USB/IP Client for Windows

• Fully compatible with the USB/IP protocol
• Works with Linux USB/IP servers for kernels 4.19 through 7.0
• WHLK certified (or attestation signed) drivers
  • Driver signing is made possible by the Open Source Codesigning Initiative
• Create a restore point before installing USBip
• Devices known to work (the list is incomplete)

Requirements

• Windows 10 x64 version 1903 (OS build 18362) or later
• Windows 11 ARM64
• The USB/IP server must support protocol version 1.1.1

Key features

• The UDE driver acts as a USB/IP client
• A device-specific upper filter driver, usbip2_filter, is used as a companion for the UDE driver
• Winsock Kernel NPI is used
  • The driver establishes a TCP/IP connection with the server and exchanges data
• Zero copy of transfer buffers is implemented for network send and receive operations
  • A Memory Descriptor List (MDL) is used to send multiple buffers in a single call (vectored I/O)
  • WskSend reads data directly from the URB transfer buffer
  • WskReceive writes data directly to the URB transfer buffer
• Two implementations for receiving data from the network:
  • Zero Copy:
    • This is the default method
    • A dedicated thread is created for each virtual device to execute a loop with two blocking calls:
      • Receive USB/IP header
      • Receive USB/IP payload (if any)
    • Data is written directly to URB.TransferBuffer without any additional copying
  • Low Latency:
    • WSK event callback functions are used
    • No dedicated receive thread required (no CPU context switching)
    • Data is first written to an intermediate ring buffer, then copied to URB.TransferBuffer

Build

Build Tools

• Visual Studio 2026
• SDK/WDK installation is not required; NuGet installs them automatically

Build Visual Studio solution

• Install required components:
  • Run the Visual Studio Installer
  • Select the "Individual components" tab, find and check:
    • Git for Windows
    • Windows Driver Kit
    • C++ Clang Compiler for Windows (optional, if using the LLVM/ClangCL toolset)
  • Install the selected items
• Clone the repository using git or download and extract the source archive from GitHub
• Run bootstrap.bat
• Open usbip_win2.slnx
• Configure driver test signing for the package project:
  • Right-click Project > Properties > Driver Signing > Test Certificate
  • Enter usbip.pfx (password: usbip)
• Build the solution
• All output files are created under the {x64,ARM64}/{Debug,Release} folders.

Platform Toolset Selection

• Drivers strictly use WindowsKernelModeDriver10.0 (LLVM is not supported for drivers).
• Userspace projects use MSVC by default (resolving dynamically to the latest MSVC toolset, e.g. v145 for Visual Studio 2026).
• To select the userspace toolset:
  • In Directory.Build.props: change <UserspacePlatformToolset> from msvc to ClangCL:

    <UserspacePlatformToolset Condition="'$(UserspacePlatformToolset)' == ''">ClangCL</UserspacePlatformToolset>
    

  • Via command line: pass /p:UserspacePlatformToolset=... to msbuild:

    # Build with default MSVC
    msbuild usbip_win2.slnx /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64
    
    # Build with LLVM (ClangCL)
    msbuild usbip_win2.slnx /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64 /p:UserspacePlatformToolset=ClangCL
    

Set up USB/IP server on Ubuntu Linux

• Install required packages:
  • Linux: sudo apt install linux-tools-generic linux-cloud-tools-generic
  • Raspberry Pi: sudo apt install usbip hwdata usbutils
• Load modules and run the daemon:

sudo modprobe -a usbip-core usbip-host
sudo usbipd -D

• List available USB devices:
  • usbip list -l

 - busid 3-2 (1005:b113)
   Apacer Technology, Inc. : Handy Steno/AH123 / Handy Steno 2.0/HT203 (1005:b113)
 - busid 3-3.2 (07ca:513b)
   AVerMedia Technologies, Inc. : unknown product (07ca:513b)

• Bind the desired USB device:
  • sudo usbip bind -b 3-2

usbip: info: bind device on busid 3-2: complete

• Device 3-2 can now be used by the USB/IP client.

Set up USB/IP on Windows

Enable Windows Test Signing Mode if drivers are not signed by Microsoft

• bcdedit.exe /set testsigning on
• Reboot the system to apply.
• Do not disable test signing while USBip test-signed drivers are installed, otherwise all connected USB devices will stop working.

Install USB/IP

• Create a restore point to undo possible system crashes:
  • In the search box on the taskbar, type 'Create a restore point', and select it from the list of results.
  • On the System Protection tab in System Properties:
    • Make sure system drive protection is enabled.
    • Select Create.
    • Type a description for the restore point, and then select Create.
• Download the installer from Releases.
• All USB 3.0 Hub devices will be restarted during installation:
  • This means all connected USB devices will stop working for a short time and then resume working.
  • Ensure you do not interrupt critical workflows, such as active file transfers, video calls, or audio recordings.

Use usbip.exe to attach remote device(s)

• Query available USB devices on the server:
  • usbip.exe list -r <usbip server ip>

Exportable USB devices
======================
 - 192.168.1.9
        3-2: unknown vendor : unknown product (1005:b113)
           : /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-2
           : (Defined at Interface level) (00/00/00)

• Attach the desired remote USB device using its busid:
  • usbip.exe attach -r <usbip server ip> -b 3-2

successfully attached to port 1

• The new USB device should now appear in the system; use it as usual.
• Detach the remote USB device using its port number (or pass -all to detach all remote devices):
  • usbip.exe detach -p 1

port 1 is successfully detached

Uninstalling USB/IP

• Uninstall the USB/IP application via Windows Settings > Installed apps.
• Disable test signing if it was enabled during installation:
  • bcdedit.exe /set testsigning off
  • Reboot the system to apply.
• If the uninstaller is corrupted, run these commands from an elevated command prompt (Run as Administrator):
• Note: If copying commands into a .bat file, use %%P and %%~nxP in the FOR statement.

