Qubes-USB takes all USB interfaces?

General Discussion
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Qubes-USB takes all USB interfaces, but can it ignore some when it is created?

Or does it have to take every single interface over and thus stop all the configuration from taking place and crash the installations?

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At installation, Qubes will take all interfaces. If you do not want this
do not select the option. Install, and then create a qube as described
here

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team.
When I comment in the Forum I speak for myself.

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Perhaps if the interfaces are on separate controllers, not assigning a particular controller to sys-usb would do it?

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Yes, but this days, when USB controller is in CPU ,most MoBo manufacturer don’t include additional USB controller on their PCB’s

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If there is a problem with devices attached to sys-usb -or any other qube- then it is possible to use the qubes.skip_autostart boot parameter to avoid the startup of that qube during boot of the system, so that you can change the device attachments.

There is some documentation here: Autostart troubleshooting — Qubes OS Documentation

The device attachments can be changed in the Qubes Settings for the qube.

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I am unaware of a mechanism that allows only a selected part of a USB controller to be operated by one OS (one qube) and the other parts to remain unused/available for other OS (qubes). So, I think we can’t separate hardware through software.

It is possible to ignore devices connected to a particular USB interface using usbguard but those interfaces can’t be attached to other qubes.

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Yes, but controllers are separate pci devices. One pci usb is in cpu, sometimes it’s shown as one usb and one thunderbolt (intel) bit it still one controller which cant be split, so whole need to be attached either to sys-usb or appvm.
But if you have another one in southbridge or pci card the one from cpy can he attached to sys-usb and another to appvm.
Problem with attaching only connected devices to appvm is that some devices during normal operations reconnect few times. If it’s attached normally to appvm then it won’t work properly.
There’s also problem with keyboard and mouse.

So having separate controllers is beneficial and resolve many problems but hard to achieve with laptops.

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