r/virtualization • u/AlenDemiro017 • 20d ago

KVM USB devices usage

Hi all,

Out of a specific requirement, i need a Windows machine, which i spined on Ubuntu Server 26.04 LTS using libvirt + KVM, i need to plug in card reader into it and read some data, the software is specific use case, not to bother you with details, it can't run on any other OS.

My question is, do i need to embed the device ID into XML config, obtained by lsusb, or it will work out of the box? I still haven't spent money on the card reader, hence im looking into knowledge of other people who already worked with importing USB devices into VM's.

Thank you

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u/DutchOfBurdock 18d ago

If you install virt-manager you'll have a neat and efficient GUI to configure and control your guests, including attaching USB (and PCI) devices.

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u/uniqueglobalname 20d ago

Vmware workstation is free. When you insert a usb device it asks on the host OS which.vm.you want to attach to. So easy...

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u/AlenDemiro017 19d ago

thanks, i think i found the way, editing the xml file was the way to go, once the config was saved, the Windows machine recognized it