Persistent usb device prevents sys-net from starting on boot

[W4VQ1]

Hi there,

My machine has an external usb NIC attached, which I use for network connections in sys-usb. I added this device with the --persistent flag so it automatically attaches to sys-net anytime the system boots.

However, it seems sys-usb is started after sys-net and prevents sys-net to boot up correctly.

Is there some way to force sys-net to wait for sys-usb before starting?

[qubicrm]

at least for troubleshooting, you could untick start at boot for sys-net in sys-net:Qubes Settings.

[W4VQ1]

What type of trouble shooting do you have in mind? Currently, the system boots up just fine. Its just that sys-net and sys-firewall don’t come up on boot. If I start them after logged into the UI, everything works.

[quququbebebe]

I don’t have a direct solution to your problem, but in case you can’t resolved it, what you can do it is to combine sys-net and sys-usb so that sys-net has access to the USB controller and fulfills
the function of sys-usb.

But it will cost a bit of your security doing that

USB-C Ethernet LAN not working after attach to sys-net

For that purpoes I am trying to attach the USB network card to the sys-net. That will likely not work. More complex USB devices often have issues when used via USB proxy. What will work is if you combine sys-net and sys-usb so that sys-net has access to the USB controller and fulfills the function of sys-usb. If your keyboard/mouse connect only via USB then be very very careful what you do as to not lock yourself out!

Ethernet Interface from docking station not working

Temporary fixe As a temporary solution, which I know is not the best, is to put the usb controller from the sys-usb to the sys-net. Now it’s working as expected. Where the problem is It’s not a driver problem related because fedora 33 don’t have any problem to see the interface but something is wrong when I’m doing qvm-usb attach sys-net sys-usb:3-4.1 that make it not work

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What Qubes OS version are you using ?

What is the version of your kernel ?

What is the model of your NIC card ?

Edit : How to combine sys-usb with sys-net

How to combine sys-usb with sys-net

In some cases you maybe need combine sys-usb with sys-net. But it’s less secure than having sys-net and sys-usb separate, so be aware of it before doing it. To do it : In the following file : nano /etc/qubes-rpc/policy/qubes.InputKeyboard nano /etc/qubes-rpc/policy/qubes.InputMouse replace from sys-usb dom0 allow,user=root to sys-net dom0 allow,user=root Shutdown Go in the sys-net terminal and shut it down, for exemple with init 0 Go in the sys-usb terminal and shut it down, for exem…

[W4VQ1]

@quququbebebe

What Qubes OS version are you using ?

What is the version of your kernel ?

What is the model of your NIC card ?

Qubes 4.0 with kernel-latest. The NIC is a cheap noname one.

I don’t think the NIC itself is the problem. I haven’t tried yet, but I think this problem would occur with whatever usb device you connect to sys-net when using a usb vm. The problem is that sys-usb is started after sys-net. usb devices can only be attached after sys-usb has started, so sys-net is damned to fail in this case.

How is Qubes determining the start order of other vms? it seems the “NetVM” property implicitely defines such an order.