releasing USB in VMWare

I'm trying to get VMWare figured out. I had a problem and I think I know what caused the problem, but I'm not sure if my thinking is right. I have Win7 on my desktop. I installed VMWare and put WIN XP on it. When I was in the guest machine (XP) I couldn't print. I finally found out that I had to connect the USB ports in order to use my printers. I did that and both printers worked in XP with no problems. I later shut down my virtual machine and was using WIN 7--the host machine. A few days later I tried to print while in Win 7 (host machine), but neither of my printers would print. I have an HP inject and an HP laser jet. I thought that maybe I didn't release those ports while in my guest machine, so I went back into XP and released them. (Well, at least I think I released them.) Back to my host machine but it still would not print. I reinstalled the software for my inkject and it took care of the problem--it printed. I did the same with my laser jet but it still would not print. So I thought that since it had to do with not releasing the printers while on VMWare, I un- installed VMWare. It still wouldn't print. Fortunately, a few days before I connected the printers in VMWare, I made a system image. I restored the image and both of the printers work. Here's what I think the problem was--but again--I'm not sure.
I think that somehow I never did release the printers when I was in the virtual machine. I also realize that when you un- install virtual machine, the un-install does a poor job and it is not entirely un-installed. I believe that the settings that I set when I was in the virtual machine were not completed removed. Is my thinking correct? If so, do you have any idea why I could not completely release them in the frist place. I know this is a long read and I thank you very much for your input.
Frank

Devices that are not shared, which can be connected only to host or guest but not to both at the same time, are normally always released, disconnected from guest and reconnected to host when vm is closed.

If you close a vm with some of these devices still connected, next time you start the vm they are again automatically disconnected from the host and reconnected to guest. In this case you get a warning:



If you do not let vm to reconnect the device (click Cancel), you must manually reconnect it when needed:



To monitor your device status, you use the statusbar icons as these images show:







Kari

Thanks for all of that information, Kari. I have a better understanding of it now and will work on it tomorrow.

If you have some issues with devices not reconnecting to host when vm is closed, it must not be a big problem. We can then look deeper in to settings.

Kari

So far--so good! I reinstalled VMWare and put XP back on. Everything is working well. The information you send me helped to clear things up.:)

That's good to hear.

Kari

try to kill (end process) vmware-usbarbitrator.exe from the task manager in windows 7. (see the attached img)