6 QEMU can emulate a PCI UHCI, OHCI, EHCI or XHCI USB controller. You can
7 plug virtual USB devices or real host USB devices (only works with
8 certain host operating systems). QEMU will automatically create and
9 connect virtual USB hubs as necessary to connect multiple USB devices.
14 XHCI controller support
15 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
17 QEMU has XHCI host adapter support. The XHCI hardware design is much
18 more virtualization-friendly when compared to EHCI and UHCI, thus XHCI
19 emulation uses less resources (especially CPU). So if your guest
20 supports XHCI (which should be the case for any operating system
21 released around 2010 or later) we recommend using it:
23 qemu -device qemu-xhci
25 XHCI supports USB 1.1, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 devices, so this is the
26 only controller you need. With only a single USB controller (and
27 therefore only a single USB bus) present in the system there is no
28 need to use the bus= parameter when adding USB devices.
31 EHCI controller support
32 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
34 The QEMU EHCI Adapter supports USB 2.0 devices. It can be used either
35 standalone or with companion controllers (UHCI, OHCI) for USB 1.1
36 devices. The companion controller setup is more convenient to use
37 because it provides a single USB bus supporting both USB 2.0 and USB
38 1.1 devices. See next section for details.
40 When running EHCI in standalone mode you can add UHCI or OHCI
41 controllers for USB 1.1 devices too. Each controller creates its own
42 bus though, so there are two completely separate USB buses: One USB
43 1.1 bus driven by the UHCI controller and one USB 2.0 bus driven by
44 the EHCI controller. Devices must be attached to the correct
47 The easiest way to add a UHCI controller to a ``pc`` machine is the
48 ``-usb`` switch. QEMU will create the UHCI controller as function of
49 the PIIX3 chipset. The USB 1.1 bus will carry the name ``usb-bus.0``.
51 You can use the standard ``-device`` switch to add a EHCI controller to
52 your virtual machine. It is strongly recommended to specify an ID for
53 the controller so the USB 2.0 bus gets an individual name, for example
54 ``-device usb-ehci,id=ehci``. This will give you a USB 2.0 bus named
57 When adding USB devices using the ``-device`` switch you can specify the
58 bus they should be attached to. Here is a complete example:
62 |qemu_system| -M pc ${otheroptions} \\
63 -drive if=none,id=usbstick,format=raw,file=/path/to/image \\
65 -device usb-ehci,id=ehci \\
66 -device usb-tablet,bus=usb-bus.0 \\
67 -device usb-storage,bus=ehci.0,drive=usbstick
69 This attaches a USB tablet to the UHCI adapter and a USB mass storage
70 device to the EHCI adapter.
73 Companion controller support
74 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
76 The UHCI and OHCI controllers can attach to a USB bus created by EHCI
77 as companion controllers. This is done by specifying the ``masterbus``
78 and ``firstport`` properties. ``masterbus`` specifies the bus name the
79 controller should attach to. ``firstport`` specifies the first port the
80 controller should attach to, which is needed as usually one EHCI
81 controller with six ports has three UHCI companion controllers with
84 There is a config file in docs which will do all this for
85 you, which you can use like this:
89 |qemu_system| -readconfig docs/config/ich9-ehci-uhci.cfg
91 Then use ``bus=ehci.0`` to assign your USB devices to that bus.
93 Using the ``-usb`` switch for ``q35`` machines will create a similar
94 USB controller configuration.
97 .. _Connecting USB devices:
99 Connecting USB devices
100 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
102 USB devices can be connected with the ``-device usb-...`` command line
103 option or the ``device_add`` monitor command. Available devices are:
