How to make my virtual machine access a pendrive?

Question

OS: Kubuntu 18.04

I have some virtual machines made using virt-manager and qemu/kvm. (I'm not using VirtualBox). The VMs work well and I can copy/paste from the VM to the host and vice versa.

When making the VMs, I just use the basic set-up and don't do anything advanced.

But now, I want to make my existing VMs read from or write to a pendrive. Is that possible?

In case it's helpful:

apt list --installed | grep -i virt shows

gir1.2-libvirt-glib-1.0/bionic,now 1.0.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libgovirt-common/bionic,bionic,now 0.3.4-2 all [installed,automatic]
libgovirt2/bionic,now 0.3.4-2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libvirt-bin/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 4.0.0-1ubuntu8.10 amd64 [installed]
libvirt-clients/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 4.0.0-1ubuntu8.10 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libvirt-daemon/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 4.0.0-1ubuntu8.10 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libvirt-daemon-driver-storage-rbd/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 4.0.0-1ubuntu8.10 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libvirt-daemon-system/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 4.0.0-1ubuntu8.10 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libvirt-glib-1.0-0/bionic,now 1.0.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libvirt0/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 4.0.0-1ubuntu8.10 amd64 [installed,automatic]
python-libvirt/bionic,now 4.0.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
qml-module-qtquick-virtualkeyboard/bionic,now 5.9.5+dfsg-0ubuntu1 amd64 [installed]
qtvirtualkeyboard-plugin/bionic,now 5.9.5+dfsg-0ubuntu1 amd64 [installed]
virt-manager/bionic-updates,bionic-updates,now 1:1.5.1-0ubuntu1.2 all [installed]
virt-viewer/bionic,now 6.0-2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
virtinst/bionic-updates,bionic-updates,now 1:1.5.1-0ubuntu1.2 all [installed,automatic]

And apt list --installed | grep -i qemu shows

ipxe-qemu/bionic-updates,bionic-updates,now 1.0.0+git-20180124.fbe8c52d-0ubuntu2.2 all [installed,automatic]
ipxe-qemu-256k-compat-efi-roms/bionic,bionic,now 1.0.0+git-20150424.a25a16d-0ubuntu2 all [installed,automatic]
qemu-block-extra/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 1:2.11+dfsg-1ubuntu7.13 amd64 [installed,automatic]
qemu-kvm/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 1:2.11+dfsg-1ubuntu7.13 amd64 [installed]
qemu-system-common/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 1:2.11+dfsg-1ubuntu7.13 amd64 [installed,automatic]
qemu-system-x86/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 1:2.11+dfsg-1ubuntu7.13 amd64 [installed,automatic]
qemu-utils/bionic-updates,bionic-security,now 1:2.11+dfsg-1ubuntu7.13 amd64 [installed,automatic]

Answer 1

It is possible. You need to:

1. open Virtual Machine Manager (virt-manager)
2. select your machine
3. choose Open
4. select View → Details

5. click Add Hardware and select USB Host Device:

   

6. click Finish

7. as the result the USB device will be shown in left list:

   

8. start your virtual machine as usual

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Moreover you can boot from this USB device if you select it in Boot Options.

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On my Ubuntu 16.04 LTS I see other option while VM is running - we need to select Virtual Machine menu item and choose Redirect USB device, then in opened Select USB devices for redirection window check the needed device and click on corresponding device:

This is possible because of already added default USB Redirector devices.