Hello, brad_morgan.
I have the same problem, and have been trying to fix it for months. The host is Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. The guest varies, but most often is Ubuntu 12.10 32-bit (VMware Tools is installed). I use USB flash drives regularly, and occasionally a USB DVD writer.
When plugging in the USB flash drive to one of the motherboard USB ports, the transfer/power light comes on very briefly, but then goes right back off. The drive will not be accessible by the host when this happens. If I plug the drive into a powered USB hub, the host will be able to access the drive. The same is true with the USB DVD writer. This problem will occur even after rebooting the host, and NOT RUNNING ANY VIRTUAL MACHINES.
Like you, I know it is a VMware problem, because if I uninstall VMware 9.0.1, the problem goes away. I can plug and unplug the drives all day long, and the host always sees them. Since all of the virtual machines are shutdown, the option to release the devices are not availble. One of the VMware services must be latching on to the drives, buy I don't why.
I've opened a support ticket, hoping for some additional assistance.
