Redirect camera to the server-side
Hi there,
thanks a lot for this overall great piece of software! I really love it a lot more than the Microsoft RDP client!
I'm just wondering whether it is possible to redirect my local camera to the remote/server-side. I saw this was implemented recently for the Windows-version, but on the Mac-version I cannot see any relevant options. Is it supposed to work? If not, are there any plans to implement it? I really would need this, since my Work-environment is a Windows-VM, but at home I only have a Mac to access it. And the MS RDP-client has an very annoying scrolling-bug, so I really would love to switch completley to Devolutions RDM, but for this I need camera support...
Thanks a lot for any help!
All Comments (4)
Hello
Currently, I'm afraid it's not an option. To give some background: webcam redirection in RDP is historically handled via the generic USB redirection part of the protocol (this allows forwarding of the webcam, with some restrictions). The latest RDP protocol adds an extension to handle webcams specifically, without restrictions.
RDM for Windows (by default) uses Microsoft's own RDP client. The recent bug fix on that side to unblock webcam support came in the integration between RDM and Microsoft's RDP client (we figured out the proper way to present webcams to the RDP client).
The integrated RDP connection in RDM Mac is built on FreeRDP. FreeRDP implements USB redirection, but only for Linux clients; and it does not implement the new webcam channel at all. So it's not currently possible to forward webcams or USB devices using FreeRDP for Mac; hence, it's not possible in RDM Mac either.
That being said, FreeRDP is open-source and there's nothing to stop somebody contributing USB or webcam support for macOS. The reason it's not already done is likely because it's tricky: the USB redirection part of the protocol is very driver-orientated and requires a good understanding of the USB stack itself. Essentially, one would have to emulate the Windows USB stack; which, while possible, is a large technical challenge.
I'm sorry that we can't support this right now, but we won't rule it out for the future. I'd encourage others who are excited by this to add their voice on the forum.
Thanks and kind regards,
Richard Markievicz
Hello again
Just to add: I've never used it, and have little knowledge of the project, but you should look into usbip (usb-over-ip). I also saw at least one paid implementation that had a Mac client. It would allow sharing of USB devices between your machines, Your mileage may vary!
Thanks and kind regards,
Richard Markievicz
Hello Richard,
thank you very much for this detailed explanation, I understand this situations. I will have a look into FreeRDP and usbip, maybe something can be done.
Thanks a lot and kind regards,
Tom
Hello again
Just to be super clear: I'm suggesting using usbip alongside RDM. That is, you'd connect via RDP using RDM as normal while also running a usbip server on the remote machine. So you'd tunnel USB independently of RDP.
Like I said, it's just a path to investigate. One solution I saw with a Mac client is VirtualHere, but again, we have no affiliation and I have no idea how well it works.
Good luck!
Richard Markievicz