Attaching USB Device to WSL

Attaching-USB-Device-to-WSL.md

Eg: attaching an arduino from host machine to wsl 2 linux machine

1. Download and install usbipd-win

2. Check the list of usb devices, and get the bus id(X-Y):

usbipd list

3. Binding(eg: your device's bus id: 4-4):

usbipd bind --busid <bus-id>

4. Attach it to WSL

usbipd attach --wsl --busid <bus-id>

4.1. Check for connected device in WSL:

lsusb

or

ls /dev/tty*

5. To detach:

usbipd detach --busid <bus-id>

I also wrote a PowerShell script to automate these steps. See wsl-usb-binder.ps1.

wsl-usb-binder.ps1

# Ensure you run PowerShell with admin

function Get-UsbDevices {
    $output = & "C:\Program Files\usbipd-win\usbipd.exe" list
    $devices = @()
    
    $lines = $output -split "`n"
    for ($i = 2; $i -lt $lines.Length; $i++) {
        $parts = $lines[$i] -split '\s+'
        if ($parts.Length -ge 3) {
            $devices += [PSCustomObject]@{
                BusId        = $parts[0]
                Description  = $parts[2..($parts.Length - 1)] -join ' '
                State        = $parts[1]
            }
        }
    }
    return $devices
}

function Attach-UsbDevice {
    param (
        [string]$busid
    )
    & "C:\Program Files\usbipd-win\usbipd.exe" bind --busid $busid
    & "C:\Program Files\usbipd-win\usbipd.exe" attach --wsl --busid $busid
}

function Detach-UsbDevice {
    param (
        [string]$busid
    )
    & "C:\Program Files\usbipd-win\usbipd.exe" detach --busid $busid
}

function Monitor-Device {
    param (
        [string]$busid
    )
    while ($true) {
        Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
        $stateJson = & "C:\Program Files\usbipd-win\usbipd.exe" state
        $device = ($stateJson | ConvertFrom-Json).Devices | Where-Object { $_.BusId -eq $busid }
        
        if ($device.ClientIPAddress -eq $null) {
            Write-Host "Reattaching device $($device.Description)..."
            Attach-UsbDevice $busid
        }
    }
}

function Show-Menu {
    param (
        [array]$devices,
        [array]$activeDevices,
        [int]$selectedIndex
    )
    
    Clear-Host
    Write-Host "Select USB Device (Press Enter to toggle, Q to quit):"
    for ($i = 0; $i -lt $devices.Count; $i++) {
        if ($i -eq $selectedIndex) {
            Write-Host "-> $($devices[$i].BusId) - $($devices[$i].Description) ($($devices[$i].State))"
        } else {
            Write-Host "   $($devices[$i].BusId) - $($devices[$i].Description) ($($devices[$i].State))"
        }
    }

    Write-Host "`nActive Devices:"
    foreach ($device in $activeDevices) {
        Write-Host "   $($device.BusId) - $($device.Description)"
    }
}

function Main {
    $devices = Get-UsbDevices
    $activeDevices = @()
    $selectedIndex = 0

    while ($true) {
        Show-Menu -devices $devices -activeDevices $activeDevices -selectedIndex $selectedIndex
        
        $key = [Console]::ReadKey($true)
        
        if ($key.Key -eq 'UpArrow') {
            $selectedIndex = ($selectedIndex - 1 + $devices.Count) % $devices.Count
        } elseif ($key.Key -eq 'DownArrow') {
            $selectedIndex = ($selectedIndex + 1) % $devices.Count
        } elseif ($key.Key -eq 'Enter') {
            $selectedDevice = $devices[$selectedIndex]
            if ($activeDevices -contains $selectedDevice) {
                # Deactivate device
                Detach-UsbDevice $selectedDevice.BusId
                $activeDevices = $activeDevices | Where-Object { $_ -ne $selectedDevice }
            } else {
                # Activate device
                Attach-UsbDevice $selectedDevice.BusId
                $activeDevices += $selectedDevice
            }
        } elseif ($key.Key -eq 'Q') {
            break
        }
    }

    # Deactivate all active devices before exiting
    foreach ($device in $activeDevices) {
        Detach-UsbDevice $device.BusId
    }
}

# Start
Main