Through the group policy settings, you can configure serial port redirection and control the extent to which users can customize redirected COM ports. Your choices depend on the user roles and third-party applications in your organization.
For information about the group policy settings, see VMware View Agent Configuration ADMX Template Settings.
- If your users run the same third-party applications and COM port devices, make sure that the redirected ports are configured in the same way. For example, in a bank or retail store that uses point-of-sale devices, make sure that all COM port devices are connected to the same ports on the client endpoints, and all ports are mapped to the same redirected COM ports on the remote desktops.
Set the PortSettings policy setting to map client ports to redirected ports. Select the Autoconnect item in PortSettings to ensure that the redirected ports are connected at the start of each desktop session. Enable the Lock Configuration policy setting to prevent users from changing the port mappings or customizing the port configurations. In this scenario, users never have to connect or disconnect manually and cannot accidentally make a redirected COM port inaccessible to a 3rd-party application.
- If your users are knowledge workers who use various third-party applications and might also use their COM ports locally on their client machines, make sure that users can connect and disconnect from the redirected COM ports.
You might set the PortSettings policy setting if the default port mappings are incorrect. You might or might not set the Autoconnect item, depending on your users' requirements. Do not enable the Lock Configuration policy setting.
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Make sure that your third-party applications open the COM port that is mapped to the remote desktop.
- Make sure that the baud rate that is in use for a device matches the baud rate that the third-party application is attempting to use.
- You can redirect up to five COM ports from a client system to a remote desktop.
- You can create custom Allow or Deny lists for serial port redirection using the Allow/Deny port filters Group Policy Object.
If enabled, the Allow and Deny filters determine whether every specific COM port detected on the Client side is allowed for redirection. If a port is not allowed for redirection, the Agent side treats it as if the port does not exist on the Client side.
The Allow and Deny lists use USB device properties of the COM port's parent USB device. The Allow list has higher priority. Therefore, if the device is matched by the Deny list, the device is excluded from redirection. But if the device is also matched by the Allow list, the device is allowed for redirection.
You can set these filters using the Group Policy Management Editor. The settings are located in the folder. See the Allow/Deny port filters Group Policy Object Help for details on syntax and usage examples.
