How I fixed 'libusb couldn't open USB device' error after updating MinKNOW

Our lab uses nanopore tech with MinION sequencer and MinKNOW software for long-read sequencing. We've got a GPU server running Ubuntu Linux (version 22.04.3 LTS) to support our sequencing work.

Recently, I had to update MinKNOW; honestly, this can be a tricky process; you need to pay attention to lots of details for it to work. I followed all the required steps, like getting rid of the old version, installing the new one, and doing a system reboot. Boom! The new MinKNOW software was installed on the GPU server.

But, being cautious, I had to ensure the update worked. When I started MinKNOW, everything seemed good, but then I hit a snag during a hardware check. It said, "Unable to find a hardware check script to start." It was time to explore what was happening.

First, I checked the system status of the MinKNOW service using

sudo systemctl status minknow.service        

The screen gave me some interesting information, especially these lines:

It seemed like an access problem, so I kept investigating. I inspected the minknow.service file using

cat /lib/systemd/system/minknow.service        

The user and group were set to minknow by default so I changed the settings to 'root'. Then I did a daemon reload using

sudo systemctl daemon-reload        

I restarted the MinKNOW service using

sudo systemctl restart minknow.service        

I then rechecked the system status. This time, no issues were detected!

I was able to perform a hardware check after restarting the MinKNOW UI . It was an adventure, and I thought it was worth sharing.