The software offers an intuitive interface and a powerful feature set, which is helpful when connecting to remote devices over RDP.
How it works
If you want to know how a small software app can provide access to virtually any USB device, no matter its location, here’s a simple guide.
First of all, it should be mentioned that it is a USB port that the software shares over the network but not a USB device itself. When you unplug one device and plug in another, the latter becomes shared automatically.
So, to make a USB device accessible in remote desktop, you should follow a few simple steps:
- Install USB Network Gate on both machines that you have: the computer where you run your RDP client and the one where the Terminal Server is installed.
- On the RDP client PC:
- ✦ Start USB Network Gate;
- ✦ Open the “Local Devices” tab. You will see the list of all devices that are physically connected to your local computer. Find the one you need and click the “Share” button next to it;
- ✦ Connect to the remote desktop via Remote Desktop Connection.
- On the RDP server PC:
- ✦ Launch the software;
- ✦ Go to the “Remote Devices” tab. All USB devices that are available for remote connection, including the one you need, will be displayed there. Find the device you would like to access remotely and hit “Connect” next to it.
This is it! Once done, the USB device will appear in your remote desktop system as though it were a local peripheral
Some of the useful features offered by USB Network Gate when connecting to devices via RDP
- USB Network Gate provides the “RDP auto-connect” option. If you enable it, your connections to remote devices will be re-established automatically each time you start your remote desktop.
- Starting from USB Network Gate v7.x, the software supports the ICA protocol, which means you can get access to remote USB devices over ICA in a remote session.
- If you are going to redirect a USB device to a multi-user environment, it will be a good idea to use the per-session USB device isolation feature. With this option, you get the ability to assign certain USB devices to a particular user. This allows you to protect your peripherals from unwanted connections, as your devices become not accessible to other users.
- Per-user and per-session isolation feature lets you protect your USB device while working in the RDP session. Starting version 9.0 USB Network Gate lets you protect the USB device for the current session or the particular user.
