If you want to receive a small notification as soon as a USB storage device is plugged in or plugged out. You're in the right place

Your system detects a USB device upon connection or disconnection using an utility named udev. udev allows for defining rules which can allow a user to perform a specific task when a USB device is connected or disconnected. This can be combined with notify-send to send notifications to a user as soon as a USB device is connected or disconnected

1. Creating a udev rule

Below is a rule file, which will trigger two scripts depending upon the connection or disconnection of a USB device

Configuring USB notifications on Linux

+ +

If you want to receive a small notification as soon as a USB storage device is plugged in or plugged out, you're in the right place.

save this as 99-usb-notify.rules file under /etc/udev/rules.d/.

Your system detects a USB device upon connection or disconnection using a utility named udev. It allows for defining rules to perform specific tasks. Combined with notify-send, you can trigger desktop notifications instantly.

2. Configuring the scripts

1. Creating a udev rule

Save the following as 99-usb-notify.rules under /etc/udev/rules.d/

Below are the scripts:

ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="block", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", RUN+="/usr/local/bin/usb-notify-add.sh '$env{ID_MODEL}'"
+ACTION=="remove", SUBSYSTEM=="block", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", RUN+="/usr/local/bin/usb-notify-rem.sh '$env{ID_MODEL}'"

usb-notify-add.sh

2. Configuring the scripts

Save both scripts under /usr/local/bin/ and make them executable

#!/bin/bash
+        usb-notify-add.sh
+        #!/bin/bash
 DEVICE_NAME=${1:-"Unknown USB Device"}
 
 USER_ID=$(id -u <your-username>)
 export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/$USER_ID/bus
 
-sudo -u <your-username> DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS /usr/bin/notify-send "USB Connected" "Device: $DEVICE_NAME"
-
+sudo -u <your-username> DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS /usr/bin/notify-send "USB Connected" "Device: $DEVICE_NAME"

usb-notify-rem.sh

- -

#!/bin/bash
+        usb-notify-rem.sh
+        #!/bin/bash
 DEVICE_NAME=${1:-"Unknown USB Device"}
 
 USER_ID=$(id -u <your-username>)
 export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/$USER_ID/bus
 
-sudo -u <your-username> DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS /usr/bin/notify-send "USB Disconnected" "Device: $DEVICE_NAME"
-
-
-Save both the scripts under /usr/local/bin and make them executable with chmod
+sudo -u <your-username> DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS /usr/bin/notify-send "USB Disconnected" "Device: $DEVICE_NAME"

3. Reloading the udev rules

Once the files are saved, reload the udev configuration to apply the changes:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
+sudo udevadm trigger

Once all the files have been saved. Reload udev rules as follows:

And just like that, you've setup USB notifications. Give it a try! Plug in a device and check if your system sends a notification with the device name.

And just like that, you've setup USB notifications. Give it a try! Plug in a USB device and check whether your system sends you a notification with the name of the USB device.