Real-Time Audio-Video supports webcam and audio input redirection for use in conferencing applications. The USB redirection feature that can be installed with Horizon Agent does not support webcam redirection. If you redirect audio input devices through USB redirection, the audio stream does not synchronize properly with video during Real-Time Audio-Video sessions, and you lose the benefit of reducing the demand on network bandwidth. You can take steps to ensure that webcams and audio input devices are redirected to your desktops through Real-Time Audio-Video, not USB redirection.
If your desktops are configured with USB redirection, end users can connect and display their locally connected USB devices by selecting the Connect USB Device option in the Windows client menu bar or the Desktop > USB menu in the Mac client. Linux clients block USB redirection of audio and video devices by default and do not provide the USB device options to end users.
If an end user selects a USB device from the Connect USB Device or Desktop > USB list, that device becomes unusable for video or audio conferencing. For example, if a user makes a Skype call, the video image might not appear or the audio stream might be degraded. If an end user selects a device during a conferencing session, the webcam or audio redirection is disrupted.
To hide these devices from end users and prevent potential disruptions, you can configure USB redirection group policy settings to deactivate the display of webcams and audio input devices in VMware Horizon Client.
In particular, you can create USB redirection filtering rules for Horizon Agent and specify the audio-in and video Device Family Names to be deactivated. For information about setting group policies and specifying filtering rules for USB redirection, see Using Policies to Control USB Redirection.
