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Table Of Contents
Using USB Devices with Remote
Desktops 14
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 either the RDP or the PCoIP display protocol. A remote desktop can accommodate up to 32
USB devices.
When you use this feature, 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 OS X 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 at the same
time. Only a few types of USB devices can be shared between the 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 in desktop pools that are deployed on single-user machines. The
feature is not available in RDS desktop pools.
NOTE 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 "Using
VMware Horizon Client" document for the specific type of desktop or mobile client device. Go to
https://www.vmware.com/support/viewclients/doc/viewclients_pubs.html.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“Limitations Regarding USB Device Types,” on page 154
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“Overview of Setting Up USB Redirection,” on page 154
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“Network Traffic and USB Redirection,” on page 155
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“Automatic Connections to USB Devices,” on page 156
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“Disabling USB Redirection,” on page 156
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“Using Log Files for Troubleshooting and to Determine USB Device IDs,” on page 157
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“Using Policies to Control USB Redirection,” on page 158
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“Troubleshooting USB Redirection Problems,” on page 167
VMware, Inc.
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