Configuring Remote Desktop Features

Table Of Contents
Using USB Devices with Remote
Desktops and Applications 4
Administrators can configure the ability to use USB devices, such as thumb flash drives, cameras, VoIP
(voice-over-IP) devices, and printers, from a remote desktop. This feature is called USB redirection, and it
supports using the VMware Blast, PCoIP, or Microsoft RDP display protocol. A remote desktop can
accommodate up to 128 USB devices.
You can also redirect locally connected USB devices, including thumb flash drives, hard disks, TOPAZ
Signature Pad, Olympus Dictation Foot pedal, and Wacom signature pad, for use in published desktops
and published applications. Other types of USB devices, including security storage drives and USB CD-
ROM drives, are not supported in published desktops and published applications.
When you use this feature in desktop pools that are deployed on single-user machines, most USB
devices that are attached to the local client system become available in the remote desktop. You can
even connect to and manage an iPad from a remote desktop. For example, you can sync your iPad with
iTunes installed in your remote desktop. On some client devices, such as Windows and Mac computers,
the USB devices are listed in a menu in Horizon Client. You use the menu to connect and disconnect the
devices.
In most cases, you cannot use a USB device in your client system and in your remote desktop or
application at the same time. Only a few types of USB devices can be shared between a remote desktop
and the local computer. These devices include smart card readers and human interface devices such as
keyboards and pointing devices.
Administrators can specify which types of USB devices end users are allowed to connect to. For
composite devices that contain multiple types of devices, such as a video input device and a storage
device, on some client systems, administrators can split the device so that one device (for example, the
video input device) is allowed but the other device (for example, the storage device) is not.
The USB redirection feature is available only on some types of clients. To find out whether this feature is
supported on a particular type of client, see the feature support matrix included in the Horizon Client
installation and setup document for the specific type of desktop or mobile client device.
Important When you deploy the USB redirection feature, you can take steps to protect your
organization from the security vulnerabilities that can affect USB devices. See Deploying USB Devices in
a Secure Horizon 7 Environment.
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