uhubctl is utility to control USB power per-port on smart USB hubs.
Smart hub is defined as one that implements per-port power switching.
Original idea for this code was inspired by hub-ctrl.c by Niibe Yutaka: https://www.gniibe.org/development/ac-power-control-by-USB-hub
Note that very few hubs actually support per-port power switching. Some of them are no longer manufactured and can be hard to find.
This is list of known compatible USB hubs:
| Manufacturer | Product | Ports | USB | VID:PID | Release | EOL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AmazonBasics | HU3641V1 (RPi issue) | 4 | 3.0 | 2109:2811 |
2013 | |
| AmazonBasics | HU3770V1 (RPi issue) | 7 | 3.0 | 2109:2811 |
2013 | |
| Apple | Thunderbolt Display 27" (internal USB hub) | 6 | 2.0 | 2011 | 2016 | |
| Apple | USB Keyboard With Numeric Pad (internal USB hub) | 3 | 2.0 | 2011 | ||
| Asus | Z87-PLUS Motherboard (onboard USB hub) | 4 | 3.0 | 2013 | 2016 | |
| B+B SmartWorx | UHR204 | 4 | 2.0 | 0856:DB00 |
2013 | |
| B+B SmartWorx | USH304 | 4 | 3.0 | 04B4:6506 |
2017 | |
| Belkin | F5U701-BLK | 7 | 2.0 | 2008 | 2012 | |
| Circuitco | Beagleboard-xM (internal USB hub) | 4 | 2.0 | 0424:9514 |
2010 | |
| Club3D | CSV-3242HD Dual Display Docking Station | 4 | 3.0 | 2109:2811 |
2015 | |
| CyberPower | CP-H420P | 4 | 2.0 | 0409:0059 |
2004 | |
| Cypress | CY4608 HX2VL development kit | 4 | 2.0 | 04B4:6570 |
2012 | |
| D-Link | DUB-H4 rev D1 (black edition) | 4 | 2.0 | 05E3:0608 |
2012 | |
| D-Link | DUB-H7 rev A (silver edition) | 7 | 2.0 | 2001:F103 |
2005 | 2010 |
| D-Link | DUB-H7 rev D1 (black edition) | 7 | 2.0 | 05E3:0608 |
2012 | |
| Elecom | U2H-G4S | 4 | 2.0 | 2006 | 2011 | |
| GlobalScale | ESPRESSObin SBUD102 V5 | 1 | 3.0 | 1D6B:0003 |
2017 | |
| Hawking Technology | UH214 | 4 | 2.0 | 2003 | 2008 | |
| IOI | U3H415E1 | 4 | 3.0 | 2012 | ||
| j5create | JUH470 (works only in USB2 mode) | 3 | 3.0 | 05E3:0610 |
2014 | |
| Lenovo | ThinkPad EU Ultra Dockingstation (40A20090EU) | 6 | 2.0 | 17EF:100F |
2015 | |
| Lenovo | ThinkPad X200 Ultrabase 42X4963 | 3 | 2.0 | 17EF:1005 |
2008 | 2011 |
| Lindy | USB serial converter 4 port | 4 | 1.1 | 058F:9254 |
2008 | |
| Linksys | USB2HUB4 | 4 | 2.0 | 2004 | 2010 | |
| Maplin | A08CQ | 7 | 2.0 | 0409:0059 |
2008 | 2011 |
| Microchip | EVB-USB2517 | 7 | 2.0 | 2008 | ||
| Moxa | Uport-407 | 4 | 2.0 | 2017 | ||
| Plugable | USB3-HUB7BC | 7 | 3.0 | 2109:0813 |
2015 | |
| Plugable | USB3-HUB7C | 7 | 3.0 | 2109:0813 |
2015 | |
| Plugable | USB3-HUB7-81X | 7 | 3.0 | 2109:0813 |
2012 | |
| Plugable | USB2-HUB10S | 10 | 2.0 | 2010 | ||
| Raspberry Pi | Model B+, 2 B, 3 B (port 2 only) | 4 | 2.0 | 2011 | ||
| Raspberry Pi | Model 3 B+ | 6 | 2.0 | 0424:2514 |
2018 | |
| Renesas | uPD720202 PCIe USB 3.0 host controller | 2 | 3.0 | 2013 | ||
| Rosewill | RHUB-210 | 4 | 2.0 | 0409:005A |
2011 | 2014 |
| Sanwa Supply | USB-HUB14GPH | 4 | 1.1 | 2001 | 2003 | |
| StarTech | ST4200USBM | 4 | 2.0 | 0409:005A |
2004 | |
| Sunix | SHB4200MA | 4 | 2.0 | 0409:0058 |
2006 | 2009 |
| Targus | PAUH212U | 7 | 2.0 | 2004 | 2009 | |
| Texas Instruments | TUSB4041PAPEVM | 4 | 2.1 | 0451:8142 |
2015 |
This table is by no means complete.
