How to configure USB peripheral device redirection policy for RX300 and RX-RDP?

What are the default USB peripherals settings in RX-RDP, RX420(RDP), RX300 and LEAF OS devices?

Please refer to RX-RDP, RX420(RDP), RX300 and LEAF OS user configuration guide for additional details:  https://support.ncomputing.com/portal/kb/articles/rx300-rx-rdp-user-configuration-guide

The Peripherals section of the RX-RDP Setup GUI allows granular control of what peripheral device classes will be redirected to terminal sessions and what redirection type will be used.

There are three general redirection policies selectable, with preconfigured settings for different device classes:

  1. No redirection – no peripheral devices other than system keyboard and mouse will be redirected.
  2. Default – preferred redirection settings for the thin client device model will be used.
  3. Custom – devices will be redirected or blocked according to granular selections.

Two redirection types (methods) are possible: Native redirection and Generic USB redirection. The availability of the redirection methods varies between device classes and terminal session protocols.


Native redirection, also referred to as ‘functional redirection’, leverages a dedicated virtual channel in terminal protocol to allow device-specific communication between the application accessing the peripheral device running in terminal session and the software components responsible for device handling on the client-side. Native redirection usually provides optimized (e.g. ensuring best performance) support for the peripheral device class. The peripheral devices redirected in native way not always appear in the Device Manager inside user session. Some kind of support for the devices redirected in the native way must be present on the client-side. The necessary software components are built into the RX300, RX-RDP, and RX420(RDP) firmware for the device classes where the native redirection is possible. The necessary components are also present in LEAF OS. Because of that requirement (and sometimes because of lack of necessary API), not all peripheral device classes are redirectable with the native redirection.


Generic USB redirection, in contrast to native redirection, does not require any special device support on the client-side. With the generic USB redirection the low-level USB communication between the virtual USB hub created on the server-side and the USB device physically connected to the thin client gets redirected. The USB peripheral device connected to thin client’s USB port gets detected by a virtual USB host controller or hub assigned to the user’s terminal session on the server-side. The Windows device driver software necessary for using the connected peripheral device must be installed on the terminal server hosting the user session. The peripheral device forwarded with generic USB redirection always appears in the Device Manager inside user’s terminal session. If the terminal server hosting the user sessions is a multi-user system then it must be able to appropriately handle (filter) the USB devices redirected in the generic way. If that fails then it can happen that the redirected device will interact with the Console session, not with user’s terminal session.

Note: In Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 the ‘Do not allow supported Plug and Play device redirection’ Group Policy setting is enabled by default (when not configured), which prevents the Generic USB redirection of peripheral devices to the above mentioned operating systems. This Group Policy setting can be found under ‘Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Device and Resource Redirection’. To be able to use the Generic USB redirection of peripheral devices in RDP sessions running on operating systems mentioned in this note this group policy setting must be explicitly disabled. In Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 the Remote Desktop Services by default allow the redirection of supported plug and play devices, thus the ‘Do not allow supported Plug and Play device redirection’ Group Policy setting does not need to be altered.

Note: In Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 the redirection of supported plug and play devices is allowed by default too, but these legacy operating systems need to additionally run as virtual machines on a Hyper-V host with the RemoteFX feature enabled for the Generic USB redirection in RDP sessions. Using Generic USB redirection in RDP sessions on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7 installed on physical machines is not possible.

Customizing  peripheral devices redirection

When the Custom radio-button will be selected as the general redirection policy, then the following redirection type selections are available for different USB device classes:

Device class

USB class ID

Available redirection types for UXP connections

Available redirection types for RDP connections

Mass storage

08

Generic USB

Native

Audio

01

Generic USB, Native

Generic USB, Native

Printers

07

Generic USB

Generic USB, Native

Imaging devices

06 
0E

Generic USB

Generic USB

Smart card readers

0B

Generic USB, Native

Native

Serial ports

02

Generic USB

Generic USB, Native

Human Interface Devices

03

Generic USB

Generic USB

Touch screens

-

Native

Native

 

Default redirection types on RX-series and LEAF OS devices:

Device class

USB class ID

RX300

RX-RDP and RX420(RDP)

LEAF OS

Mass storage

08

Generic USB

Native

Generic USB

Audio

01

Native

Native

Native

Printers

07

Generic USB

Generic USB

Generic USB

Imaging devices

06 
0E

Generic USB

Generic USB

Generic USB

Smart card readers

0B

Generic USB

Native

Generic USB

Serial ports

02

Generic USB

Native

Generic USB

Human Interface Devices

03

No redirection

No redirection

No redirection

Touch screens

-

No redirection

No redirection

No redirection