Renesas uPD720201 USB 3.0 PCI card passthrough to unRAID Manjaro VM

Hi all,

I’ve been running VFIO in various capacities for about 4 years now, and my current system which is a Ryzen based unRAID server has been going strong for a couple years. I’m working on switching from my Windows 10 VM to a Manjaro VM as my daily driver.

One of the pieces of hardware I had passed directly to Windows 10 was a 4 port Renesas uPD720201 USB 3.0 PCI card to allow for four hot-pluggable USB ports, and it worked great. However, when I assign it to my Manjaro VM, it doesn’t seem to know what to do with the card. It grabs hold of it, the USB devices plugged into it are no longer available to attach to other VMs once Manjaro starts up, but the PCI card doesn’t appear in lspci, and the USB devices don’t appear in lsusb and I’m at a loss as to why.

Any suggestions? It’s likely something obvious, as I’m no expert in Linux yet, that’s why I’m trying to switch to it fulltime, to learn it better.

The device is in its own IOMMU group:

IOMMU group 28: [1912:0014] 07:00.0 USB controller: Renesas Technology Corp. uPD720201 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 03)

Manjaro VM XML:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<domain type='kvm' id='27'>
  <name>Manjaro</name>
  <uuid>f26c0162-e80e-e8e0-ae18-7fe845110950</uuid>
  <metadata>
    <vmtemplate xmlns="unraid" name="Arch" icon="manjaro.png" os="arch"/>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit='KiB'>16777216</memory>
  <currentMemory unit='KiB'>16777216</currentMemory>
  <memoryBacking>
    <nosharepages/>
  </memoryBacking>
  <vcpu placement='static'>4</vcpu>
  <cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu='0' cpuset='4'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='1' cpuset='5'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='2' cpuset='6'/>
    <vcpupin vcpu='3' cpuset='7'/>
  </cputune>
  <resource>
    <partition>/machine</partition>
  </resource>
  <os>
    <type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-q35-3.1'>hvm</type>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
  </features>
  <cpu mode='host-passthrough' check='none'>
    <topology sockets='1' cores='4' threads='1'/>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset='utc'>
    <timer name='rtc' tickpolicy='catchup'/>
    <timer name='pit' tickpolicy='delay'/>
    <timer name='hpet' present='no'/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>restart</on_crash>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/local/sbin/qemu</emulator>
    <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='writeback'/>
      <source file='/mnt/user/domains/Manjaro/vdisk1.img'/>
      <backingStore/>
      <target dev='hdc' bus='sata'/>
      <boot order='1'/>
      <alias name='sata0-0-2'/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='2'/>
    </disk>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-ehci1'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x7'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci1'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci2'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x1' multifunction='on'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='ich9-uhci3'>
      <alias name='usb'/>
      <master startport='4'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x07' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='3' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='3' port='0xa'/>
      <alias name='pci.3'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='4' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='4' port='0x13'/>
      <alias name='pci.4'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x3'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='5' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='5' port='0x14'/>
      <alias name='pci.5'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x4'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'>
      <alias name='virtio-serial0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='sata' index='0'>
      <alias name='ide'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x1f' function='0x2'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='0' model='pcie-root'>
      <alias name='pcie.0'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='1' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='1' port='0x8'/>
      <alias name='pci.1'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/>
    </controller>
    <controller type='pci' index='2' model='pcie-root-port'>
      <model name='pcie-root-port'/>
      <target chassis='2' port='0x9'/>
      <alias name='pci.2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x01' function='0x1'/>
    </controller>
    <interface type='bridge'>
      <mac address='52:54:00:8b:74:7d'/>
      <source bridge='br0'/>
      <target dev='vnet1'/>
      <model type='virtio'/>
      <alias name='net0'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x01' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </interface>
    <serial type='pty'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/2'/>
      <target type='isa-serial' port='0'>
        <model name='isa-serial'/>
      </target>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </serial>
    <console type='pty' tty='/dev/pts/2'>
      <source path='/dev/pts/2'/>
      <target type='serial' port='0'/>
      <alias name='serial0'/>
    </console>
    <channel type='unix'>
      <source mode='bind' path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/domain-27-Manjaro/org.qemu.guest_agent.0'/>
      <target type='virtio' name='org.qemu.guest_agent.0' state='disconnected'/>
      <alias name='channel0'/>
      <address type='virtio-serial' controller='0' bus='0' port='1'/>
    </channel>
    <input type='tablet' bus='usb'>
      <alias name='input0'/>
      <address type='usb' bus='0' port='1'/>
    </input>
    <input type='mouse' bus='ps2'>
      <alias name='input1'/>
    </input>
    <input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'>
      <alias name='input2'/>
    </input>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes' xvga='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x0e' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev0'/>
      <rom file='/mnt/user/isos/BIOS Dumps/650TI.rom'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x03' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x0e' slot='0x00' function='0x1'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev1'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x04' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
      <driver name='vfio'/>
      <source>
        <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x07' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev2'/>
      <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x05' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x046d'/>
        <product id='0xc531'/>
        <address bus='7' device='7'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev3'/>
      <address type='usb' bus='0' port='2'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x08ff'/>
        <product id='0x0009'/>
        <address bus='7' device='6'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev4'/>
      <address type='usb' bus='0' port='3'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x0c45'/>
        <product id='0x7605'/>
        <address bus='7' device='4'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev5'/>
      <address type='usb' bus='0' port='4'/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='no'>
      <source>
        <vendor id='0x0c76'/>
        <product id='0x161f'/>
        <address bus='3' device='4'/>
      </source>
      <alias name='hostdev6'/>
      <address type='usb' bus='0' port='5'/>
    </hostdev>
    <memballoon model='none'/>
  </devices>
  <seclabel type='dynamic' model='dac' relabel='yes'>
    <label>+0:+100</label>
    <imagelabel>+0:+100</imagelabel>
  </seclabel>
</domain>

Might be a reset issue. The uPD720201 may have reset issues whereas the 2 port uPD720202 doesn’t have reset issues.

I have to apologize for this necro bump but I think it’s important to share my Renesas USB 3 chipset passthrough experience.

I have been using VFIO every day now at work on a laptop with the uPD720202 version (expresscard) and while it does reset and work ok there are some wonky driver issues in windows and they have stopped updating the driver several years ago. In some cases certain USB hubs don’t work with the renesas chipset in windows 10 VM. (tried changing registry settings, but nothing worked except purchasing a different USB hub) The linux driver still has some wonkiness where I sometimes need to restart the whole PC for passthrough if the card crashed in some way or got disconnected. For anyone buying a new USB card I would recommend something based on a chip like the ASMedia ASM1142 as you will have better driver support on all OSes. Since the people at Renesas that developed the driver for the card probably no longer work there I doubt that we will get a new driver in the future. So newer versions of windows may not be compatible at all with the card depending on Microsoft’s wims.

For example I had bought this combo which has a USB Type C port, but obviously you would want to look for newer card models.


Urgh, Windows DCH strikes again. So it is now even more important to get the Ryzen USB controller passthrough issue resolved because DCH is going to cause so many problems.