Automatically Re-plug all USB devices on system resume on Debian Linux using systemd

Thursday, 26th March 2026

automatically-replug-all-usb-devices-on-system-resume-on-Debian-Ubuntu-Linux
Lets say you’re like me and you have an old but gold USB device like USB joystick Maxfire G-08XU (i've described how to configure Joystick / Gamepad on Debian Ubuntu easily), an USB flash drive stick or even some obscure USB keyboard model, that are not among the most compatible device on earth for linux. The result is in device plug and Sleeping the system or Hibernating it for a while (when go to bed) you end up with USB device being undetected by the system. Once you recover the Laptop / PC from being in Sleep mode / hibernate, the device becomes undetected by system, even though, even though the Linux kernel recognizes in lsusb. That weirdity continues until you do the manual hard workaround, which is to manually unplug the device cable and replug it again.
Though Linux has advanced much with this stuff over last years still this problems can occur every now and then. Thanksfully there is a quick fix to that. You can create a small script that reloads all the USB devices on PC
want the script to run automatically after your Debian laptop wakes up from suspend/hibernate. On Linux, the way to do this is using systemd sleep hooks. Here’s how to do it properly by using a small script + systemd.

1. Create a systemd sleep script

Create a new directory and file:

# mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system-sleep
# vim /etc/systemd/system-sleep/usb-replug.sh

Add this content:

#!/bin/bash
# Only run on resume (wake up)
case "$1" in
post)
# Replace '1-3' with your USB bus-port ID
echo '1-3' | tee /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb/unbind
sleep 2
echo '1-3' | tee /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb/bind
;;
esac
If

If you need script logging use instead this small script:

#!/bin/bash

case $1/$2 in
pre/*)
# before suspend: you can put commands here if needed
;;
post/*)
# after resume: run your USB replug commands
echo "$(date) – Running USB replug script" >> /var/log/usb-replug.log
# Example command: trigger USB rescan
for bus in /sys/bus/usb/devices/*/authorized; do
echo 0 | sudo tee $bus
echo 1 | sudo tee $bus
done
;;
esac

2. Make it executable and reload systemd services

# chmod +x /etc/systemd/system-sleep/usb-replug.sh

Once you’ve created the script in /etc/systemd/system-sleep/ and made it executable, systemd will automatically call it on suspend/resume.

To make sure everything is recognized, you can:

Reload systemd units (optional but recommended)

# systemctl daemon-reload

Test it manually by suspending and resuming your machine

# systemctl suspend

After resuming, your script should run automatically and you should see the missing devices that you had to physically unplug and plug back to normal.
Hooray ! 🙂

3. How it works (systemd respawn)

systemd runs scripts in /etc/systemd/system-sleep/ on suspend and resume.
$1 is either pre (before sleep) or post (after wake).
The script unbinds and rebinds your USB device right after the system resumes.

Tip: You can also use usbreset instead of unbind/bind if you prefer, just replace the echo lines with:

# usbreset /dev/bus/usb/001/005

Alternatively you can use one time a simple one liner script that does the job like this:

# cat replug_usbs_linux.sh
#!/bin/bash

# one liner script to replug all USB devices like you have physically replugged all USBs useful if for example some of USB devices stuck after linux computer sleep

# for example my old maxfire g-08 usb joystick does mess up and i have to physically replug it (to work around this i simply run this script

d=$(lsusb -t | grep -m1 'Driver=' | sed -E 's|.*Port ([0-9]+):.*Bus ([0-9]+).*|2-1|') && echo $d | sudo tee /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb/unbind && sleep 2 && echo $d | sudo tee /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usb/bind

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