SET HWID=ROOT\USBIP_WIN2\UDE
set APPDIR=C:\Program Files\USBip

"%APPDIR%\devnode.exe" remove %HWID% root
rem alternative command since Windows 11, version 21H2
rem pnputil.exe /remove-device /deviceid %HWID% /subtree

rem WARNING: use %%P and %%~nxP if you run this command in a .bat file
FOR /f %P IN ('findstr /M /L /Q:u "usbip2_filter usbip2_ude" C:\WINDOWS\INF\oem*.inf') DO pnputil.exe /delete-driver %~nxP /uninstall

rd /S /Q "%APPDIR%"

Obtaining USB/IP logs on Windows

• WPP Software Tracing is used.
• Use WDK tracing tools, such as TraceView, Tracelog, Tracefmt, and Tracepdb, to configure, start, and stop tracing sessions, and to display and filter trace messages.
• These tools are included in the Windows Driver Kit.
• Select "Program DataBase files" under "Select Components" during USBip installation.
• Enable verbose logging:
  • Run as Administrator: %WINDIR%\system32\reg.exe add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbip2_ude\Parameters\Wdf /v VerboseOn /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
  • Reboot the system.
  • When finished collecting logs, run: %WINDIR%\system32\reg.exe delete HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbip2_ude\Parameters\Wdf /v VerboseOn /f
• Start trace sessions for drivers (run commands as Administrator):

rem change to your WDK version
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.26100.0\x64

set NAME=usbip

tracelog.exe -stop %NAME%-flt
tracelog.exe -stop %NAME%-ude

del /F %NAME%-*.*
tracepdb.exe -f "C:\Program Files\USBip\*.pdb" -s -p %TEMP%\%NAME%

tracelog.exe -start %NAME%-flt -guid #90c336ed-69fb-43d6-b800-1552d72d200b -f %NAME%-flt.etl -flag 0x3 -level 5
tracelog.exe -start %NAME%-ude -guid #ed18c9c5-8322-48ae-bf78-d01d898a1562 -f %NAME%-ude.etl -flag 0xF -level 5

• Reproduce the issue.
• Stop trace sessions and generate plain text logs (run commands as Administrator):
• Note: If copying commands into a .bat file, double the '%' signs in TRACE_FORMAT_PREFIX (%%%%).

rem change to your WDK version
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.26100.0\x64

set NAME=usbip
set TRACE_FORMAT_PREFIX=[%9]%3!04x! %!LEVEL! %!FUNC!:

tracelog.exe -stop %NAME%-flt
tracelog.exe -stop %NAME%-ude

tracefmt.exe -nosummary -p %TEMP%\%NAME% -o %NAME%-flt.txt %NAME%-flt.etl
tracefmt.exe -nosummary -p %TEMP%\%NAME% -o %NAME%-ude.txt %NAME%-ude.etl

rem sed -i "s/TRACE_LEVEL_CRITICAL/CRT/;s/TRACE_LEVEL_ERROR/ERR/;s/TRACE_LEVEL_WARNING/WRN/;s/TRACE_LEVEL_INFORMATION/INF/;s/TRACE_LEVEL_VERBOSE/VRB/" %NAME%-*.txt
rem sed -i "s/`anonymous namespace':://" %NAME%-*.txt
rem del /F sed*

Debugging a BSOD

• Enable kernel memory dumps:
  • Open the "System Properties" dialog.
  • Select the "Advanced" tab.
  • Under "Startup and Recovery", click "Settings".
  • Under "Write debugging information", select "Automatic Memory Dump" or "Kernel Memory Dump".
  • Check "Overwrite any existing file".
• Start a WPP tracing session for drivers as described in the previous section.
• When a BSOD has occurred:
  • Reboot the PC if automatic restart is disabled.
  • Launch WinDbg (WinDbg.exe) as Administrator.
  • Press Ctrl+D to open the crash dump in C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP.
  • Run the following commands and copy the output:

.sympath+ C:\Program Files\USBip
!wmitrace.searchpath +%TEMP%\usbip
!analyze -v
!wdfkd.wdfsearchpath %TEMP%\usbip
!wdfkd.wdfsettraceprefix [%9]%3!04x! %!LEVEL! %!FUNC!:
!wdfkd.wdflogdump usbip2_ude -d
!wdfkd.wdflogdump usbip2_ude -f

Obtaining USB/IP logs on Linux

sudo killall usbipd
sudo modprobe -r usbip-host usbip-vudc vhci-hcd usbip-core
sudo modprobe usbip-core usbip_debug_flag=0xFFFFFFFF
sudo modprobe -a usbip-host usbip-vudc vhci-hcd
sudo usbipd -D
dmesg --follow | tee ~/usbip.log

Testing the driver

• Driver Verifier is used for stress and compliance testing.
• Run verifier.exe as Administrator.
• Enable testing:

verifier /rc 1 2 4 5 6 8 9 12 18 34  10 11 14 15 16 17 20 24 26 33 35 36 /driver usbip2_filter.sys usbip2_ude.sys

• Note: Rule class 26 ("Code integrity checking") enforces the use of NonPagedPoolNx instead of NonPagedPool.
• Query driver statistics:

verifier /query

• Disable testing:

verifier /reset

• To run Static Driver Verifier (SDV), set "Treat Warnings As Errors" to "No" for the libdrv, usbip2_filter, and usbip2_ude projects.

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