106 Virtual Mouse. This will override the PS/2 mouse emulation when
110 Pointer device that uses absolute coordinates (like a touchscreen).
111 This means QEMU is able to report the mouse position without having
112 to grab the mouse. Also overrides the PS/2 mouse emulation when
115 ``usb-storage,drive=drive_id``
116 Mass storage device backed by drive_id (see the :ref:`disk images`
117 chapter in the System Emulation Users Guide). This is the classic
118 bulk-only transport protocol used by 99% of USB sticks. This
119 example shows it connected to an XHCI USB controller and with
120 a drive backed by a raw format disk image:
124 |qemu_system| [...] \\
125 -drive if=none,id=stick,format=raw,file=/path/to/file.img \\
126 -device nec-usb-xhci,id=xhci \\
127 -device usb-storage,bus=xhci.0,drive=stick
130 USB attached SCSI device. This does not create a SCSI disk, so
131 you need to explicitly create a ``scsi-hd`` or ``scsi-cd`` device
132 on the command line, as well as using the ``-drive`` option to
133 specify what those disks are backed by. One ``usb-uas`` device can
134 handle multiple logical units (disks). This example creates three
135 logical units: two disks and one cdrom drive:
139 |qemu_system| [...] \\
140 -drive if=none,id=uas-disk1,format=raw,file=/path/to/file1.img \\
141 -drive if=none,id=uas-disk2,format=raw,file=/path/to/file2.img \\
142 -drive if=none,id=uas-cdrom,media=cdrom,format=raw,file=/path/to/image.iso \\
143 -device nec-usb-xhci,id=xhci \\
144 -device usb-uas,id=uas,bus=xhci.0 \\
145 -device scsi-hd,bus=uas.0,scsi-id=0,lun=0,drive=uas-disk1 \\
146 -device scsi-hd,bus=uas.0,scsi-id=0,lun=1,drive=uas-disk2 \\
147 -device scsi-cd,bus=uas.0,scsi-id=0,lun=5,drive=uas-cdrom
150 Bulk-only transport storage device. This presents the guest with the
151 same USB bulk-only transport protocol interface as ``usb-storage``, but
152 the QEMU command line option works like ``usb-uas`` and does not
153 automatically create SCSI disks for you. ``usb-bot`` supports up to
154 16 LUNs. Unlike ``usb-uas``, the LUN numbers must be continuous,
155 i.e. for three devices you must use 0+1+2. The 0+1+5 numbering from the
156 ``usb-uas`` example above won't work with ``usb-bot``.
158 ``usb-mtp,rootdir=dir``
159 Media transfer protocol device, using dir as root of the file tree
160 that is presented to the guest.
162 ``usb-host,hostbus=bus,hostaddr=addr``
163 Pass through the host device identified by bus and addr
165 ``usb-host,vendorid=vendor,productid=product``
166 Pass through the host device identified by vendor and product ID
169 Virtual Wacom PenPartner tablet. This device is similar to the
170 ``tablet`` above but it can be used with the tslib library because in
171 addition to touch coordinates it reports touch pressure.
174 Standard USB keyboard. Will override the PS/2 keyboard (if present).
176 ``usb-serial,chardev=id``
177 Serial converter. This emulates an FTDI FT232BM chip connected to
178 host character device id.
180 ``usb-braille,chardev=id``
181 Braille device. This emulates a Baum Braille device USB port. id has to
182 specify a character device defined with ``-chardev …,id=id``. One will
183 normally use BrlAPI to display the braille output on a BRLTTY-supported
188 |qemu_system| [...] -chardev braille,id=brl -device usb-braille,chardev=brl
190 or alternatively, use the following equivalent shortcut:
194 |qemu_system| [...] -usbdevice braille
196 ``usb-net[,netdev=id]``
197 Network adapter that supports CDC ethernet and RNDIS protocols. id
198 specifies a netdev defined with ``-netdev …,id=id``. For instance,
199 user-mode networking can be used with
203 |qemu_system| [...] -netdev user,id=net0 -device usb-net,netdev=net0
206 Smartcard reader device
211 ``u2f-{emulated,passthru}``
212 Universal Second Factor device
215 An Open-source Secure Key implementing FIDO2, OpenPGP, PIV and more.
216 For more information, see :ref:`canokey`.
218 Physical port addressing
219 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
221 For all the above USB devices, by default QEMU will plug the device
222 into the next available port on the specified USB bus, or onto
223 some available USB bus if you didn't specify one explicitly.
224 If you need to, you can also specify the physical port where
225 the device will show up in the guest. This can be done using the
226 ``port`` property. UHCI has two root ports (1,2). EHCI has six root
227 ports (1-6), and the emulated (1.1) USB hub has eight ports.
229 Plugging a tablet into UHCI port 1 works like this::
231 -device usb-tablet,bus=usb-bus.0,port=1
233 Plugging a hub into UHCI port 2 works like this::
235 -device usb-hub,bus=usb-bus.0,port=2
237 Plugging a virtual USB stick into port 4 of the hub just plugged works
240 -device usb-storage,bus=usb-bus.0,port=2.4,drive=...
242 In the monitor, the ``device_add` command also accepts a ``port``
243 property specification. If you want to unplug devices too you should
244 specify some unique id which you can use to refer to the device.
245 You can then use ``device_del`` to unplug the device later.
248 (qemu) device_add usb-tablet,bus=usb-bus.0,port=1,id=my-tablet
249 (qemu) device_del my-tablet
251 Hotplugging USB storage
252 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
254 The ``usb-bot`` and ``usb-uas`` devices can be hotplugged. In the hotplug
255 case they are added with ``attached = false`` so the guest will not see
256 the device until the ``attached`` property is explicitly set to true.
