How to redirect USB from a thin client

The challenge of accessing USB devices from thin clients

As a rule, when you plug a USB device into a thin client it becomes available in a local session. However, accessing USB in thin client has several major limitations:

1. Not all types of USB devices can be redirected using native methods, and even if the device is supported it can still work incorrectly in many cases.
2. Attached to a thin client, a USB peripheral is available in a local session only. It does not seem possible to access a USB zero client device from a remote session.
3. When a USB device connected to a thin client is redirected to the server via RDP, all other thin clients are able to access that device.

The simplest way to overcome these challenges is by using a dedicated third-party software that will share the required USB device across the network. To achieve this, you can try USB Network Gate - a software application that will help to redirect any type of USB device from the thin client to the server and will help with isolating redirected USB devices from other zero client users.

To make things simpler, only those devices that have been shared on the host machine will be shown in the guest OS in your RDP session. Also, you’ll be able to use the option of searching for shared devices on the network.

What is a thin client used for

There are many thin-client manufacturers on the market today, but by and large, all of them, starting from titans like HP, Dell and finishing with small local manufacturers, produce more or less similar solutions.

Because all the actual computing occurs on servers and blades but not on the device itself, the thin client is regarded as a virtual desktop computing model (VDI) which provides some demonstrable benefits:

• Improved corporate data security;
• Centralization of administration;
• Reduced investment in IT infrastructure;
• Reduced cost of modernization;
• Energy saving;
• Centralized and simplified back up of desktops, laptops, and other client access devices.

In addition to the standard hardware and peripherals (like a mouse, a keyboard, a monitor, and a network cable), some other devices can also be connected to a thin client provided that it can recognize them and transmit to the terminal server.

More than that, the program gives you the way to configure your local PC to detect and connect to USB devices shared on remote machines automatically.

You can find the software version for Windows, Linux, and Mac machines. In addition to that the utility offers:

• Fast connections over any network (including LAN, Ethernet, WiFi, and the Internet);
• Secure communications protected with advanced encryption;
• Full access to the functionality of remote and local USB devices from thin and zero clients working over RDP, and more.