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Oracle Solaris 11.1 Administration: Devices and File Systems     Oracle Solaris 11.1 Information Library
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Document Information

Preface

1.  Managing Removable Media (Tasks)

2.  Writing CDs and DVDs (Tasks)

3.  Managing Devices (Tasks)

4.  Dynamically Configuring Devices (Tasks)

5.  Managing USB Devices (Tasks)

What's New in USB Devices?

USB 3.0 Support

About USB Support in Oracle Solaris

Supported USB Features

USB Device Features and Compatibility Issues

Bus-Powered Devices

USB Keyboards and Mouse Devices

USB Wheel Mouse Support

USB Host Controller and Hubs

USB Hub Devices

SPARC: USB Power Management

Guidelines for Connecting USB Cables

Overview of USB Devices

Commonly Used USB Acronyms

Oracle Solaris USB Architecture

USB Bus Description

USB Devices and Driver Classes

Managing USB Mass Storage Devices

Using USB Diskette Devices

Hot-Plugging USB Mass Storage Devices

How to Add a USB Mass Storage Device

How to Add a USB Camera

How to Remove a USB Mass Storage Device

Preparing to Use a USB Mass Storage Device

How to Display USB Device Information

How to Create a File System on a USB Mass Storage Device

How to Modify Partitions and Create a PCFS File System on a USB Mass Storage Device

How to Create a Solaris Partition and Modify the Slices on a USB Mass Storage Device

How to Mount or Unmount a USB Mass Storage Device

Troubleshooting Tips for USB Mass Storage Devices

Disabling Specific USB Drivers

How to Disable Specific USB Drivers

How to Remove Unused USB Device Links

Using USB Audio Devices

Hot-Plugging Multiple USB Audio Devices

How to Add USB Audio Devices

How to Identify Your System's Primary Audio Device

How to Change the Primary USB Audio Device

Troubleshooting USB Audio Device Problems

Key Points of Audio Device Ownership

Hot-Plugging USB Devices With the cfgadm Command

How to Display USB Bus Information (cfgadm)

How to Unconfigure a USB Device

How to Configure a USB Device

How to Logically Disconnect a USB Device

How to Logically Connect a USB Device

How to Logically Disconnect a USB Device Subtree

How to Reset a USB Device

How to Change the Default Configuration of a Multi-Configuration USB Device

6.  Using InfiniBand Devices (Overview/Tasks)

7.  Managing Disks (Overview)

8.  Managing Disk Use (Tasks)

9.  Administering Disks (Tasks)

10.  Setting Up Disks (Tasks)

11.  Configuring Storage Devices With COMSTAR (Tasks)

12.  Configuring and Managing the Oracle Solaris Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS)

13.  The format Utility (Reference)

14.  Managing File Systems (Overview)

15.  Creating and Mounting File Systems (Tasks)

16.  Configuring Additional Swap Space (Tasks)

17.  Copying Files and File Systems (Tasks)

18.  Managing Tape Drives (Tasks)

Index

Managing USB Mass Storage Devices

The following tasks are described in this section:

The following USB removable mass storage devices are supported:

In previous Oracle Solaris releases, all USB storage devices were identified as removable media devices, which provides many of the following advantages, including automatic mounting. In the Oracle Solaris 11 release, USB mass storage devices are identified as hot-pluggable devices but also enjoy the advantages of USB removable devices that are described in the following sections. For more information about the hot-pluggable behavior, see Hot-Plugging USB Mass Storage Devices.

Guidelines for managing USB mass storage device are as follows:

For more information on using USB mass storage devices, see scsa2usb(7D).

Using USB Diskette Devices

USB diskette devices appear as removable media devices. USB diskette devices are not managed by the fd (floppy) driver. Applications that issue ioctl(2) calls intended for the fd (native floppy) driver will fail. Applications that issue only read(2) and write(2) calls will succeed. Other applications, such as SunPCI and rmformat, also succeed.

The USB diskette device is identified as a SCSI removable media device. The device is available for access under the /media directory.

For more information on how to use USB diskette devices, see Overview of USB Devices.

Hot-Plugging USB Mass Storage Devices

Hot-plugging a device means the device is added or removed without shutting down the operating system or powering off the system. All USB devices are hot-pluggable.

