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I can not find a true pass-through KVM Switch for USB-C (Thunderbolt) to buy. So I am thinking about maybe building one myself. Currently I am just plugging and unplugging the Thunderbolt (USB-C) cable from my docking station to the laptop I want to use at the moment.

Why is there no Thunderbolt KVM Switch that does exactly that? Is this technically not feasible or what is the reason none seem to be offered by the industry?

Some active USB-C KVM Switches are offered. What I understand is they do not offer full Thunderbolt bandwidth and they are also rather expensive at ~$150-250.

I am thinking about just buying three Thunderbolt cables and having them switched with a mechanical switch. I mean, it works if I just unplug one laptop and plug the other in. Why isn't it available already in a box I could buy? Is there a technical barrier for that? What mechanical device should/could I use for such switch (the actual switching) if I were to build one myself?

Ideally the switch will keep the power delivered (maybe from a second external USB-C power adapter, I have them available) and just emulating plugging/unpluging the cord for the data lines.

So the questions are:

1) is this is feasible at all?

2) what could I use to mechanically switch the Thunderbolt signal cables?

Diego
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    [Dual host](https://www.aten.com/us/en/products/usb-&-thunderbolt/docking-switches/us7220/) docking stations for thunderbolt exist. But thunderbolt is very fast. Switching must be performed by a bridge IC since it is basically PCI express over a cable. – Jeroen3 Feb 17 '20 at 08:32
  • @Diego I'm interested in something like this too. Did you ever make any progress? I'm looking at using 3 24-pin USB C break-outs with 6 4PDT analog switches, but I have no idea if that would actually work. – Jonah Jan 22 '21 at 02:53
  • No, I ended up just manually switching the laptops. Good thing they only need one single thunderbolt cable to connect. – Diego May 19 '21 at 21:11
  • @Jonah I have exactly the same idea as yours. Have you tried implementing it? I don't see any reason why it should not work – dbdq Jul 12 '21 at 08:12
  • @dbdq No, I haven't gotten around to accomplishing this. It's not ideal, but right now I'm making do with a Level1tech Displayport KVM – Jonah Jun 03 '22 at 03:13

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