Proxmox USB Passthrough
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[Proxmox] Set up USB Passthrough for KVM virtual machine

Previously, I shared an article instructing how to set up USB Pass-through for virtual machines on the XCP-ng platform . This time, it will be similar instructions, as applied to virtual machines on the Proxmox platform.

What is USB Passthrough?

In the virtualization world, USB Passthrough is a hypervisor feature that allows virtual machines to directly access USB devices plugged into the USB port of a bare metal host (physical server).

For example, you plug two USB hard drives named USB-1 (32GB) and USB-2 (16GB) into two USB ports on the host. With the USB Passthrough setting, you can allow the AAA virtual machine to access USB-1 directly while the BBB virtual machine accesses USB-2, or vice versa.

USB Passthrough diagram illustration
USB Passthrough diagram illustration
With the USB Passthrough feature, you can equip the virtual machine with the necessary connections so that it can function perfectly like a physical computer. For example: add Bluetooth with USB Bluetooth dongle, add digital signature with USB e-Token, …

Here is a guide on how to set up USB Passthrough for KVM virtual machines on Proxmox.

Set up USB Passthrough for KVM virtual machine

Compared to XCP-ng, setting up USB Passthrough on Proxmox is much simpler. Everything can be done through the Web UI interface , no need to type any command lines.

Before setting up USB Passthrough, you need to Shutdown the virtual machine. You can still set up while the virtual machine is running, but you must then Shutdown and then turn it back on.

Plug the USB into the USB port on the computer. Then access Proxmox, go to Hardware, select Add –> USB Device

In the Use USB Vendor/Device ID section, select the USB device you want to connect to the virtual machine. Then click Add

The USB Device after being added to the virtual machine will appear in the hardware list under Hardware.

Restart the virtual machine, access Windows 10, I saw the virtual machine recognize the USB device: [USB Name] .

Note: You can only access the USB e-Token when connecting to the virtual machine via Console or Teamviewer / UltraViewer. When connecting via RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol), the e-Token will not work.

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