The hot-pluggable device attribute identifies those devices that can be connected or disconnected without rebooting the system and configured or unconfigured automatically without user intervention. All USB devices are identified as hot-pluggable devices to gain those benefits. In addition, non-removable media USB devices are no longer identified as removable-media devices and no longer have a removable-media attribute.

Non-removable USB storage devices are identified as hot-pluggable devices at the driver level. This behavior means that these devices can be connected or disconnected without rebooting the system and configured or unconfigured automatically without intervention. These changes are made at the kernel level and do not impact the use of these devices. For example, the responsibility of mounting and unmounting these devices is controlled by the removable media management services.

For more information about using these devices, see scsa2usb(7D).

The removable media manager is now aware of hot-plugged devices. You can just plug in the device, which is mounted in a few seconds. If nothing happens, check to see if it is mounted.

Make sure that removable media services are running.

# svcs hal dbus rmvolmgr
STATE          STIME    FMRI
online         May_03   svc:/system/dbus:default
online         May_03   svc:/system/hal:default
online         May_03   svc:/system/filesystem/rmvolmgr:default

The file system can be mounted from the device if it is valid and it is recognized.

If the file system on the device is not automatically mounted, try a manual mount.

Before hot-removing the device, find the name of the device in the eject -l command's alias name. Then eject the device's media. If you don't do this, the device is released and the port is usable again, but the file system on the device might have been damaged.

When you hot-plug a USB device, the device is immediately seen in the system's device hierarchy, as displayed in the prtconf command output. When you remove a USB device, the device is removed from the system's device hierarchy, unless you are using the device.

If you are using a device when it is unplugged, the device node remains, but the driver controlling this device stops all activity on the device. Any new I/O activity issued to this device returns an error.

In this situation, the system prompts you to plug in the original device. If the device is no longer available, stop the applications. After a few seconds, the port becomes available again.


Note - Data integrity might be impaired if you remove an active or open device. Always close the device before removing, except the attached keyboard and mouse, which can be moved while active.


How to Add a USB Mass Storage Device

  1. Become an administrator.
  2. Connect the USB mass storage device.
  3. Verify that the USB device has been added.

    For example:

    $ rmformat
     Looking for devices...
           1. Logical Node: /dev/rdsk/c3t0d0p0
              Physical Node: /pci@0,0/pci108e,534a@2,1/storage@3/disk@0,0
              Connected Device: SanDisk  Cruzer Micro     0.3
              Device Type: Removable
              Bus: USB
              Size: 245.0 MB
              Label: <None>
              Access permissions: Medium is not write protected.
  4. Verify that the device is automatically mounted under the /media directory.

    For example:

    $ ls /media/NONAME
    aa  bb

    You can also use the rmmount -l command to list the paths and nicknames of mountable devices. If the device has been mounted under the /media directory, you will see output similar to the following:

    $ rmmount -l
    /dev/dsk/c3t0d0p0:1  rmdisk0,NONAME,/media/NONAME

How to Add a USB Camera

If the camera's media uses a PCFS file system, it will be automatically mounted. If the device does not bind to the scsa2usb driver, use libusb applications for transferring the pictures. For more information, refer to the /usr/share/doc/libusb/libusb.txt file.

  1. Become an administrator.
  2. Plug in and turn on the USB camera.

    The system creates a logical device for the camera. After the camera is plugged in, output is written to the /var/adm/messages file to acknowledge the device's connection. The system treats the camera as a storage device.

  3. Examine the output that is written to the /var/adm/messages file.
    # more /var/adm/messages

    Examining this output enables you to determine which logical device was created so that you can then use that device to access your images. The output looks similar to the following:

    Jul 15 09:53:35 buffy usba: [ID 349649 kern.info]    OLYMPUS, C-3040ZOOM,
     000153719068
    Jul 15 09:53:35 buffy genunix: [ID 936769 kern.info] scsa2usb1 is 
    /pci@0,0/pci925,1234@7,2/storage@2
    Jul 15 09:53:36 buffy scsi: [ID 193665 kern.info] sd3 at scsa2usb1: 
    target 0 lun 0

    Match the device with a mountable /dev/dsk link entry, by doing the following:

    # ls -l /dev/dsk/c*0 | grep /pci@0,0/pci925,1234@7,2/storage@2
     lrwxrwxrwx   1 root     root          58 Jun 14  2010 c3t0d0p0 ->
     ../../devices/pci@0,0/pci925,1234@7,2/storage@2/disk@0,0:a
  4. Mount the USB camera file system.

