Add USB support to WSL
Using usbipd-win you can make USB devices that are connected to your Windows PC/laptop available in WSL.
As an example, the steps below were used to make a Peak USB-CAN adaptor accessible as a network interface in Ubuntu using SocketCAN.
This assumes you have already successfully followed the steps in Add SocketCAN support in WSL and your WSL kernel supports USB.
Recent versions of Windows running WSL kernel 5.10.60.1 or later already include support for many USB scenarios.
The steps below were performed with WSL up and running - with the CAN kernel modules loaded
and vcan0 successfully created as described in Add SocketCAN support in WSL.
First, download the latest usbipd-win Windows installer and run it (you must have Administrator rights).
Once installed, in a command prompt with Administrator rights run usbipd list
C:\>usbipd list
Connected:
BUSID VID:PID DEVICE STATE
2-3 0c45:6a09 Integrated Webcam Not shared
2-13 1357:0089 OpenSDA - CDC Serial Port (http://www.pemicro.com/opensda... Not shared
2-14 8087:0026 Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R) Not shared
3-2 0c72:000c PCAN-USB Not shared
3-3 047f:c025 Plantronics C320-M, USB Input Device Not shared
4-3 0b95:1790 ASIX AX88179 USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Not shared
You can see in the above list the Peak CAN USB adaptor is listed as PCAN-USB with Bus ID = 3-2
In the same command prompt with Administrator rights run usbipd bind --busid 3-2.
Now, when the devices are listed again you can see that the Peak CAN USB adaptor is “Shared”, meaning the device is available to WSL.
C:\>usbipd list
Connected:
BUSID VID:PID DEVICE STATE
2-3 0c45:6a09 Integrated Webcam Not shared
2-13 1357:0089 OpenSDA - CDC Serial Port (http://www.pemicro.com/opensda... Not shared
2-14 8087:0026 Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R) Not shared
3-2 0c72:000c PCAN-USB Shared
3-3 047f:c025 Plantronics C320-M, USB Input Device Not shared
4-3 0b95:1790 ASIX AX88179 USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Not shared
This “Shared” status persists across reboots so you will not need to do this again and you won’t need Administrator rights for the remaining commands.
Once it is “Shared”, a device can be “Attached” to WSL in a normal Windows command prompt (without Administrator rights) as follows…
C:\>usbipd attach --wsl --busid 3-2
usbipd: info: Using WSL distribution 'Ubuntu-x.x' to attach; the device will be available in all WSL 2 distributions.
usbipd: info: Using IP address 127.0.0.1 to reach the host.
The “Attached” status does not persist, you will need to reattach after every time WSL is restarted. While “Attached” to WSL, you cannot use the device in Windows.
C:\>usbipd list
Connected:
BUSID VID:PID DEVICE STATE
2-3 0c45:6a09 Integrated Webcam Not shared
2-13 1357:0089 OpenSDA - CDC Serial Port (http://www.pemicro.com/opensda... Not shared
2-14 8087:0026 Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R) Not shared
3-2 0c72:000c PCAN-USB Attached
3-3 047f:c025 Plantronics C320-M, USB Input Device Not shared
4-3 0b95:1790 ASIX AX88179 USB 3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Not shared
Now, in a Ubuntu shell, you should see the USB device…
frank@C11-JQXQXCRB1VG:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0c72:000c PEAK System PCAN-USB
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
frank@C11-JQXQXCRB1VG:~$
Next, create the file /etc/systemd/network/80-can.network containing…
[Match]
Name=can*
[CAN]
BitRate=500000
Then enable and start systemd-networkd…
sudo systemctl enable systemd-networkd
sudo systemctl start systemd-networkd
If this is successful, a new network interface called can0 should be created.
frank@C11-JQXQXCRB1VG:~$ ifconfig
can0: flags=193<UP,RUNNING,NOARP> mtu 16
unspec 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00 txqueuelen 10 (UNSPEC)
RX packets 23 bytes 184 (184.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
After reboots, once the PCAN-USB is again “Attached” in a Windows command prompt,
and once the CAN modules are loaded in Ubuntu,
then the same can0 interface will be recreated.
You can use the utilities candump and cansend with can0, just as you did with vcan0 in Add SocketCAN support in WSL
but in this case the CAN messages sent/received should be using the Peak CAN USB adaptor.
If you have a S32K148 Development Board attached to the Peak CAN USB adaptor
then using candump you should see CAN messages sent from an image running on that board.
Also, you can change the POSIX platform’s code so that it attaches to can0 instead of vcan0,
then the POSIX build can communicate with the S32K148 Development Board over the Peak CAN USB adaptor.