Removable USB HDD gets labelled as VMWare USB Device!!? How to fix?

Question

I have a Western Digital 500GB External USB drive. Everytime I plug it in, one of my Win7 PCs label it as "VMWare USB Device"

The same name appears under Devices and Printers. Device Manager and most other places I've checked display the device name properly.

Obviously, this is just a minor annoyance. But Annoyance nevertheless. :-p How do I fix this? I scanned through the registry but found multiple matches for "VMWare USB Device". So, I'm not confident renaming from the registry.

Solution

I think its cause windows will associate that device with vmware. I fixed it by using Nirsoft UsbDeview

It lets you view the usb devices installed on your computer. just run as administrator and uninstall the hard drive. When you plug your hard drive in, it will install it again as its original name.

Comments

[Chris Thompson]

Does the drive still work normally, as you would expect? I.e, can you copy/delete files? Does it show up with a drive letter in Computer Management -> Storage -> Local Storage?

[Scorpion]

Yes, it works perfectly normal except for the wrong labeling. And it does show under local storage.

[Scorpion]

Where should I look for this setting? Btw, this happens ONLY for this particular drive. It is possible that I had VMWare running the very first time I plugged the device in to the machine. But, now this happens without VMWare player/workstation running.

[Scorpion]

Nope, it shows up even when VMWare was not running (not even VMWare tray). As I stated in another comment, the device is actually working as it should on the host machine other than the label. Stopping the Arbitration Service didn't help either. Disabled the service and restarted. Still it says "VMWare USB Device".. so annoying :)

[Scorpion]

This worked. The devise is now simply labeled External HDD, rather than its real name ("WD 5000AAV External USB Device). But, this is good enough. Thanks!