USB tethering and file sharing not working, might be due to a bug in 'usbmux' package


❯ inxi -Faz
System:
  Kernel: 5.15.3-2-cacule x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-cacule
    root=UUID=5b2b9a7e-a0aa-40d4-b82f-9d0b92912fe3 rw rootflags=subvol=@
    quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
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  Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.23.5 tk: Qt 5.15.2 info: latte-dock
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    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 9 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0D53F5 v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell
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    status: Full
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  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 620 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel
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  Device-2: AMD Sun XT [Radeon HD 8670A/8670M/8690M / R5 M330 / M430 /
    Radeon 520 Mobile]
    vendor: Dell driver: radeon v: kernel alternate: amdgpu bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 1002:6660 class-ID: 0380
  Device-3: Realtek Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo
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    s-diag: 414mm (16.3")
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    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl bus-ID: 00:1f.3
    chip-ID: 8086:9d71 class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.3-2-cacule running: yes
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.43 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: Dell driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel bus-ID: 02:00.0
    chip-ID: 168c:0042 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Dell
    driver: r8169 v: kernel port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8136
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-8:5
    chip-ID: 0cf3:e009 class-ID: e001
  Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: up address: <filter>
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 130.47 GiB (14.0%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABD100
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> rev: 3D scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 100 GiB size: 100 GiB (100.00%) used: 14.57 GiB (14.6%)
    fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 1024 MiB size: 1022 MiB (99.80%)
    used: 42.4 MiB (4.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 100 GiB size: 100 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 41.31 GiB (41.3%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
  ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 100 GiB size: 100 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 14.57 GiB (14.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
  ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 100 GiB size: 100 GiB (100.00%)
    used: 14.57 GiB (14.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 11.43 GiB used: 1.4 MiB (0.0%)
    priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0
  ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 6 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/sda11 maj-min: 8:11
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0 C pch: 49.0 C mobo: 49.0 C gpu: radeon
    temp: 43.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0
Info:
  Processes: 272 Uptime: 12h 1m wakeups: 33 Memory: 11.43 GiB
  used: 3.97 GiB (34.7%) Init: systemd v: 250 tool: systemctl Compilers:
  gcc: 11.1.0 clang: 13.0.0 Packages: 1583 pacman: 1577 lib: 396 flatpak: 6
  Shell: fish v: 3.3.1 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.11

When I plug in my iPhone, usbmuxd starts automatically, and my phone starts charging, but USB tethering and file transfer won’t work. So naturally, I would try replugging my iPhone; nothing would change, the phone charges but still no USB tethering and file transferring, and usbmuxd would still be running even after unplugging.
Then if I kill usbmuxd, everything starts working instantly.
Now, if I unplug my iPhone, usbmuxd would kill itself, and it starts automatically when I plug it in again.

It’s just the first time usbmuxd won’t work; you just have to kill it the first time, and everything starts working fine.

https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/usbmuxd/

usbmuxd stands for “USB multiplexing daemon”. This daemon is in charge of multiplexing connections over USB to an iOS device.

So from what I know, it’s basically udev rule that lets you connect to your iPhone.

Everything was working fine some days back; the problem just started a few days ago.

I have a very similar issue in my Void Linux installation, and I had reported the issue a few days ago, which is still not fixed:
please have a look here: USB tethering not working, might be due to a bug in 'usbmux' package. · Issue #34458 · void-linux/void-packages · GitHub

It is a long thread, you could go through it for context, and by the end of the thread, I think we have narrowed it down to the actual issue, which I have posted here too, but the problem still remains unsolved.
We could report it to the package developer if this is the same issue.

Thank you.

Given you’ve replicated the same issue as in another distro (and a very different one at that) it’s probably safe to say it’s a bug in the upstream project and so needs to be reported there.

4 Likes

If possible someone with an iPhone could check if it's the same behaviour in their Garuda installation as well.

It would be really helpful

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