Qualify USB Devices for Use with Streaming Applications

There are two methods for specifying which USB devices your users can redirect into their AppStream 2.0 streaming instances:

Note

USB redirection is currently only supported on Windows AppStream 2.0 streaming instances.

• You can create the USB device filter strings within the configuration file saved on an image. This method can only be used with Always-On and On-Demand fleets.

• You can specify USB device filter strings when you create the fleet, either with the AWS Management Console or with the CreateFleet API. For detailed information about these strings, see the section below. This method can only be used with Elastic fleets.

You can create a file on your AppStream 2.0 image that specifies which USB devices a user can make available for their streaming applications. To qualify your users' USB devices so that the devices can be used with streaming applications, perform these steps.

Note

For security reasons, only qualify USB devices from approved trusted sources. Qualifying all generic devices or classes of devices might allow unapproved devices to be used with your streaming applications.

1. If you haven't already done so, install the AppStream 2.0 client. For information, see Install and Configure the AppStream 2.0 Client.

2. Connect the USB device that you want to qualify to your computer.

3. Navigate to C:\Users\<logged-in-user>\AppData\Local\AppStreamClient, and double-click dcvusblist.exe.

4. In the DCV - USB devices dialog box, the list of USB devices that are connected to your local computer displays. The Filter column displays the filter string for every USB device. Right-click the list entry for a USB device that you want to enable, and choose Copy filter string.

5. On your desktop, choose the Windows Start button, and search for Notepad. Double-click Notepad to open a new file, copy the filter string to the file, and save it. Later, you'll use the filter string to qualify the USB device.

6. Launch a new image builder. For more information, see Launch an Image Builder to Install and Configure Streaming Applications.

7. After your image builder is in the Running state, perform the following steps to create a streaming URL and connect to the image builder by using the AppStream 2.0 client.

   1. With your image builder selected in the list, choose Actions, Create streaming URL.

   2. In the Create streaming URL dialog box, choose Copy link, and copy and paste the web address into a separate file for later use. You'll use this URL to reconnect to the image builder in step 12.

   3. Choose Launch in Client.

   4. If the Launch Application dialog box opens and prompts you to choose the application to use when opening the link, choose Amazon AppStream, Open link. To prevent this dialog box from displaying the next time you perform this step to connect to an image builder, select the Remember my choice for amazonappstream links check box.

   5. If the AppStream 2.0 client displays links to the AWS Customer Agreement, AWS Service Terms, and the AWS Privacy Notice, and third-party notices, review this information, and then choose Finish.

   6. If the client sign-in page is displayed, the web address field is prepopulated with the streaming URL. Choose Connect.

   7. If prompted, log in to the image builder as Administrator.

8. After you are connected to the image builder, if your USB device requires you to install drivers before you use it, download and install the drivers on the image builder. For example, if you use the Connexion 3D mouse, you must download and install the required Connexion drivers on the image builder.

9. On your image builder desktop, choose the Windows Start button, and search for Notepad. Right-click Notepad, and choose Run as Administrator.

10. Choose File, Open, and open the following file: C:\ProgramData\Amazon\Photon\DCV\usb_device_allowlist.txt. You can also allow an entire category of devices or all devices from a specific manufacturer by using wildcard expressions in the usb_device_allowlist.txt file.

11. Copy the filter string from your local computer to the image builder. The filter string for a specific USB device is a comma-separated string of the following fields: Name, Base Class, SubClass, Protocol, ID Vendor, ID Product, Support Autoshare, and Skip Reset. For detailed information about these strings, see Working with USB Device Filter Strings.

12. Disconnect from your image builder, restart it, and reconnect to it by using the AppStream 2.0 client. To do so, open the AppStream 2.0 client and paste the streaming URL that you created in step 7 into the client sign-in web address field, and choose Connect.

13. On the image builder, test your USB device to confirm that it works as expected.

14. Before your users can use the USB device in an AppStream 2.0 session, they must first share the device with their session. For guidance that you can provide your users to help them perform this task, see USB Devices.

15. If the USB device works with the image builder as expected, create an image. For more information, see Tutorial: Create a Custom AppStream 2.0 Image by Using the AppStream 2.0 Console.

16. After you finish creating the image, update your AppStream 2.0 fleet to use the new image.

Working with USB Device Filter Strings

This section describes the filter strings that are available for qualifying USB devices for AppStream 2.0 streaming sessions. It also provides guidance for working with these strings. The following filter strings are available:

• Name — By default, the value for this filter string is the name of the device, but you can specify your own value.

• Base Class,SubClass,Protocol — The USB class code for the device. For more information, see Defined Class Codes.

• ID Vendor (VID) — A unique identifier that is assigned by the USB organization to the manufacturer of the USB device.

• ID Product (PID) — A unique identifier that assigned by the manufacturer to the USB device.

• Support Autoshare — Lets the AppStream 2.0 client automatically share the device when a streaming session starts. Set this value to 1 to allow automatic device sharing. Set this value to 0 to not allow automatic device sharing.

• Skip Reset — By default, when a USB device is shared by AppStream 2.0 with a streaming session, the device is reset to ensure that it functions correctly. However, some USB devices don’t function correctly during the streaming session if they are reset. To prevent this problem from occurring, set the value for this filter string to 1 to instruct the AppStream 2.0 client not to reset the device while it is shared with a streaming session. To ensure that the device is reset while it is shared with a streaming session, set this value to 0. When you set a value for Skip Reset, make sure that you set the value for Support Autoshare to 0 or 1.

The filter string that is copied from the local computer is specific to a USB device. In some cases, you might want to allow an entire class of devices instead of allowing every possible USB device. For example, you might want to allow your users to use any kind of Wacom design tablets or use any USB mass storage device. In such scenarios, you can provide wildcard characters for specific filter string fields. If you don’t know the VID and PID for your USB devices, you can search for this information in the USB ID database.

The following examples show how to configure filter strings for USB device sharing during streaming sessions:

• Allow all mass storage devices automatically on starting a streaming session — "Mass storage, 8, *, *, *, *,1,0"

• Allow all Wacom devices automatically on starting a streaming session — "Wacom tablets, 3, *, *, 1386, *,1,0"

• Allow all devices that provide an audio interface — "Audio, 1, *, *, *, *,1,0"

• Allow device X, but don't reset it while the device is shared. Don’t share the device automatically on starting a streaming session — "X, Y, *, *, 1386, *,0,1"