Android emulator USB passthrough fails: " 'usb-host' is not a valid device model name"

Issue

When I try to use USB passthrough as described in https://androidstudio.googleblog.com/2020/08/emulator-30024-canary.html,

emulator -avd Pixel_3a_API_30_x86 -qemu -usb -device usb-host,vendorid=076B,productid=3821

I get the error message 'usb-host' is not a valid device model name. According to the Google link, USB passthrough should be supported from emulator version 30.0.24 and my emulator reports version 30.5.3.0 (build_id 7196367).

Has anyone succeeded in getting this to work?

Solution

No! Same with Android emulator version 30.5.4.0 (build_id 7243153).

If I look binary into the Linux version of the qemu emulator file,
I can still find the usb-host option. But it is totally left out in the Windows Version.
So I guess Google must have switched the usb-host support in Windows off.
Unfortunately the last Release Notes from the emulator is from 30.4.5 (February 23, 2021)

Also I can't find any hint about this in the android-review AOSP Don't know where else to look!?

[Update:]
I think I've found it, on the GitHub AOSP Mirror and android-review AOSP. From Erwin Jansen committed on 3 Mar:

Revert "Enable usb host redirection for Windows"

# Libusb support on windows is not what we would like it to be
LIBUSB_FLAGS="--disable-libusb --disable-usb-redir"

It looks like the USB Pass Through Feature on Windows was just too buggy.
So, If one would get back to Version 30.5.2 (build_id 7175973) (Feb 27, 2021)
the usb-host will still be a valid device model name.
The DL was taking from a Canary Channel.

But it looks like Google is still working on it...

[Update 10.12.21]
Since Emulator Version 31.1.4 google implemented some new features and tools to pass USB through. I couldn't find the -list-usb parameter with emulator -help, but it works if you run:

emulator -list-usb
VID:PID 058f:6387 (Bus 1, Port 5.1.1)
        Manufacturer:
        Product:
        SerialNumber:   40A0FE0A

With this information, you can use the -usb-passthrough parameter
(-usb-passthrough vendorid=VID,productid=PID[,hostbus=BUS,hostport=PORT])

emulator -netdelay none -netspeed full -avd Pixel_4_API_31 -usb-passthrough vendorid=058f,productid=6387,hostbus=1,hostport=5.1.1

but it shows the error:

ERROR   | Cannot load Android USB Assistant Driver for USB device "vendorid=058f". USB pass-through might not work.

Again a new tool Google added, with the prebuilt Windows drivers for USB passthroug one could try it again. Downloadable directly from the AOSP (tgz)

run as admin:

Install_Drivers.bat

Installing Android USB Assistant...
call Android_USB_Assistant_Install.bat
Microsoft PnP Utility

Processing inf :            Android_USB_Assistant.inf
Successfully installed the driver.
Driver package added successfully.
Published name :            oem89.inf


Total attempted:              1
Number successfully imported: 1

Installing Android Emulator USB Passthrough Assistance Driver

SERVICE_NAME: UsbAssist
        TYPE               : 1  KERNEL_DRIVER
        STATE              : 1  STOPPED
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0
[SC] DeleteService SUCCESS

SERVICE_NAME: UsbAssist
        TYPE               : 1  KERNEL_DRIVER
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0
        PID                : 0
        FLAGS              :

But trying it again, still shows the same error.

Answered By - NewBit