User manual

Connect USB Devices
You can use locally aached USB devices, such as thumb ash drives, cameras, and printers, from a remote
desktop. This feature is called USB redirection.
When you use this feature, most USB devices that are aached to the local client system become available
from a menu in Horizon Client. You use the menu to connect and disconnect the devices.
With View Agent 6.1 or later, or Horizon Agent 7.0 or later, you can also redirect locally connected USB
thumb ash drives and hard disks for use in RDS desktops and applications. Other types of USB devices,
including other types of storage devices, such as security storage drives and USB CD-ROM, are not
supported in RDS desktops and applications. The server that hosts the RDS desktop or application must be
running Windows Server 2012 or later.
If you use the client drive redirection feature to share a USB storage device or a folder on a USB storage
device, you cannot use the USB redirection feature to redirect the device to a remote desktop or application
because the device is already shared.
Using USB devices with remote desktops has the following limitations:
n
When you access a USB device from a menu in Horizon Client and use the device in a remote desktop,
you cannot access the device on the local computer.
n
USB devices that do not appear in the menu, but are available in a remote desktop, include human
interface devices such as keyboards and pointing devices. The remote desktop and the local computer
use these devices at the same time. Interaction with these devices can sometimes be slow because of
network latency.
n
Large USB disk drives can take several minutes to appear in the desktop.
n
Some USB devices require specic drivers. If a required driver is not already installed on a remote
desktop, you might be prompted to install it when you connect the USB device to the remote desktop.
n
If you plan to aach USB devices that use MTP drivers, such as Android-based Samsung smart phones
and tablets, congure Horizon Client so that it automatically connects USB devices to your remote
desktop. Otherwise, if you try to manually redirect the USB device by using a menu item, the device is
not redirected unless you unplug the device and then plug it in again.
n
Webcams are not supported for USB redirection.
n
The redirection of USB audio devices depends on the state of the network and is not reliable. Some
devices require a high data throughput even when they are idle.
You can connect USB devices to a remote desktop either manually or automatically.
N Do not redirect USB Ethernet connections to the remote desktop. Your remote desktop can connect to
your network if your local system is connected. If you have set your remote desktop to autoconnect USB
devices, you can add an exception to exclude your Ethernet connection. See “Conguring USB Redirection
on a Mac OS X Client,” on page 48 .
Prerequisites
n
To use USB devices with a remote desktop, a View administrator must have enabled the USB feature for
the remote desktop.
This task includes installing the USB Redirection component of the agent, and can include seing
policies regarding USB redirection. For more information, see the View Administration document if you
are using Connection Server and Agent 5.3.x. See Seing Up Desktop and Application Pools in View if you
are using Connection Server and Agent 6.0 or later.
Using VMware Horizon Client for Mac OS X
46 VMware, Inc.