USB-C Ethernet Adapters

Do USB-C ethernet adapters work with QubesOS?

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Good question. I’ve found a related discussion (a bit technical, though):

Hi @Pixel,

If you’re planning on using a USB Ethernet adapter, be aware that you’ll need to make sure that sys-net has access to the USB device.

One way to do that is to select the option Use sys-net qube for both networking and USB devices during the Qubes OS setup, just after installation.

Use sys-net qube for both networking and USB devices: You should select this option if you rely on a USB device for network access, such as a USB modem or a USB Wi-Fi adapter. (source in the docs, with more context)

Besides that, I know for a fact that some work without issues; that may depends on the model. I may be wrong, but I wouldn’t expect the fact that the adapter has an USB-C interface would much difference to any other USB. I’d also expect most Ehternet devices to be well supported. Again, I may be wrong. If anyone knows better, please correct me!

Related topic: Ethernet through usb-c

Thank you Gonzalo i appreciate the reply.

I do not rely on USB exclusively for internet but i do require more than one network input to access different networks.

Is anyway i can setup post installation another sys-net vm on QubesOS with USB support?

I think so. I haven’t done this before, but I believe that sys-usb is a regular VM with a USB controller attached to it. (@ludovic Is that true?) If I’m correct, you could clone your existing sys-net and assign a USB controller to it.

One way to do that is using the Qube Manager, or via the command line, like described by the 6-step instructions in this forum post.

I let you figure out how your own USB controller is called, and replace sys-net by the name of your own clone. As far as I can tell, USB controllers have names like sys-usb:3.3.

Again, I’m not on my machine, and I’m not able to actually try this, please be careful and use your judgment, or wait for someone else to confirm! :slightly_smiling_face:

:warning: Additional warning of you start experimenting with where you attach your USB controller, and rely on a USB keyboard or mouse:

My understanding is that attaching your controller to one VM would detach it from the other VM. If your keyboard or mouse were attached to it, they would get disconnected.

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This thread might contain relevant information:

Relevant response from Qubes team member:

I don’t see any problem for doing this.

@Pixel : yes you could do this later, with post-installation, but on installation add the optional sys-usb it’s a simpler way. So first do a basic installation, read the documentation, understand all this works, play with Qubes OS and later go to this advanced setting.

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