257 That allows you to attach one or more scsi devices before making the
258 device visible to the guest. The workflow looks like this:
260 #. ``device-add usb-bot,id=foo``
261 #. ``device-add scsi-{hd,cd},bus=foo.0,lun=0``
262 #. optionally add more devices (luns 1 ... 15)
263 #. ``scripts/qmp/qom-set foo.attached = true``
265 .. _host_005fusb_005fdevices:
267 Using host USB devices on a Linux host
268 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
270 WARNING: this is an experimental feature. QEMU will slow down when using
271 it. USB devices requiring real time streaming (i.e. USB Video Cameras)
272 are not supported yet.
274 1. If you use an early Linux 2.4 kernel, verify that no Linux driver is
275 actually using the USB device. A simple way to do that is simply to
276 disable the corresponding kernel module by renaming it from
277 ``mydriver.o`` to ``mydriver.o.disabled``.
279 2. Verify that ``/proc/bus/usb`` is working (most Linux distributions
280 should enable it by default). You should see something like that:
287 3. Since only root can access to the USB devices directly, you can
288 either launch QEMU as root or change the permissions of the USB
289 devices you want to use. For testing, the following suffices:
293 chown -R myuid /proc/bus/usb
295 4. Launch QEMU and do in the monitor:
300 Device 1.2, speed 480 Mb/s
301 Class 00: USB device 1234:5678, USB DISK
303 You should see the list of the devices you can use (Never try to use
304 hubs, it won't work).
306 5. Add the device in QEMU by using:
310 device_add usb-host,vendorid=0x1234,productid=0x5678
312 Normally the guest OS should report that a new USB device is plugged.
313 You can use the option ``-device usb-host,...`` to do the same.
315 6. Now you can try to use the host USB device in QEMU.
317 When relaunching QEMU, you may have to unplug and plug again the USB
318 device to make it work again (this is a bug).
320 ``usb-host`` properties for specifying the host device
321 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
323 The example above uses the ``vendorid`` and ``productid`` to
324 specify which host device to pass through, but this is not
325 the only way to specify the host device. ``usb-host`` supports
326 the following properties:
329 Specifies the bus number the device must be attached to
331 Specifies the device address the device got assigned by the guest os
333 Specifies the physical port the device is attached to
335 Specifies the vendor ID of the device
336 ``productid=<hexnr>``
337 Specifies the product ID of the device.
339 In theory you can combine all these properties as you like. In
340 practice only a few combinations are useful:
342 - ``vendorid`` and ``productid`` -- match for a specific device, pass it to
343 the guest when it shows up somewhere in the host.
345 - ``hostbus`` and ``hostport`` -- match for a specific physical port in the
346 host, any device which is plugged in there gets passed to the
349 - ``hostbus`` and ``hostaddr`` -- most useful for ad-hoc pass through as the
350 hostaddr isn't stable. The next time you plug the device into the host it
351 will get a new hostaddr.
353 Note that on the host USB 1.1 devices are handled by UHCI/OHCI and USB
354 2.0 by EHCI. That means different USB devices plugged into the very
355 same physical port on the host may show up on different host buses
356 depending on the speed. Supposing that devices plugged into a given
357 physical port appear as bus 1 + port 1 for 2.0 devices and bus 3 + port 1
358 for 1.1 devices, you can pass through any device plugged into that port
359 and also assign it to the correct USB bus in QEMU like this:
363 |qemu_system| -M pc [...] \\
365 -device usb-ehci,id=ehci \\
366 -device usb-host,bus=usb-bus.0,hostbus=3,hostport=1 \\
367 -device usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=1
369 ``usb-host`` properties for reset behavior
370 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
372 The ``guest-reset`` and ``guest-reset-all`` properties control
373 whenever the guest is allowed to reset the physical usb device on the
374 host. There are three cases:
376 ``guest-reset=false``
377 The guest is not allowed to reset the (physical) usb device.
379 ``guest-reset=true,guest-resets-all=false``
380 The guest is allowed to reset the device when it is not yet
381 initialized (aka no usb bus address assigned). Usually this results
382 in one guest reset being allowed. This is the default behavior.
384 ``guest-reset=true,guest-resets-all=true``
385 The guest is allowed to reset the device as it pleases.
387 The reason for this existing are broken usb devices. In theory one
388 should be able to reset (and re-initialize) usb devices at any time.
389 In practice that may result in shitty usb device firmware crashing and
390 the device not responding any more until you power-cycle (aka un-plug
393 What works best pretty much depends on the behavior of the specific
394 usb device at hand, so it's a trial-and-error game. If the default
395 doesn't work, try another option and see whenever the situation
401 All usb devices have support for recording the usb traffic. This can
402 be enabled using the ``pcap=<file>`` property, for example:
404 ``-device usb-mouse,pcap=mouse.pcap``
406 The pcap files are compatible with the linux kernels usbmon. Many
407 tools, including ``wireshark``, can decode and inspect these trace