This article was generated by AI based on the gamepad-vm-passthrough project.

Automatic Gamepad VM Passthrough for Linux: Solving the USB ID instability

If you’re a Linux gamer running Windows VMs for gaming, you know the pain: plug in your Xbox controller, manually attach it via virsh, start gaming, unplug it, plug it back in… and suddenly it has a different USB ID. Your VM can’t find it anymore. Game over, literally.

Enter gamepad-vm-passthrough - a Linux-specific project that doesn’t just automate gamepad attachment, but actually solves the persistent USB ID problem that drives VM gamers insane.

The Real Problem: USB Device ID Instability

Here’s what typically happens in a KVM/QEMU gaming setup:

1. Attach Xbox controller as USB device 001:004
2. Game for a while, unplug controller
3. Plug it back in - now it’s device 001:007
4. VM still looking for 001:004 - connection lost
5. Manual intervention required… again

How It Actually Works

The magic happens in the udev rules. When a gamepad is detected:

1. udev triggers on vendor ID (Microsoft 045e or Sony 054c)
2. Script dynamically discovers current bus/device numbers
3. XML generated with actual current device path
4. virsh attach-device executes with fresh device info

No more stale device references. No more manual XML editing.

Get the Project Head over to the GitHub repository to get started: 🔗 https://github.com/dmachard/gamepad-vm-passthrough