    The camera's file system is most likely a PCFS file system. If file system is PCFS, then it should be automatically mounted.

    • To manually mount the file system on an x86 system, you would use syntax similar to the following:
      # mount -F pcfs /dev/dsk/c3t0d0p0:c /mnt
    • To manually mount the file system on a SPARC system, you would use syntax similar to the following:
      # mount -F pcfs /dev/dsk/c3t0d0s0:c /mnt

    For information on mounting file systems, see Mounting and Unmounting Oracle Solaris File Systems.

    For information on mounting different PCFS file systems, see mount_pcfs(1M).

  5. (Optional) Verify that the image files are available.

    For example:

    # ls /mnt/DCIM/100OLYMP/
    P7220001.JPG*  P7220003.JPG*  P7220005.JPG*
    P7220002.JPG*  P7220004.JPG*  P7220006.JPG*
  6. (Optional) View and manipulate the image files created by the USB camera.

    For example:

    # /usr/dt/bin/sdtimage P7220001.JPG &
  7. Unmount the file system before disconnecting the camera.

    For example:

    # umount /mnt
  8. (Optional) Turn off and disconnect the camera.

How to Remove a USB Mass Storage Device

  1. Become an administrator.
  2. Stop any active applications that are using the device.
  3. Unmount the device.
    $ rmumount NONAME

    Or, use the umount command as an administrator. For example:

    # umount /media/NONAME

    For more information about unmounting a USB device, see How to Mount or Unmount a USB Mass Storage Device.

  4. Remove the device.

Preparing to Use a USB Mass Storage Device

You can access information on removable media with or without using removable media services. For information on accessing information on removable media with GNOME's File Manager, see the GNOME desktop documentation.

After the USB device is formatted, it is usually mounted under the /media/label directory.

The device nodes are created under the /dev/rdsk directory for character devices and under the /dev/dsk directory for block devices. Device links are created when the devices are hot-plugged. For more information, see scsa2usb(7D).

If the device cannot be identified by removable media services, then try to manually mount the device. First, use the rmformat command to identify the device path and then use the mount command to manually mount the device as an administrator.

If a device is mounted by removable media services then you can unmount it by using the rmumount command. If the device is manually mounted, then you would unmount it using the umount command as an administrator.

For more information about mounting and unmounting USB devices, see How to Mount or Unmount a USB Mass Storage Device.

How to Display USB Device Information

How to Create a File System on a USB Mass Storage Device

A USB diskette must be formatted before you can add a file system to it. All other USB mass storage devices just need a file system before they can be used.

Keep the following key points in mind when formatting a USB device:


Note - Perform Steps 4-5 only if you need to format a USB diskette.


  1. Become an administrator.
  2. Add the USB device to your system. For information on hot-plugging USB devices, see:
  3. (Optional) Identify the USB device.
    # rmformat
    Looking for devices...
         1. Logical Node: /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0p0
            Physical Node: /pci@0,0/pci108e,534a@2,1/hub@7/floppy@1/disk@0,0
            Connected Device: MITSUMI  USB FDD          1039
            Device Type: Floppy drive
            Bus: USB
            Size: 1.4 MB
            Label: <None>
            Access permissions: Medium is not write protected.

    In this example, the diskette device is c2t0d0p0.

  4. Insert a diskette into the diskette drive, if necessary.
  5. Format the diskette, if necessary.
    # rmformat -F long raw-device
  6. Determine the file system type and make sure the device is unmounted. Then, select one of the following:

    For more information about unmounting a USB device, see How to Mount or Unmount a USB Mass Storage Device.

    • Create a ZFS pool and file system on a USB stick if you need to transfer data to another system.

      # zpool create c5t0d0 temp-pool
      # zfs create temp-pool/data
    • Create a PCFS file system.

      # mkfs -F pcfs -o nofdisk,size=size raw-device

      Specify the -size option in 512-byte blocks.

