Not able to see successfully connected USB device iPhone on the Mac

[pranaysingh]

Hi,

OS: Windows 10

NoMachine version: 7.6.2 for Windows

USB device: iPhone 7 running on iOS 14.4.2

I have connected my iPhone to my Windows which runs NoMachine, Mac running on NoMachine can identify the iPhone device in connect local USB device section and connects to it successfully and shows a green dot(that indicates connected right now).

But I am not able to find the iPhone in finder, Macintosh HD folder or anywhere on the Mac, it just doesn’t shows!

This is weird behaviour that replicates even when I connect my USB pendrive to Windows, it gets identifies in the connect local USB device section, you can connect to it but shows up nowhere.

Please help me to get access to the iPhone once the connection is successful. I have seen some posts here where people were not able to connect the device at the first place, what showed to them was connection to USB device failed, fortunately, that’s not the case with me, I have my connection established but it just doesn’t appear.

Please help. Let me know if you need any kind of screenshots.

Thanks,

Pranay

[Giorgi-G.]

Hi,

Can you please run this command before forwarding the device, and after it is forwarded? Do you see any differences in the output?

ioreg -p IOUSB

 

[pranaysingh]

Hi,

this is what I get:

Before forwarding:

+-o Root  <class IORegistryEntry, id 0x100000100, retain 8>

+-o AppleUSBXHCI Root Hub Simulation@00000000  <class AppleUSBRootHubDevice, id 0x10000032f, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (2 ms), retain 12>

+-o VMware Virtual USB Keyboard@00600000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000331, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (1 ms), retain 11>

+-o VMware Virtual USB Hub@00700000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000335, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (1 ms), retain 11>

+-o VMware Virtual USB Mouse@00500000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000354, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (2 ms), retain 13>

+-o VMware Virtual USB Hub@00800000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000362, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (1 ms), retain 11>

 

After forwarding:

+-o Root  <class IORegistryEntry, id 0x100000100, retain 8>

+-o AppleUSBXHCI Root Hub Simulation@00000000  <class AppleUSBRootHubDevice, id 0x10000032f, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (2 ms), retain 12>

+-o VMware Virtual USB Keyboard@00600000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000331, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (1 ms), retain 11>

+-o VMware Virtual USB Hub@00700000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000335, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (1 ms), retain 11>

+-o VMware Virtual USB Mouse@00500000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000354, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (2 ms), retain 13>

+-o VMware Virtual USB Hub@00800000  <class AppleUSBDevice, id 0x100000362, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (1 ms), retain 11>

 

So, I don’t see any difference in the output. Please help me out.

 

[Giorgi-G.]

Hi,

That means that no device has been forwarded to the target machine. Most probably it’s caused by not loaded kext drivers that are required to forward USB devices.

Please run this command when you have forwarded the device and see a green dot and send the output.

sudo kextstat | grep nx

[pranaysingh]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I ran the command you asked to, here’s the output screenshot.

Also, attached the status showing connected iPhone. The last screenshot shows the place I am looking at for my iPhone device to appear.

Thanks,

Pranay

Attachments:

1. 

   snip1.png
   

2. 

   snip2.png
   

3. 

   snip3.png
   

[pranaysingh]

Hi,

I also tried a command that you can find in the screenshot attached along with the output. Also, by following the help page of generate logs I have also generate logs and attached the archive file in the attachments.

Thanks,

Pranay

Attachments:

1. 

   snip4.png
   

1. NoMachine-log-2021.07.05-12.49.21.zip

[pranaysingh]

Hi,

Also sending the client side logs(Windows machine)

 

Thanks,

Pranay

Attachments:

1. nx.zip

[Giorgi-G.]

Hi,

Thank you for providing so detailed feedback and logs.

We made some internal tests based on your logs report and will come back to you on Monday.

[pranaysingh]

Hi,

My supervisor guided me to provide logs as it might help. We thank you for your efforts.

[Giorgi-G.]

Hi, can you please check, if when connecting from a MacOS to a Windows machine, does your screen looks like in the attached file (Local USB devices are not visible)? If you connect from Windows to Mac., will you see remote Mac’s USB devices in the USB devices window (look at the screenshot).

Attachments:

1. 

   image_2021_07_12T07_49_49_355Z.jpg
   

[sumitm]

Hi Giorgi, by way of introduction, I am Pranay’s supervisor. Here are answers to your questions: –

1. We see some MacOS “virtual” USB devices in the “System Report” provided on remote MacOS BigSur virtual machine (VM) rented in the cloud. Attaching screenshot.

2. We see “VMware Virtual USB Keyboard” and “VMware Virtual USB Mouse” devices (that are present on remote MacOS as mentioned above) in the NoMachine “Remote USB Devices” on the local Windows client machine. Attaching some relevant screenshots.

I tried connecting to my home Windows computer from the cloud machine using NoMachine, but I believe this will require some firewall config changes. Please let me know if remote MacOS “client” logs are necessary then we will arrange the same.

Moreover, I observed following puzzling message in the “dmesg” logs (shared by Pranay above): –
===========
04345.049832 nxusbd@: AppleUSBHostUserClient::openGated: could not open provider VMware Virtual USB Hub. provider already opened for exclusive access by a kernel client
===========

Should above message about “provider Hub being already reserved for exclusive access” be of concern to us?

Since its VM, we have no knowledge about any “physical” USB devices being connected (no reason to believe that our cloud service provider will do this).

Many thanks for your help!

Best regards,
Sumit

Attachments:

1. 

   Mac_BigSur_VM_USBDevicesInfo.png
   

2. 

   Windows_Client_USBDevices.png
   

3. 

   Windows_Client_USBDevices_Det.png
   

[sumitm]

Adding possibly relevant information.

When we tried to connect the iPhone from a different Windows 10 client machine, then we could see iPhone appearing in the Finder on the remote macOS machine. But, accidentally, my laptop went into sudden sleep mode (because of low battery) and subsequently we reached the same situation as above (green dot on the local machine but nothing visible in the remote machine’s Finder). Again, I could see USB port blocked related errors in the dmesg output.

It may be a problem with sudden/improper disconnection of the client machine (or the devices) and remote server somehow not able to release relevant USB port (blocked port status survives system reboots and NoMachine installation and reinstallation).

Thanks for your efforts!

Best regards,
Sumit

[Giorgi-G.]

Hi,

After plenty of tests, I can confirm that in the case of iPhone forwarding from Windows to macOS 11.4, the forwarded device shows up in the NoMachine with a green dot, but it does not show up on the remote macOS.

Just only difference in our case and in your tests is that if after the restart, forward a simple USB device (mouse, USB disk) it is forwarded and shows up on the remote macOS. Worth noticing, if forward USB disk after iPhone forwarding, USB disk will also appear with a green dot, but will not appear on the remote macOS.

The Trouble Report https://knowledgebase.nomachine.com/TR07S10310 for the issue with iPhone forwarding has been created.  Please use that link to monitor its status.

Would it be possible to share, what service was used as a host for virtual macOS?

[sumitm]

Hi Giorgi,

Thanks for the update and taking further action wrt filing a Trouble Report. Will monitor the same.

Regarding your question, we rented this particular virtual macOS remote machine as “a dedicated server” (virtual) from macincloud.

Please let me know if further information is needed.

Regards,
Sumit

[Author]

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