Starting with 5.1.0, VirtualBox supports passing through USB devices which are exposed over the network using the USB over IP protocol without the need to configure the client side provided by the kernel and usbip tools. Furthermore, this feature works with VirtualBox running on any supported host, rather than just Linux alone - as is the case with the official client.
To enable support for passing through USB/IP devices, the device server exporting the devices must be added with the following command:
VBoxManage usbdevsource add "Unique name" --backend "USBIP" --address "Device server[:port]"
USB devices exported on the device server are then accessible through the GUI or VBoxManage, like any USB devices attached locally. This can be used multiple times to access different device servers.
To remove a device server, the following command can be used:
VBoxManage usbdevsource remove "Unique name"
This section gives a brief overview on how to set up a Linux based system
to act as a USB device server. The system on the server requires that the
usbip-core.ko and
usbip-host.ko kernel drivers
are available, and that the USB/IP tools package is installed.
The particular installation method for the necessary tools depends on which
distribution is used.
For example, for Debian based systems - the following command should be used to
install the required tools:
apt-get install usbip-utils
To check whether the necessary tools are already installed use the following command:
$ usbip list -l
which should produce output similar to that shown in the example below:
- busid 4-2 (0bda:0301)
Realtek Semiconductor Corp. : multicard reader (0bda:0301)
- busid 5-1 (046d:c52b)
Logitech, Inc. : Unifying Receiver (046d:c52b)
If everything is installed, the USB/IP server needs to be started as
root using the following command:
usbipd -D
Refer to the documentation for the installed distribution to determine how to start the service when the system boots.
By default, no device on the server is exported - and this must be done manually for each device. To export a device use:
usbip bind -b "bus identifier"
To export the multicard reader from above, for example - use:
usbip bind -b 4-2
The communication between the server and client is unencrypted and there is no authorization required to access exported devices. An attacker might sniff sensitive data or gain control over a device. To mitigate this risk, the device should be exposed over a local network to which only trusted clients have access. To access the device remotely over a public network, a VPN solution should be used to provide the required level of security protection.