Cannot attach an /e/ smartphone to a computer running Qubes OS

Hi, I posted this a while ago on the Qubes OS forum (no answers). I assume my issue has more to do with Qubes OS than /e/, but I figure it’s worth a shot to ask here as well. There has been no progress on my side.

Here’s the link to the original forum post: https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/cannot-attach-e-smartphone-to-qube/17894

Important context for Qubes OS is that it is a security-focused Linux distro that consists of a hypervisor that runs a variety of VMs, called qubes in its own literature, including a sys-usb that quarantines USB connections and prevents the entire system from being activated.

In trying to mount my /e/ smartphone, I get the following error:

Error Attaching device [Smartphone] to [qube] failed. Error: QubesException - Device attach failed: /usr/lib/qubes/-usb-import: 94: echo: echo: I/O errorAttach timeout, check kernel log for details. VM: "[qube]" File: "/usr/lib/qubes/usb-import" Version Control: https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-app-linux-usb-proxy/blob/master/src/usb-import

I have been able to mount another smartphone, using the same qube, which is meant for this specific purpose. There are a number of difference between the two devices (for instance, the phone I am trying to connect is using a custom ROM, /e/) but given that the error is happening on Qubes, I am asking about it here.

I find this message a bit opaque. I’ve called up the kernel logs for the qube as well as sys-usb and can’t determine anything.

What’s more is that I am able to easy attach the same /e/ smartphone to another computer using Linux Mint.

Hi and welcome to the community forum!

I can’t really help you with that as I have no experience with Qubes OS. I’ve only read about it once and I doubt that the /e/ community can help, the OS is too special for that IMHO. Of course there’s still a slight chance that somebody here happens to use Qubes OS and not being active in their forum.

I found two issues in their bugtracker that seem to describe your problem. From what I understand there’s no fix/solution yet but a potential workaround.
https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/5717
https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/2202

Edit: oh, sorry, those are for using USB debugging with adb.

File transfer via USB at least has this issue
https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/6330

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Thank you for your answer! I’m going to look into this.