lsusb

Updated

July 31, 2026

Overview

lsusb lists devices on the USB buses (keyboards, NICs, storage, serial adapters, phones). Provided by the usbutils package.

Syntax

lsusb [options]

Common Options

Option Description
-v Verbose descriptors (noisy; pipe to less)
-t Topology tree
-s [[bus]:][devnum] Single device
-d vendor:product Filter by IDs (from lsusb first column)
-D /dev/bus/usb/... Dump a device node
-v -s 001:005 Verbose for one device

Examples with Explanations

lsusb
lsusb -t
lsusb -d 0781:5581
sudo lsusb -v 2>/dev/null | less

After plugging a device

dmesg | tail -40
journalctl -k -n 40 --no-pager
lsusb
lsblk -f          # if it is storage

Watch for hotplug

watch -n 1 lsusb

Notes

  • IDs look like Bus 001 Device 005: ID abcd:1234 Vendor Product.
  • Permissions may limit verbose descriptor detail without root.
  • Update ID database periodically with distro packages (usb.ids).