Virtualized OSX can't see iPhone device

Question

I've been running a VM with OSX for a while now while developing for iOS using an iPhone device. Everything was working fine until the update to El Capitan. Since the update, the iPhone is no longer being recognized by the VM-OSX (this includes iTunes, Xcode and AppCode).

The iOS device is definitely connected to the VM and not to the host computer, and I have clicked the "Trust this computer" in the popup which appears when plugging it into the usb for both the host and the VM.

Any idea what can be done about this other than going back to Yosemite?

Thanks in advance!

System configuration:

• Host OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit.
• VM OS: OS X El Capitan v10.11.
• VMWare Workstation 11.1.2 (patched to support OSX).
• iPhone 6, running iOS 9.0.2.
• iTunes 12.3.0.44.
• IDE1: Xcode 7.0.1 (7A1001).
• IDE2: AppCode-OC (EAP) 142.5239.5.

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UPDATE 1:

Following the example of this question, the device does appear in the hardware list:

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UPDATE 2:

As discussed in this thread, a faulty AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext that was present on my system (v8.0.1) may have been the cause of the problem. I tried replacing it with an older version (7.0).

These are the steps I took:

1. Booted into recovery to disable the System Integrity Protection (aka "SIP") by holding WinKey+R during VM boot (which is being mapped to Command+R by VMWare, according to this answer).
2. When in recovery, I entered the terminal utility and disabled SIP using the command csrutil disable as described here, followed by a reboot.
3. Replaced the kext with the old version, which was obtainable at the time of writing using the method detailed here (in short: download the latest iTunes dmg; open it with Pacifist; install the subpackage manual\MobileDevice.pkg) and rebooted (to ensure the right version was being loaded).

This action did not fix my problem.

Solution

Inspired by this thread, where the new USB handling system introduced in El Capitan was discussed, I've attempted a very simple settings change in my VM configuration that managed to resolve the problem for me:

Since my device was connected through a USB2 port anyway, all it took was to tell the VM to treat the port as such.

I'm aware that this solution is not perfect, as it might hurt the transfer rates of USB3 communications, but what it lacks in performance it makes up in simplicity :)

Note: You will need to shutdown your VM, change the USB compatibility setting and restart for the change to take effect. Disconnect the iPhone/iPad from the host while doing this, just in case

Comments

[zymhan]

This solved the same issue I was experiencing on an OS X 10.10 host with Fusion 8 and an OS X 10.11 guest.

[Worker]

I also helped me, even I have all USB 3.0 ports on mu iMac... So, it seems it works only with USB 2.0. Thank you!

[Alex S]

@Dev-iL - So this allows you sideload/ develop apps from Xcode to iPhone while in a VM?

[Dev-iL]

@AlexS That is correct.

[Alex S]

Thanks - Awesome, then I dont need to build a hackintosh to self sign and sideload apps using xcode 7.2 on to iOS 9.2 - Can you verify this works on these versions?

[Alex S]

I meant, I hope this still works with the latest versions of Xcode 7.x, iOS 9.2 on recent OSXes in VMs. - What was last versions of these that you tested it with?

[Dev-iL]

@AlexS - Just tested this on VMware workstation 12.1.0 + Xcode 7.2.1 + iOS 9.2.1 (iPhone 6) + OSX 10.11.3 - still works, as expected :)

[solublefish]

Worth noting: I had to shut down the guest OS before changing this setting or the change wouldn't stick. After starting the guest OS again and connecting my iPhone, iTunes and Xcode could see it.

[Deepscorn]

Solved my problem too. Interesting thing: I connected both android & ios devices to USB for debugging. Android works ok on both USB 2.0 & 3.0 set in VMware settings. And ios only in 2.0. Used same hardware ports. So I think it's somehow related to the way iOS devices are recognized when connected to USB 3.0. Another solution, adding kexts for USB 3.0 didn't solve problem for me too, so it also makes me think that way

[Ted Gueniche]

Also worth noting, for me I had to use a USB2 port, it would not work with a USB3 port (iPhone 4S, El Capitan).

[Avi]

Also for me, on a Windows 10 client.

[lviggiani]

Worked for me on 12.5.0 build-4352439 on linux host with macOS Sierra. Just one thing: you need to shutdown the VM, change the setting to USB 2.0, DISCONNECT the iPda/iPhone, boot the VM and connect the iPad again.

[HPWD]

I've found several answers online about the USB2.0 setting but this didn't work for me. I'll move the guest to another host workstation that is not so heavily locked down by windows group policy.

[VinceOPS]

Thanks sir :). Still working today with VMw 12.5 & Sierra. I needed to shutdown the VM to apply the changes. (Host: Windows 8.1)

[Mark]

OMG this helped! You don't know how many hours I wasted! Thank you for posting it here!

[Tomáš Linhart]

Did anyone encounter this issue with VirtualBox? I see the device in same list as the author but it is not detected by Xcode or iTunes. I tried USB 1.1, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. Nothing works, any ideas?

[Dev-iL]

@TomášLinhart You might want to post it as a separate question, since the exposure of a comment is minimal (I happened to see it because I am the OP and got notified).

[nikolas]

@TomášLinhart same issue on mine as well.. virtual box macos sierra and itunes 12.6.2

[JustAMartin]

Did not help on Sierra 10.12.6 on VMWare - the iPhone connects for a moment, and then disconnects again, and so on in a loop until I disconnect it from the host. Works fine on El Capitan, though.

[Amr Lotfy]

Same thing for virtualbox but have to install VirtualBox Extension Pack.

[nnrales]

Was this on a windows machine or on a mac ?

[Babken Vardanyan]

Does not work on Linux host, VMWare Workstation 14, Mac OS X 10.12.6 guest (Sierra), iPhone 5s - the guest freezes upon connecting the device, upon unplugging iPhone from host the iPhone restarts. Tried USB 2.0, 3.0, 1.1 - no luck.

[Dev-iL]

@BabkenVardanyan You might want to try the setup that worked for lviggiani.

[Babken Vardanyan]

I tried that with no luck. I wonder what iOS version works for @lviggiani , mine is iOS 11.2.5 and it doesn't work as described in my previous comment.

[lviggiani]

@babken: unfortunately that workaround does't work anymore with recent iOS and iPhone SE... So I'm again searching for a solution...

[Babken Vardanyan]

@lviggiani Ok, but what was the last known iOS and OSX versions that worked for you?

[lviggiani]

It was 9.x. It stopped working after upgrading to 10

[RedGiant]

@babken Same problem on Linux. The Xcode doesn’t detect IPhone XR on MacOS 13. The usb is connected,but nothing is detected. Have you solved the problem?

[Babken Vardanyan]

@RedGiant Nope, never solved this. I worked around by creating a package, moving it to host linux and installing via libimobiledevice.

[RedGiant]

@Babken. Thanks for the follow up. I guess I have to give up on Vmware.