About connecting wireless keyboard and mouse to my QubesOS

General Discussion
1

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to connect a wireless Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to my Qubes OS setup, but I haven’t been able to get them working. I would appreciate any advice from users who have successfully configured wireless input devices in Qubes OS.

Here is what I have done so far:

  1. Created a new AppVM called sys-bluetooth.

  2. Installed the following packages in it:

    • bluez
    • blueman
    • bluetoothctl

  3. Removed the NetVM from sys-bluetooth so that it remains completely offline.

  4. Attached my built-in Bluetooth adapter to sys-bluetooth using:

    bash

    qvm-usb attach sys-bluetooth sys-usb:<my-usb-id>

  5. Started bluetoothctl in sys-bluetooth. The Bluetooth adapter appeared to be working, and nearby devices were detected.

  6. Put my Bluetooth mouse into pairing mode.

  7. The mouse paired successfully with sys-bluetooth.

However, one or two seconds after pairing, I received a notification from dom0 saying that the Bluetooth device had been blocked. After that, the mouse stopped working.

The Bluetooth adapter itself appears to be available in sys-bluetooth, and pairing completes successfully, but the paired mouse is subsequently blocked by dom0.

Has anyone experienced this issue? Is there an additional Qubes OS device-permission, qrexec, USB, or input-device configuration required to allow a Bluetooth keyboard or mouse to remain connected through sys-bluetooth?

I would also appreciate advice on whether this is the correct architecture for using Bluetooth input devices in Qubes OS, especially when the Bluetooth AppVM has no NetVM and should remain offline.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions or troubleshooting steps

Much Love

Mizoooo

2

Hi @Queen-Mizo , and welcome to the forum.
Did you try this solution posted by @DVM some time ago?

1 Like
3

I am new to Qubes OS.

I experienced a similar thing in a USB-connected keyboard.

In my case, I needed to give permission to the keyboard:

  • Q->System Settings->Keyboard
  • Keyboard layout->Add->…

I described it in my report of installation.

4

Hello,

Thank you. I gave it a try, but unfortunately, this method does not seem to be working. I will explore alternative solutions to see what else can be done.

I truly appreciate your input on this matter.

Best regards,

Mizo

5

Thank you, I’ll look into it !!

6

Hi @Queen-Mizo ,

It is very important to tell us which template you use for your BT app-qube.

It must definitely (I think) have the package:

" qubes-input-proxy-sender to provide keyboard or mouse input to dom0."

If it is a minimal template, then this is probably missing.

Maybe there is also a Qubes service that must be enabled… I do not remember!

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