      The following example shows how to create a PCFS file system on a 1.4-MB diskette on a SPARC system:

      # mkfs -F pcfs /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0p0
      Construct a new FAT file system on /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0p0: (y/n)? y

      The following example shows how to create a PCFS file system on a 1.4-MB diskette on an x86 system:

      # mkfs -F pcfs /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0s2
      Construct a new FAT file system on /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0s2: (y/n)? y

      The following example shows how to create a PCFS file system on a 100-MB USB memory stick on a SPARC system:

      # mkfs -F pcfs /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0s2:c

      The following example shows how to create a PCFS file system on a 100-MB USB memory stick on an x86 system:

      # mkfs -F pcfs /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0p0:c

      This command can take several minutes to complete.

    • Create a legacy UFS file system.

      # newfs raw-device

      Consider using the newfs -f 4096 option or newfs -T option for large USB hard disks.


      Note - UFS file system overhead consumes a significant portion of space on a diskette, due to a diskette's limited storage capacity.


    See How to Modify Partitions and Create a PCFS File System on a USB Mass Storage Device and How to Create a Solaris Partition and Modify the Slices on a USB Mass Storage Device for detailed examples of creating a PCFS file system and modifying slices on a USB mass storage device.

How to Modify Partitions and Create a PCFS File System on a USB Mass Storage Device

The following steps describe how to delete an existing partition, create a new partition, and then create a PCFS file system on the USB device. Make sure you backup any data before you perform this task. Note that this procedure includes specific examples to serve as a guideline only. Information that you provide should apply to your particular system.

  1. Become an administrator.
  2. Start the fdisk utility.
    # fdisk /dev/rdsk/c3t0d0p0
  3. Delete the partition by selecting option 3.
          Total disk size is 29 cylinders
                 Cylinder size is 2048 (512 byte) blocks
    
                                                   Cylinders
          Partition   Status    Type          Start   End   Length    %
          =========   ======    ============  =====   ===   ======   ===
              1       Active    Solaris2          1    28      28     97
    
    SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
       1. Create a partition
       2. Specify the active partition
       3. Delete a partition
       4. Change between Solaris and Solaris2 Partition IDs
       5. Exit (update disk configuration and exit)
       6. Cancel (exit without updating disk configuration)
    Enter Selection: 3
  4. Choose the partition number to delete.
          Total disk size is 29 cylinders
                 Cylinder size is 2048 (512 byte) blocks
    
                                                   Cylinders
          Partition   Status    Type          Start   End   Length    %
          =========   ======    ============  =====   ===   ======   ===
              1       Active    Solaris2          1    28      28     97
    
    SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
       1. Create a partition
       2. Specify the active partition
       3. Delete a partition
       4. Change between Solaris and Solaris2 Partition IDs
       5. Exit (update disk configuration and exit)
       6. Cancel (exit without updating disk configuration)
    Specify the partition number to delete (or enter 0 to exit): 1
    
    Partition deleted.
  5. Create a partition.
          Total disk size is 29 cylinders
                 Cylinder size is 2048 (512 byte) blocks
    
                                                   Cylinders
          Partition   Status    Type          Start   End   Length    %
          =========   ======    ============  =====   ===   ======   ===
    
    WARNING: no partitions are defined!
    
    SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
       1. Create a partition
       2. Specify the active partition
       3. Delete a partition
       4. Change between Solaris and Solaris2 Partition IDs
       5. Exit (update disk configuration and exit)
       6. Cancel (exit without updating disk configuration)
    Enter Selection: 1
  6. Select the FAT32 partition type.
          Total disk size is 29 cylinders
                 Cylinder size is 2048 (512 byte) blocks
    
                                                   Cylinders
          Partition   Status    Type          Start   End   Length    %
          =========   ======    ============  =====   ===   ======   ===
    
    WARNING: no partitions are defined!
    
    SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
       1. Create a partition
       2. Specify the active partition
       3. Delete a partition
       4. Change between Solaris and Solaris2 Partition IDs
       5. Exit (update disk configuration and exit)
       6. Cancel (exit without updating disk configuration)
    Select the partition type to create:
       1=SOLARIS2  2=UNIX        3=PCIXOS     4=Other    
       5=DOS12     6=DOS16       7=DOSEXT     8=DOSBIG
       9=DOS16LBA  A=x86 Boot    B=Diagnostic C=FAT32
       D=FAT32LBA  E=DOSEXTLBA   F=EFI        0=Exit? c
  7. Specify the percentage of disk to use for this partition.
           Total disk size is 29 cylinders
                  Cylinder size is 2048 (512 byte) blocks
    
                                                   Cylinders
          Partition   Status    Type          Start   End   Length    %
          =========   ======    ============  =====   ===   ======   ===
    
    WARNING: no partitions are defined!
    
    SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
       1. Create a partition
       2. Specify the active partition
       3. Delete a partition
       4. Change between Solaris and Solaris2 Partition IDs
       5. Exit (update disk configuration and exit)
       6. Cancel (exit without updating disk configuration)
    Select the partition type to create:
    Specify the percentage of disk to use for this partition (or type "c" to 
    specify the size in cylinders). 100
  8. Select whether the new partition should be the active partition or an inactive partition.
                  Total disk size is 29 cylinders
                  Cylinder size is 2048 (512 byte) blocks
    
                                                   Cylinders
          Partition   Status    Type          Start   End   Length    %
          =========   ======    ============  =====   ===   ======   ===
    
    WARNING: no partitions are defined!
    
    SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
       1. Create a partition
       2. Specify the active partition
       3. Delete a partition
       4. Change between Solaris and Solaris2 Partition IDs
       5. Exit (update disk configuration and exit)
       6. Cancel (exit without updating disk configuration)
    Select the partition type to create:
    Should this become the active partition? If yes, it  will be activated 
    each time the computer is reset or turned on.
    Please type "y" or "n". n
  9. Update the disk configuration and exit.
          Total disk size is 29 cylinders
                 Cylinder size is 2048 (512 byte) blocks
    
                                                   Cylinders
          Partition   Status    Type          Start   End   Length    %
          =========   ======    ============  =====   ===   ======   ===
              1                 Win95 FAT32       1    28      28     97
    
    SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
       1. Create a partition
       2. Specify the active partition
       3. Delete a partition
       4. Change between Solaris and Solaris2 Partition IDs
       5. Exit (update disk configuration and exit)
       6. Cancel (exit without updating disk configuration)
    Enter Selection: 5
  10. Create the PCFS file system on this partition.

    Make sure the device is unmounted before creating the new file system. For more information about unmounting a USB device, see How to Mount or Unmount a USB Mass Storage Device.

    # mkfs -F pcfs -o fat=32 /dev/rdsk/c3t0d0p0:c
    Construct a new FAT file system on /dev/rdsk/c3t0d0p0:c: (y/n)? y

How to Create a Solaris Partition and Modify the Slices on a USB Mass Storage Device

The following steps illustrate how to create a Solaris partition and modify the slices. Note that this procedure includes specific examples to serve as a guideline only. Information that you provide should apply to your particular system.

Make sure you back up any data before you perform this task.

  1. Assume the root role.
  2. Start the fdisk utility.
    # fdisk /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0s2
    No fdisk table exists. The default partition for the disk is:
    
      a 100% "SOLARIS System" partition
    
    Type "y" to accept the default partition,  otherwise type "n" to edit the
     partition table.
    y
  3. Display the current slices.

    For example:

    # prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0s2
    * /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0s2 partition map
    *
    * Dimensions:
    *     512 bytes/sector
    *      63 sectors/track
    *     255 tracks/cylinder
    *   16065 sectors/cylinder
    *    5836 cylinders
    *    5836 accessible cylinders
    *
    * Flags:
    *   1: unmountable
    *  10: read-only
    *
    *                          First     Sector    Last
    * Partition  Tag  Flags    Sector     Count    Sector  Mount Directory
           0      0    00          0  93755340  93755339
           2      0    00          0  93755340  93755339
  4. Create a text file with the slice information.

    For example:

    slices: 0 = 0, 5GB, "wm", "home" :
            1 = 8225280000, 6GB :
            2 = 0, 44GB, "wm", "backup" :
            6 = 16450560000, 15GB

    Make sure each slice starts on a cylinder boundary. For example, slice 1 starts at 822280000 bytes, which is the cylinder size in bytes multiplied by 1000.

    For more information, see the -s option description in rmformat(1).

