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Overview

Connect a USB device to Windows and WSL Linux
  • Turn your USB devices into a TCP-connected “internet” device
  • Share the device between Windows and Linux (Windows Subsystem for Linux)
  • Optional: Use a GUI program which creates auto-connection profiles and monitors your USB connections

Tools

USBIPD-Win

Source: https://github.com/dorssel/usbipd-win

Microsoft Documentation https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/connect-usb

winget install usbipd

Alternatively, grab the .msi file from: https://github.com/dorssel/usbipd-win/releases/latest

WSL-USB Manager

Grab the latest release from: https://gitlab.com/alelec/wsl-usb-gui/-/releases

Packages to install within WSL

usbipd-win allows for USB devices to be shared. We still need to add packages on the WSL side to receive this shared USB connection. 

# Within WSL

sudo apt install linux-tools-common usbutils

If you try to attach a device without having the required packages, you may see the following error.

lsbipd wsl linux tools

Usage

Listing USB Devices

# List USB devices with friendly names
usbipd list -u

# List USB devices hardware controller names
usbipd list

Prior to any initial configuration or profile setup, the wslipd command line and WSL USB Manager program show the devices, with no forwarded connections.

Powershell showing usbipd list

Using WSL USB Manager

WSL USB Manager Initial
wsl usb manager rename devices

The first time you pass through a USB device, WSL USB Manager will require administrative privileges. You will need to accept the Windows UAC dialogue which opens.

wsl usb manager elevated permissions

Create an auto-attach profile with WSL USB Manager

wsl usb manager custom profile create
wsl usb manager custom profile edit
Example: Custom profile which will only pass through the YubiKey 5C when plugged into a specific USB-C port on my docking station

Using the command line

First, open a WSL terminal so that the Linux virtual machine is running in the background. Then open a standard PowerShell window (not elevated), and provide the following command to attach a particular USB device. Then, verify that the device is present using the command lsusb.

# Attach the USB device to WSL
usbipd attach --wsl --busid <YOUR_DEVICE_BUS_ID>
# Verify the device is present in WSL by listing the USB devices
lsusb
usbipd wsl flowchart 1
PowerShell on the left, WSL bash shell on the right. After passing the usbipd attach --wsl --busid 4-3 command, the YubiKey is detected within WSL.

Further reading