This article provides steps to connect a second mouse and/or keyboard directly to a virtual machine.

If your mouse or keyboard is not working in your virtual machine, see Fixing a mouse or keyboard that is not working or is slow to respond in a Fusion virtual machine (1027805).

VMware Fusion Pro 8.x
VMware Fusion 10.x
VMware Fusion 4.x
VMware Fusion 8.x
VMware Fusion 2.x
VMware Fusion 5.x
VMware Fusion 3.x
VMware Fusion Pro 10.x
VMware Fusion 7.x
VMware Fusion 6.x

Mice and keyboards belong to a special class of USB devices known as Human Interface Devices, or HID. Fusion does not allow these to be connected to the virtual machine by default, due to the risk of removing all human interface from the Mac. It is possible to instruct Fusion to make it possible to connect these devices by modifying the virtual machine settings.

Caution: You require access to a second keyboard and/or mouse for these steps. Do not follow these steps if you only have one mouse and/or keyboard, as you will not be able to use the device(s) with your Mac while Fusion is running.

To connect an external keyboard and/or mouse directly to your virtual machine:
 

1. Shut down the virtual machine that needs the mouse/keyboard.
2. Plug the second mouse/keyboard into your Mac.
3. Edit your virtual machine's .vmx file using a text editor to include these lines. For more information about editing the .vmx file, see Editing the .vmx file for your VMware Fusion virtual machine (1014782).
   
   usb.generic.allowHID = "TRUE"
usb.generic.allowLastHID = "TRUE"
   
   Note: The usb.generic.allowLastHID = "TRUE" entry is optional. It allows the last remaining HID device to be taken from the host and attached to the virtual machine. This prevents the keyboard and mouse from being returned back to the host without unplugging it.
    
4. Power on your virtual machine.
5. Go to Virtual Machine > USB & Bluetooth (Fusion 4.x and later) / USB (Fusion 3.x and earlier) and select Connect <your mouse or keyboard>.

Additional Information

For translated versions of this article, see:

• 日本語: 2 台目のマウスまたはキーボードを Fusion 仮想マシンに直接接続する (2110392)