Command Line – How to Reset a USB Device

command lineusb

Is it possible to reset the connection of a USB device, without physically disconnecting/connecting from the PC?

Specifically, my device is a digital camera. I'm using gphoto2, but lately I get "device read errors", so I'd like to try to do a software-reset of the connection.

From what I can tell, there are no kernel modules being loaded for the camera. The only one that looks related is usbhid.

Best Answer

Save the following as usbreset.c

/* usbreset -- send a USB port reset to a USB device */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <sys/ioctl.h>

#include <linux/usbdevice_fs.h>


int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    const char *filename;
    int fd;
    int rc;

    if (argc != 2) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Usage: usbreset device-filename\n");
        return 1;
    }
    filename = argv[1];

    fd = open(filename, O_WRONLY);
    if (fd < 0) {
        perror("Error opening output file");
        return 1;
    }

    printf("Resetting USB device %s\n", filename);
    rc = ioctl(fd, USBDEVFS_RESET, 0);
    if (rc < 0) {
        perror("Error in ioctl");
        return 1;
    }
    printf("Reset successful\n");

    close(fd);
    return 0;
}

The run the following commands in terminal:

  1. Compile the program:

    $ cc usbreset.c -o usbreset

  2. Get the Bus and Device ID of the USB device you want to reset:

    $ lsusb  
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0fe9:9010 DVICO

  3. Make our compiled program executable:

    $ chmod +x usbreset

  4. Execute the program with sudo privilege; make necessary substitution for <Bus> and <Device> ids as found by running the lsusb command:

    $ sudo ./usbreset /dev/bus/usb/002/003

Source of above program: http://marc.info/?l=linux-usb&m=121459435621262&w=2

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