How to attach a usb block on a linux distribution

User Support
1

I have tried connecting a usb block on kali linux qube but it failed yo mount. Now i have heard that it works on ubuntu and windows. Is there like a package i can install that will allow such operation?

2

I don’t think so but @apparatus described how something could be done recently. Is this what you mean?

apparatus

14d

Or you can create a disk image in one of your app qubes, place the files there, attach it to the PopOS as block device and copy the files from this disk.
In the app qube create a disk:

dd if=/dev/zero of=~/mydisk.img bs=1M count=256
mkfs.ext4 ~/mydisk.img

Mount the disk in the app qube and copy the files:

mkdir ~/mnt
sudo mount ~/mydisk.img ~/mnt
sudo chown -R user:user ~/mnt
cp ~/somefile ~/mnt
sudo umount ~/mnt

Make the disk image available in the Qubes Devices widget:

sudo losetup -f ~/mydisk.img

Attach the /home/user/mydisk.img block device to the PopOS using the Qubes Devices widget.
In the PopOS mount the attached disk, copy the files from it and unmount the disk after you finish the copy:

mkdir ~/mnt
sudo mount /dev/xvdi ~/mnt
cp ~/mnt/somefile ~/somefile
sudo umount ~/mnt

Detach the /home/user/mydisk.img block device from PopOS so you can mount it in app qube and use it there again.

from Can installing Xen drivers to PopOS let me use Qubes to send files in and out? - #2 by apparatus

I haven’t done this and don’t understand what he meant. I need to try to work more on this.

3

Thank you for your answer i will try this method and update you as soon as

4

Is your kali qube based on a template or is it a standalone installed from the ISO?
Are you trying to attach the USB disk as USB device (e.g. using qvm-usb in dom0) or a block device (e.g. using qvm-block in dom0)?
What do you mean by failing to mount it?
Do you see the device in the qube to which you’re attaching it using e.g. fdisk -l but have a problem when yoy try to mount it using e.g. sudo mount /dev/xvdi /mnt?

5

It is not a template although i have heard good things about the kali linux template. Just the block should be fine. For the whole usb device i would need to enable qrexec.