VMware Horizon Community
HastingsCounty
Contributor
Contributor

Writable Volumes not allowing USB redirection

Seeing if anyone has a solution to this while I wait for support to finally respond.

On Horizon 9.7, App Volumes 2.18, UEM, 9.8

Have two pools, Windows 7 32-bit, and Windows 10 LTSC 64-bit.

Writable Volumes enabled for UIA plus profile template.

We had an issue last week, which I think is the result of this. Our Sophos appliance seemed to lock up, causing all our VDI connections to be refused from the thin clients. After shutting down the appliance, staff were able to login again and everything seemed fine. Couple days later I we start getting tickets about USB sticks not working. Certain users were not able to use USB devices. I'd login to the same thin client, and it would work.

Tried removing the Sophos client from the golden image and keeping the appliance off and USB still did not work. After testing more, my profile became intermittent with USB devices too. If I logged in, USB would not work. If I disconnected the session without logging out, and then reconnect USB would be functional until next log off. Both pools were effected by this and it's random users.

After deleting my writable volume and allowing it to be re-created I have had no issues. Any user I move from Windows 7 to Windows 10, creating a new writable volume is having no issue. Looking for a fix without having to delete their writable volume.

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12 Replies
ijdemes
Expert
Expert

Do you mean the issue that results in USB redirection not being available? If so, you can use the key/value below (default timeout is 60 seconds). You can extend to (for instance) 200 seconds.

Use the existing or create new reg sub key:

HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\USB

Create a REG_DWORD:

WaitForSessionIdTimeout

Give it a decimal value of 200 (for 200 seconds), REMARK: This should be a value that falls within your "normal" logon times.

Make sure above is part of the golden image and a reboot has been performed.

This should fix the USB redirection not being available issue.

WaitForSessionIdTimeout


\\ Ivan
---
Twitter: @ivandemes
Blog: https://www.ivandemes.com
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HastingsCounty
Contributor
Contributor

thanks for the suggestion. I looked for the regkey and do not even have USB as an option in my golden image. Wondering if I should add it;

pastedImage_1.png

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HastingsCounty
Contributor
Contributor

Disregard, didn't read the part to create the USB subkey. Will apply and test. Thank-you.

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HastingsCounty
Contributor
Contributor

Tested and does not appear to resolve the issue. Waited a few minutes after login to see if USB would function, no change.

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ijdemes
Expert
Expert

Hmm, did you make sure it was part of the golden image before cloning?


\\ Ivan
---
Twitter: @ivandemes
Blog: https://www.ivandemes.com
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HastingsCounty
Contributor
Contributor

Yup, I made sure it was their after logging in and I see the key. I have tried uninstalling the agent, removing the vmware certs and re-installing the agent. Same thing. If I disable the users writable volume, USB is fine.

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robsisk1972
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

So I believe I have the same issue but it doesn't involve writable disks.   Mine revolves around users with more then 3 or 4 app stacks assigned by App Volumes.   If no App Volumes are assigned USB redirection works as desired.   I believe the length of time it takes to attach these volumes is exceeding 60 seconds.   Will crack my master and change the value to 200.   This makes a lot of sense to me.   Will report back with the verdict in my case.

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sujayg15
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Just checking if we've eliminated and GPOs / security policies that could be blocking USB storage media. I've seen one instance where this happened, where someone else created and applied a regular GPO that blocked USB Storage. Another instance where Horizon GPOs were involved (link). And a 3rd where Horizon Smart Policies were in play blocking USB (link).

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bjartest
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

We also see the same behaviour that USB redirection is not working. We use appvolumes (with writable) and DEM. DEM smart policy is enabled with AD group to allow USB redirection but this setting is completely ignored. What we did find out that worked was to add this setting to the registry and USB started working again. You can try this on a session and just disconnect/reconnect to se if it works.

Add the following registry setting:

REG_DWORD registry value UemFlags in key HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\Agent\USB, and setting it to 1.

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VMVSF
Contributor
Contributor

I actually ran into this issue myself.


This occurred after we upgraded our Instant Clone VDI image from Windows 10 1809 to 1909.

We made sure to use the latest versions of Horizon Agent 7.12, DEM 9.11 and App Volumes 2.18.4 (haven't moved to 4.xx yet)

I couldn't figure out why USB redirection was working on my login but almost never on most other users.

I had to rollback to the 1809 instant clone image and then it worked fine.

I tried downgrading the Horizon Agent and DEM on the 1909 image, but still kept getting the "[ws_vhub] vhublib: Check [UemState]->[DONE] timeout" in the logs.

It finally clicked when I realized I didn't have a writable volume (I purposefully disabled mine a while ago).  When we disabled the writable on another user, USB redirection worked again on the 1909 image.

Also, when deleting the writable and letting it be recreated, USB redirection worked again as well on the 1909 image...

So, apparently upgrading Windows 10 versions without nuking your writable volumes will also cause USB redirection to fail.

We worked around this, for now, by setting the UemFlags key to 257 decimal in the registry.  (Placed in "HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\Agent\USB" through a GPO)

Hope there comes a real fix for this issue in the future instead of disabling Horizon Smart Policies. (We didn't use them anyway.)

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VDINinja311
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Has anyone opened a VMware case regarding the writable volume causing issues with USB redirection?

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GTO455
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I have been experiencing this since Windows 10 1803. It aslo affects smart card SSO if you are using them.

As a result I have been applying this fix to my golden image since then and its been working.


Per VMware cCommunities change the DWORD value in the registry key from 1 to 257 (Post #66)

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/554191?start=60&tstart=0

HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\Agent\USB
UemFlags (REG_DWORD) with a value decimal value of 257

 

Edit: With the new communities format, I don't think the responses in the communities thread are numbered anymore! Page 4 by UMDev

 

GTO455_0-1607023515993.png

 

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