label, using -L label or by uuid, using -U uuid . Other options: [-nfFrsvw] [-o options] [-p passwdfd]. For many more details, say man 8 mount . ln: creating symbolic link `/dev/bus/usb/devices': File exists