USB Tablet will not connect to a specific Qube VM

[betty]

PROBLEM = USB Tablet will not connect to a specific Qube VM

TASKING = I am trying to connect a Samsung Galaxy Tablet to a specific Qube VM (based on fedora-40 template) i made so that i can flash the said Tablet using adb.

ERROR CODE = QubesDaemonAccessError - Got empty response from qubesd see journalctl in Dom0 for details

• Qubes Release 4.2.3 (R4.2)
• I have tried connecting the tablet device using different authentic leads and tried to connect it to different Qube VMs too yet to no avail.
• The USB is connected direct to the Laptop (USB Blue)
• The Tablet is clearly listed under USB Devices when i click on the USB icon top right task bar and it is there where i normally go to connect a specific USB device to a specific location.
• • I typed = free -h into Dom0 CLI and i think it all looks ok but idk 100% sure, however Swap Used = 0B if that helps.

I am a newbie and have never connected either a tablet or a phone to Qubes before, although im sure i tried to connect a phone once and got the same error but i cant be 100%, however i do connect SSD Hard drives all the time.

[parulin]

Maybe take a look at this?

Problems connecting Android with Qube

Another (not very good) workaround: is to use the adb command-line tool like in this comment of n0madK on Open Correctly handle USB attach of Android device in USB debugging mode. In the template dedicated to android (maybe you can create a dedicated template like “android-template”), install the android-tools package. Do the same in the template of sys-usb. With fedora it’s something like that: dnf install android-tools Now make sure both templates are shutdown and restart sys-usb and your a…

But as for adb sometimes the problem comes from the USB cable or USB port…

[betty]

@parulin

But as for adb sometimes the problem comes from the USB cable or USB port…

Thanks for that, however unfortunately i cant get to the adb commands part as the device refuses to connect to the selected App Qube where the adb package is already installed and awaiting the device to be plugged in you see?

[parulin]

If you follow the instructions in the linked post, you will see that there is no need to connect any device to any qube.

[betty]

is that the connecting kindle USB device link you are refering to where it says =
Workaround: You can try to attach the whole USB controller to your AppVM, then it will behave like sys-usb, i.e., should work.?

If it is indeed this that you refer to then i do have many things plugged into the USB which are to remain Offline Only such as SSD’s etc and im scared that by doing such it may compromise my security?

[parulin]

@betty

If it is indeed this that you refer to then i do have many things plugged into the USB which are to remain Offline Only such as SSD’s etc and im scared that by doing such it may compromise my security?

Yes, there is inherent security risks. If you really want to minimize this, remove anything plugged on your USB ports.

But in order to attack your other USB devices, the only scenario I can imagine is a malicious script or something else, that has to be on the android device, it has to exploit a bug in adb, use it to gain access to the qube, and do something with the other devices. Since the qube is offline, then it has to transfer data back to the android device, and from android send it over the network. Quite complex. And unless your data devices aren’t encrypted, that won’t be very useful… I personally don’t care about this