Vendor ID & Product ID of a USB-device in the virtual machine is different from the real one

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Symptoms

When looking in Mac's System report (Apple logo > About This Mac > Overview > System report) Vendor ID (VID) and Product ID (PID) of a connected USB-device are different from the values seen in the Windows Device Manager in the virtual machine.

Cause

It is because the device that you see in the virtual machine is not the original device, but a virtual device. Normally Parallels Desktop forwards connected devices directly into a virtual machine, with none of their properties altered. However, such devices as cameras, mice, keyboards and USB-hubs (and also disc drives in Parallels Desktop App Store Edition) are not forwarded, but virtualized instead. So the VID and PID are therefore completely different.

Resolution

In some cases, such as with mice and keyboards, the virtualization is done to ensure better stability and compatibility. But it is still possible to connect them directly (see this article).

However, the inability to use a USB hubs directly in a virtual machine is a result of a technical limitation imposed by Apple®, and therefore cannot be done.

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