Bhyve passthru usb

 

Bhyve pass-thru usb in FreeBSD

 

 

Passing usb devices from the main system to a virtual system

 

 

 

Bhyve supports passing usb devices from the host system to the virtual system, so we can connect an external usb device from our FreeBSD host to our Windows virtual system in the Bhyve hypervisor.

 

 

To get started, let's install Bhyve and configure it, then proceed to install Windows, open a terminal and enter the command:

 

 

pkg install vm-bhyve bhyve-firmware

 

 

Then, using any text editor convenient for you, such as ee or mc, add the following lines to /etc/rc.conf:

 

 

vm_enable="YES"

 

vm_dir="/vm"

 

You also need to add the following line to /boot/loader.conf:

 

hw.vmm.amdvi.enable="1"

 

 

Then run vm init and copy all the templates to the virtual machine folder:

 

 

vm init

 

 

cp /usr/local/share/examples/vm-bhyve/* /vm/.templates

 

 

Now let's create a switch through which the Internet will go to our virtual machines:

 

 

vm switch create public

 

vm switch add public re0

 

 

Next, create a configuration file using the template for Windows and a disk image named Win or any other:

 

 

vm create -t windows -s 50G Win

 

 

Install Windows by running the command, and use any vnc client to connect to the system. The default address is 0.0.0.0.0:5900 or you can look it up using the command:

 

 

vm list

 

 

vm install Win/Windows-10.iso

 

 

After installing the system, we need to see the list of our USB devices:

 

 

pciconf -lv

or search for our USB controllers like this:

 

 

pciconf -lv | grep USB

 

pciconf -lv | grep xhci

 

 

For example, it will be xhci0@pci0:2:0:0:

 

 

To transfer the USB controller to Bhyve, run this command:

 

 

devctl set driver -f pci0:2:0:0:0 ppt

 

 

Then we see if the device is ready

 

 

vm passthru

 

 

If so, then configure the virtual machine configuration file. Go to the virtual machine folder and edit it by adding the following line:

 

 

cd vm/Win/Win.conf

 

 

ee Win.conf

 

 

#USB

 

passthru0="2/0/0"

 

 

Then we start the vm start Win virtual machine and connect any external USB device.

 

Then, to make USB devices available again on the host system, do this:

 

devctl set driver -f pci0:2:0:0 xhci

 

 

If you want passthru to be enabled permanently, add this to /boot/loader.conf:

 

pptdevs="2/0/0"

 

BSD is simple and fun!