How to enable USB Redirection in Windows 10

Question

My OS is Windows 7, and I have a remote Windows 8.1 host that I can use RDP to redirect the local USB device to Windows 8.1. But USB redirection does not work on a Windows 10 host. How do I enable it in Windows 10?

Answer 1

I also had problems using RemoteFX USB Redirection on a Windows 7 client to a remote host in Azure running Windows 10, while the configuration of the same machine successfully redirected USB to a Windows 8.1 Azure virtual machine.

To make it clear, I had no problems with USB redirection for ordinary devices (flash drives, printers, etc.) that are supported by the vanilla remote desktop setting. This type of USB redirection, for example, allowing me to see the flash drive that I connect to my Windows 7 client, works great for me, as I see it in Explorer on an Azure virtual machine.

A comparison of standard RDP redirection and RemoteFX redirection is described in detail in this blog post .

My specific problem with USB redirection is with device classes that are not handled by basic high-level RDP redirection, and for this I turned on USB RemoteFX redirection in previous releases of Windows. When this works correctly, the computer icon ( ) appears in the title bar of the remote desktop, allowing me to choose which device should be redirected to the virtual machine.

^{Header when RemoteFX USB Redirection is running}

Following the instructions on numerous web resources to enable RemoteFX USB redirection worked for me in earlier versions of the OS (for example, Windows 8.1 on the Azure virtual machine), but did not work on any Windows 10 virtual machine I created. Titlebar persistently remained without the USB redirection function RemoteFX

^{Header when RemoteFX USB Redirection was not working}

I finally stumbled upon this topic that solved my problem.

It seems that on the Windows 10 host, one more step is required compared to previous versions of the OS, namely:

1. Run gpedit.msc on the target virtual machine (the target Windows 10 virtual machine) to launch the Group Policy Editor . gpedit.msc can be entered from the startup dialog (use WinKey + R ) if you have administrator privileges, or run CMD.EXE with elevated CMD.EXE and enter gpedit.msc from the command line.

2. Locate Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop Services\Remote Desktop Session Host\Device and Resource Redirection\ Do not allow supported Plug and Play device redirection from the Group Policy Editor tree.

3. Strange to set this item to Disabled .

4. Run gpupdate/force from the command line with elevated gpupdate/force .

5. At least disconnect the RDP session and reconnect, if this does not work, reboot the target VM.

Answer 2

Now you need to update the machine policy using gpupdate / force from the command line. Then restart the computer for the changes to actually take effect, and enable the RemoteFX USB redirection option in the Remote Desktop Connection client. Once it is turned on, go to the “Local Resources” tab, click “Advanced” in the “Local Devices and Resources” section, and you will see that the new “Other” supports the configuration of USB RemoteFX devices. You can use this option to map many types of USB devices that you could not use with vanilla VDP redirection.

Answer 3

Do it both on a physical Windows machine and on a remote host

All changes are as follows:

 Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Remote Desktop Services \ >> 

GPEdits:

• I also changed from "Administrators" to "Administrators + Users"

---

 Remote Desktop Connection Client \ RemoteFX USB Device Redirection \ All RDP Redirection (Enable) Remote Desktop Session Host \ Remote Session Environment \ RemoteFX for Windows Server 2008 R2 \ Configure RemoteFX (Enable) Remote Desktop Session Host \ Connections \ Allow users to connect remotely using Remote Desktop Services (Enable) Remote Desktop Session Host \ Device and Resource Redirection\ Do not allow supported Plug and Play device redirection (Disable) gpupdate /force in elevated CMD Prompt and reboot 

Answer 4

USB Transfer RemoteFX Does Not Work on Some PCs

I had several PCs that met hardware specifications, but the Remotefx option was missing in RDP.

The solution was as follows:

in programs and features, remove the Intel® Rocket USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller "driver

This driver is NOT compatible with RemoteFX forwarding.