Re: How can I disable a VM pref retroactively or by policy override? (e.g. to stop USB auto connect)

I have not tested this however when you do it through the GUI (Disable Automatic Connection of USB Devices) it places usb.generic.autoconnect = "FALSE" in the VM's .vmx configuration file.  You could try putting this in the config.ini file, the path to which is shown in the vmware.log file and unless you've previously created it you'll probably have to.  It's just a text file.  Let us know if it works.