  5. Create the slices by including the slice file created above.

    For example:

    # rmformat -s slice_file /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0s2
  6. View the new slice information.

    For example:

    # prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0s2
    * /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0s2 partition map
    *
    * Dimensions:
    *     512 bytes/sector
    *      63 sectors/track
    *     255 tracks/cylinder
    *   16065 sectors/cylinder
    *    5836 cylinders
    *    5836 accessible cylinders
    *
    * Flags:
    *   1: unmountable
    *  10: read-only
    *
    * Unallocated space:
    *       First     Sector    Last
    *       Sector     Count    Sector
    *    10485760   5579240  16064999
    *    28647912   3482088  32129999
    *    63587280  30168060  93755339
    *
    *                          First     Sector    Last
    * Partition  Tag  Flags    Sector     Count    Sector  Mount Directory
           0      8    00          0  10485760  10485759
           1      3    01   16065000  12582912  28647911
           2      5    00          0  92274688  92274687
           6      4    00   32130000  31457280  63587279

How to Mount or Unmount a USB Mass Storage Device

The following steps illustrate how to mount and unmount a USB mass storage device.

  1. Become an administrator or the console user.
  2. (Optional) Identify the device.

    For example:

    $ rmformat
     Looking for devices...
           1. Logical Node: /dev/rdsk/c3t0d0p0
              Physical Node: /pci@0,0/pci108e,534a@2,1/storage@3/disk@0,0
              Connected Device: SanDisk  Cruzer Micro     0.3
              Device Type: Removable
              Bus: USB
              Size: 245.0 MB
              Label: <None>
              Access permissions: Medium is not write protected.

    In this example, the physical diskette device is c2t0d0p0.

  3. Select one of the following to mount or unmount a USB mass storage device:
    • Mount a USB mass storage device as a console user.

      You can use the rmmount command with device nicknames, mount points, or device paths, similar to the following:

      $ rmmount rmdisk0
      $ rmmount NONAME
      $ rmmount /dev/dsk/c3t0d0p0:1

      For example:

      $ rmmount NONAME
      NONAME /dev/dsk/c2t0d0p0 mounted
      $ ls /media/NONAME
      AA.TXT
    • Unmount a USB mass storage device as a console user.

      For example:

      $ rmumount NONAME  
      NONAME /dev/dsk/c2t0d0p0 unmounted
    • Mount a USB mass storage device as superuser.

      This example shows how to mount a device with a UFS file system:

      $ mount /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s2 /mnt

      This example shows how to mount a device with a PCFS file system on a SPARC system:

      $ mount -F pcfs /dev/dsk/c3t0d0s2:c /mnt

      This example shows how to mount a device with a PCFS file system on an x86 system:

      $ mount -F pcfs /dev/dsk/c3t0d0p0:c /mnt

      This example shows how to mount a CD with a read-only HSFS file system:

      $ mount -F hsfs -o ro /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s2 /mnt
    • Unmount a USB mass storage device as superuser.

      First, be sure no one is using the file system on the device.

      For example:

      $ fuser -c -u /mnt
      $ umount /mnt
  4. Eject the device, which is optional for DVD, CD, or diskette devices.

    For example:

    $ eject /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s2

Troubleshooting Tips for USB Mass Storage Devices

Keep the following tips in mind if you have problems adding or removing a USB mass storage device.

Check the /var/adm/messages file for failures to enumerate the device. For enumeration failures, possibly, insert the USB hub or remove a hub and connect it directly to a root USB hub.

Disabling Specific USB Drivers

You can disable specific types of USB devices by disabling their client driver. For example, USB printers can be disabled by disabling the usbprn driver that directs them. Disabling usbprn does not affect other kinds of devices, such as USB storage devices.

The following table identifies some USB device types and their corresponding drivers.

Device Type
Driver to Disable
Audio
usb_ac and usb_as
HID (usually keyboard and mouse)
hid
Storage
scsa2usb
Printer
usbprn
Serial
usbser_edge

If you disable a driver for a USB device that is still connected to the system, you see a console message similar to the following:

usba10: WARNING: usba:    no driver found for device name

How to Disable Specific USB Drivers

  1. Become an administrator.
  2. Exclude the driver alias entry from the /etc/system file.

    For example, include the following exclude statement to exclude the usbprn driver:

    exclude: usbprn
  3. Reboot the system.
    # init 6

How to Remove Unused USB Device Links

Use this procedure if a USB device is removed while the system is powered off. Removing the USB device while the system is powered off can leave device links for devices that do not exist.

  1. Become an administrator.
  2. Close all applications that might be accessing the device.
  3. Remove the unused links for a specific USB class.

    For example:

    # devfsadm -C -c audio

    Or, just remove the dangling links:

    # devfsadm -C