Enabling USB remotization

With Amazon DCV, clients can use a variety of specialized USB devices, such as 3D pointing devices or authentication devices. The devices are physically connected to their computer to interact with an application that are running on a Amazon DCV server.

Important

Amazon DCV provides a generic mechanism for redirecting USB devices. Some devices that are sensitive to network latency might experience issues. Additionally, some devices might not function as expected due to driver compatibility issues. Ensure that your devices work as expected before deploying to production.

Note

USB remotization is only supported with the Windows client. It's not supported with the portable Windows client or the web browser client. Additional configuration might be required on the Amazon DCV client. For information on installing USB remotization on a client, see the optional steps in Installable Windows client in the Amazon DCV User Guide.

The Amazon DCV server uses an allow list to determine which USB devices clients are allowed to use. By default, some commonly used USB devices are added to the allow list. This means clients can connect these USB devices to their computer and use them on the server without any additional configuration. For more information, see Using USB Remotization in the Amazon DCV User Guide

However, some specialized devices might not be added to the allow list by default. These devices must be manually added to the allow list on the Amazon DCV server before they can be used by the client. After they have been added, they appear in the Windows client Settings menu.

Windows Amazon DCV server

To add a USB device to the allow list, you must obtain the USB device's filter string from the client and add it to the usb-devices.conf file.

To add a USB device to the allow list on a Windows Amazon DCV server

1. Ensure that you have installed the latest version of the Amazon DCV server and that you opted to install the USB remotization drivers. For more information, see Installing the Amazon DCV Server on Windows.

2. Install the USB device's hardware drivers on the Amazon DCV server.

3. On the Windows client machine, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\NICE\DCV\Client\bin\ in the File Manager.

4. Run dcvusblist.exe.

5. Right-click on the USB device in the list.

6. Choose Copy filter string from the dropdown menu.

7. On the server, open C:\Program Files\NICE\DCV\Server\conf\usb-devices.conf using your preferred text editor and add the filter string to a new line at the bottom of the file.

8. Save and close the file.

9. Stop and restart the Amazon DCV server.

Linux Amazon DCV server

To add a USB device to the allow list, add the filter string for the USB device to the usb-devices.conf file.

Adding USB devices to the allow list on a Linux Amazon DCV server

1. Ensure that you have installed the latest version of the Amazon DCV server and the DCV USB driver. For more information, see Installing the Amazon DCV Server on Linux.

2. Install the USB device's hardware drivers on the Amazon DCV server.

3. On the Windows client machine, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\NICE\DCV\Client\bin\ in your File Manager.

4. Run dcvusblist.exe.

5. Right-click on the USB device in the list.

6. Choose Copy filter string from the dropdown menu.

7. On the server, open /etc/dcv/usb-devices.conf using your preferred text editor and add the filter string to a new line at the bottom of the file.

8. Save and close the file.

9. Stop and restart the Amazon DCV server.