Linux/macOS:
lsusb
Output: Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1234:5678 My Device
Windows (PowerShell):
Get-PnpDevice -PresentOnly | Where-Object $_.Class -eq "USB"
Take note of the Vendor ID (VID) and Product ID (PID). In the above example, VID=0x1234, PID=0x5678. connect usb device to android emulator better
[USB Device] → (Host USB) → usbip-host attach → usbip server (host)
↓
virtual Ethernet bridge (10.0.2.2 – 10.0.2.15)
↓
Android Emulator guest (usbip-client) → /dev/bus/usb
Every Android developer has been there. You need to test a specific piece of hardware—maybe a barcode scanner, a custom IoT board, or a USB microphone. You plug it into your laptop, fire up the Android Emulator, and... nothing. The Android OS has no idea the device exists.
The emulator is a guest in your computer's house; it doesn't get to see the host's hardware unless you explicitly introduce them. Here is the roadmap to making that connection, ranked from easiest to most robust.
The keyword “better” implies measurable improvement. Here’s what to benchmark: Linux/macOS: lsusb
| Method | Latency | Supported USB Classes | Setup Difficulty | Stability | |--------|---------|----------------------|------------------|------------| | ADB TCP Forward | High (5-20ms) | Serial, HID | Easy | Medium | | UsbDk (Windows) | Medium (2-5ms) | Most except isoch | Medium | Medium | | QEMU Passthrough (Linux) | Native (<1ms) | All (including webcam) | Hard (needs root) | High | | VirtualHere (Paid) | Low (1-2ms) | All | Medium | High |
"Better" for you depends on your use case. For a USB barcode scanner in a warehouse app, QEMU passthrough is overkill – ADB forward works. For a USB oscilloscope or audio interface, you must use QEMU passthrough.
adb -s emulator-5554 forward tcp:12345 tcp:12345
Then, inside the emulator, you connect to localhost:12345. This works for serial-over-USB devices (like Arduino or FTDI chips). But for bulk transfer devices (flash drives, webcams), this fails completely. ADB forward only handles TCP streams, not USB requests. Output: Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1234:5678 My
This is where things get interesting. What if you have a non-standard USB device—like a USB RFID reader, a MIDI controller, or a custom diagnostic tool—and you want the Emulator itself to see it?
Because the Android Emulator (in Android Studio) usually runs on QEMU (a virtualization engine), it can be configured to "steal" a USB port from your host OS and give it to the guest OS (the Emulator).
However, Android Studio makes this difficult via the GUI. The "Better" way to handle this is often to use a dedicated virtualization tool like Genymotion or configure QEMU arguments manually.
adb shell dmesg | grep -i usb
adb shell lsusb # if busybox is installed
adb shell cat /sys/kernel/debug/usb/devices
If you don't see your device in the emulator’s dmesg, USB passthrough failed at the hypervisor level.