Fake/Emulated/Virtual USB Drive?

[Hammerfest]

Maybe Google and the forum Search don't love me, maybe I am using the wrong keywords, either way, I am lost.

 

I have installs to make in a VM, the VM is not network connected, it needs drivers, software.

Sadly, I am not local so I cant just copy the files to the USB then pass-through to the VM.

 

Is it possible to make a virtual USB/Storage drive with unRAID? Or some other method as I CANNOT connect it to a network (at ALL)?

[JonathanM]

Add the isos as extra drives in the VM definition page. Or, create another VM WITH network access, add a second vdisk image to that VM, copy your software install files there, then mount that vdisk to the non networked VM.

[Hammerfest]

2 hours ago, JonathanM said:

Add the isos as extra drives in the VM definition page. Or, create another VM WITH network access, add a second vdisk image to that VM, copy your software install files there, then mount that vdisk to the non networked VM.

 

Not ISO's, just files, would like a simple "create dummy fake USB 1GB" that can be mounted, sounds like its not possible, all well, guess will use local PC

 

I guess I will put it in feature requests, such a simple and yet probably heavily used feature if it existed, throw some files on a virtual USB, "plug" it into any VM, no network access needed, no totally different VM needed

[itimpi]

2 hours ago, Hammerfest said:

I guess I will put it in feature requests, such a simple and yet probably heavily used feature if it existed, throw some files on a virtual USB, "plug" it into any VM, no network access needed, no totally different VM needed

 

I do not see much need for such a feature.  Why do you not simply put the files on a share in Unraid and then connect the VM to that share?  Just for interest what drivers are you interested in that are not available as an iso image? 

 

If you want such a feature then it should probably be done to the KVM team (as that is the software that Unraid uses to run VMs), not the Unraid team as that sounds like the level it would exist at.  It may already exist at that level - I am not sure without perusing the KVM documentation.

[bobbintb]

On 8/17/2021 at 10:14 PM, Hammerfest said:

 

Not ISO's, just files, would like a simple "create dummy fake USB 1GB" that can be mounted, sounds like its not possible, all well, guess will use local PC

 

I guess I will put it in feature requests, such a simple and yet probably heavily used feature if it existed, throw some files on a virtual USB, "plug" it into any VM, no network access needed, no totally different VM needed

I know I'm a little late with the reply but there are two ways to do that. As mentioned, qemu/kvm can emulate a USB device. You can also do it natively in Linux but it has to be enabled in the kernel and that would require recompiling the kernel. But there are better ways to accomplish what you were trying to do that have been mentioned.

[Hammerfest]

On 5/3/2024 at 11:05 AM, bobbintb said:

I know I'm a little late with the reply but there are two ways to do that. As mentioned, qemu/kvm can emulate a USB device. You can also do it natively in Linux but it has to be enabled in the kernel and that would require recompiling the kernel. But there are better ways to accomplish what you were trying to do that have been mentioned.

"As mentioned, qemu/kvm can emulate a USB device."

 

Not seeing anything mentioned about emulating a USB device in the prior replies.

 

Never found a resolution, everyone just assumes an internet connection is a given when it is in-fact not.

 

I was finally able to make it local and just plugged in a blank usb drive then used an addon to attach it to the VM and Docker's that I needed to use it for.

 

Real shame unraid has no feature/function like that, is not limited to utilization in a VM