If your hub works with uhubctl, but is not listed above, please report it
by opening new issue at https://github.com/mvp/uhubctl/issues,
so we can add it to supported table. In your report, please provide
exact product model and add output from uhubctl.
Note that quite a few modern motherboards have built-in root hubs that do support this feature - you may not even need to buy any external hub. WARNING: turning off built-in USB ports may cut off your keyboard or mouse, so be careful what ports you are turning off!
If you have USB 3.0 hub connected to USB3 upstream port, it will be detected
as 2 independent virtual hubs: USB2 and USB3, and your USB devices will be connected
to USB2 or USB3 virtual hub depending on their capabilities and connection speed.
To control power for such hubs, it is necessary to turn off/on power on both USB2 and USB3
virtual hubs for power off/on changes to take effect. uhubctl will try to do this automatically
(unless you disable this behavior with option -e).
Unfortunately, while most hubs will cut off data USB connection, some may still not cut off VBUS to port,
which means connected phone may still continue to charge from port that is powered off by uhubctl.
This utility was tested to compile and work on Linux (Ubuntu/Debian, Redhat/Fedora/CentOS, Arch Linux, Gentoo, openSUSE, Buildroot), FreeBSD and Mac OS X.
While uhubctl compiles on Windows, USB power switching does not work on Windows because libusb
is using winusb.sys driver, which according to Microsoft does not support
necessary USB control requests.
This may be fixed if libusb starts supporting different driver on Windows.
First, you need to install library libusb-1.0 (version 1.0.12 or later):
- Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install libusb-1.0-0-dev - Redhat:
sudo yum install libusb1-devel - MacOSX:
brew install libusb, orsudo port install libusb-devel - FreeBSD: libusb is included by default
- Windows: TBD?
To compile, simply run make - this will generate uhubctl binary.
Note that on some OS (e.g. FreeBSD) you may need to use gmake to build.
Also, for Mac OS X you can install uhubctl with Homebrew custom tap:
brew tap mvp/uhubctl https://github.com/mvp/uhubctl
brew install --HEAD uhubctl
You can control the power on a USB port(s) like this:
uhubctl -a off -p 2
This means operate on default smart hub and turn power off (-a off, or -a 0)
on port 2 (-p 2). Supported actions are off/on/cycle (or 0/1/2).
cycle means turn power off, wait some delay (configurable with -d) and turn it back on.
Ports can be comma separated list, and may use - for ranges e.g. 2, or 2,4, or 2-5, or 1-2,5-8.
If you have more than one smart USB hub connected, you should choose
specific hub to control using -l (location) parameter.
To find hub locations, simply run uhubctl without any parameters.
Hub locations look like b-x.y.z, where b is USB bus number, and x, y, z...
are port numbers for all hubs in chain, starting from root hub for a given USB bus.
This address is semi-stable - it will not change if you unplug/replug (or turn off/on)
USB device into the same physical USB port (this method is also used in Linux kernel).
On Linux, you should configure udev USB permissions (otherwise you will have to run it as root using sudo uhubctl).
To fix USB permissions, first run sudo uhubctl and note all vid:pid for hubs you need to control.
Then, add one or more udev rules like below to file /etc/udev/rules.d/52-usb.rules (replace with your vendor id):
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="2001", MODE="0666"
If you don't like wide open mode 0666, you can restrict access by group like this:
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="2001", MODE="0664", GROUP="dialout"
and then add permitted users to dialout group:
sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
For your udev rule changes to take effect, reboot or run:
sudo udevadm trigger --attr-match=subsystem=usb
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|---|---|
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| Weather Station | Reset Weather Station when it freezes |
| sysmoQMOD | Reset cellular modems when necessary |
| Smog Sensor | Raspberry Pi based smog sensor power reset |
| Terrible Cluster | Power on/off Raspberry Pi cluster nodes as needed |
| Ideal Music Server | Turn off unused USB ports to improve audio quality |
| USB drives with no phantom load | Power USB drives only when needed to save power |
| USB drive data recovery | Recover data from failing USB hard drive |
| Control power to 3D printer | OctoPrint web plugin for USB power control |
| USB fan for Raspberry Pi | Control USB fan to avoid Raspberry Pi overheating |
Copyright (C) 2009-2019 Vadim Mikhailov
This file can be distributed under the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License version 2.