Olga Weis
Last updated Mar 18, 2021
RDP sessions can prove to be problematic when you need to use a remote desktop camera for an activity such as videoconferencing. It can be very challenging to implement connectivity with a USB webcam through remote desktop environments.
One problem you may encounter when trying to share a webcam over RDP is getting the remote session to recognize the physical peripheral device. This impacts productivity when RDP users cannot connect with a webcam being used for a Skype for Business conference call.
We are going to show you a solution that makes it easy for a remote desktop to use a local webcam. It solves the problem of accessing locally attached USB devices for RDP users.
FlexiHub
FlexiHub is a reliable and high-performance tool that enables redirected webcams to operate with any video conferencing software.
USB peripheral devices made available to RDP sessions with FlexiHub provide the same functionality for a locally connected piece of equipment on the remote machine.
FlexiHub makes it possible to use cameras with remote desktop by sharing the physical devices connected to the computer’s USB ports over the network. The USB redirector software allows two-way communication between network-attached USB devices and your remote session as if it had a direct physical connection to the peripherals.
FlexiHub uses virtualization to make it appear as if your RDP session is directly connected to a webcam attached to the local host computer. You don’t need any additional configuration to achieve clear and reliable video transmission. FlexiHub allows you to enjoy high-quality and low-latency video conferencing from any remote desktop session.
Watch this video for the visual instructions on how to use a webcam in remote desktop:
After communication is established, the device will be recognized by the remote computer and appear in its Device Manager. The virtualized devices offer remote users the same functionality of a direct physical connection.
FlexHub does not require any special configuration to provide remote access to a wide variety of USB hardware devices.
This webcam for RDP redirection software works with all popular video conferencing applications. The tool supports Skype, Zoom, Slack, Google Hangouts, and many others.
The security of your communication is vitally important and FlexiHub uses 2048-bit SSL encryption to safeguard data transmission. Shared webcams are fully protected from misuse when accessed through FlexiHub and your network.
This flexible software solution supports cross-platform configuration of Windows, Linux, and Mac remote desktops. Any platform can act as the server for clients of any other supported platform. Users on a Windows remote desktop can use webcams connected to Linux or Mac servers.
Client computers do not need to have webcam drivers installed to be able to access the shared peripheral. This feature eliminates the troublesome and potentially time-consuming of installing drives for each new device introduced to the environment.
Data transfer compression helps minimize the stress of transmitting video streams through your network. It also speeds up your interaction with the remote desktop cameras.
Now we will take a look at what needs to be done if you need webcam access on a Remote Desktop Services (RDS) server.
NOTE: Webcam usage on an RDS server requires significant CPU resources. This is in part due to the CPU cycles needed to transmit the raw USB data through RDP.
Another potential problem is network latency. Redirecting webcam traffic with an RDS server requires a considerable amount of network bandwidth to achieve smooth and reliable communication.
The Windows 10 update that delivered Build 17035 included a feature designed for Remote Desktop users. The operating system now supports redirecting video capture devices using the Remote Desktop Connection app.
The Windows native Remote Desktop client is contained in mstsc.exe. You can enable or disable video capture redirection under the app’s local devices and resources window.
There is a new group policy option that can be used to disable this feature. The option is located under Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Remote Desktop Services -> Remote Desktop Session Host -> Devices and Resource Redirection.
This new policy setting enables you to control the redirection of video capture devices to remote machines in an RDS session.
Remote Desktop Services does not allow the redirection of video capture devices by default. Once this policy setting is enabled, video streams can be redirected to remote machines. The More option in the Local Resources tab on your Remote Desktop Connection lets you select which devices will be redirected.
FlexiHub
