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romatlo
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View 5.1 USB redirection over the internet?

Hi folks,

I am using View 5.0 (preinstalled) client on a WES7 thin client connecting to a View 5.1 security server and Win7 VM over PCoIP.

If I connect on my LAN USB redirection of my Flash drives work fine.

If I connect from the internet they do not.  No hardware detection, does not show up in my computer at all.

One of them flashes like it wants to connect but does not.

Should I expect USB redirection to work well over the internet like this?

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

romatlo

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peterbrown05
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Hi Romatlo

USB is synchronous, and very "chatty". In order for a storage device to appear in windows (if FAT formatted) then the entire FAT table needs to be read. This can be very large, depending on the size of the storage device. The chatty nature of the transfer and the latency involved for each round trip of a message can often mean the device takes many minutes to appear in your guest vm. If the lights are flashing as you describe, then I Would hazard a guess that it is actually working, and if you leave it long enough then the device will appear..

There is some more information in my blog post here: USB Device Redirection in VMware Horizon View 5.1 and 5.2 | VMware End-User Computing Blog - VMware ...

Also, (linked from that blog post) in my KB here - which offers some suggestions to improve performance: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&externalId=1022836

in summary - for better performance, try reformatting the device using NTFS instead of FAT. A lower network latency will also help - but - thats probably not in your control!

hope this helps,

peterB

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peterbrown05
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Hi Romatlo

USB is synchronous, and very "chatty". In order for a storage device to appear in windows (if FAT formatted) then the entire FAT table needs to be read. This can be very large, depending on the size of the storage device. The chatty nature of the transfer and the latency involved for each round trip of a message can often mean the device takes many minutes to appear in your guest vm. If the lights are flashing as you describe, then I Would hazard a guess that it is actually working, and if you leave it long enough then the device will appear..

There is some more information in my blog post here: USB Device Redirection in VMware Horizon View 5.1 and 5.2 | VMware End-User Computing Blog - VMware ...

Also, (linked from that blog post) in my KB here - which offers some suggestions to improve performance: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&externalId=1022836

in summary - for better performance, try reformatting the device using NTFS instead of FAT. A lower network latency will also help - but - thats probably not in your control!

hope this helps,

peterB

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romatlo
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Thank you Peter!!

Yea, the first USB Flash key I tried was formatted FAT.  It was the one that was flashing and I gave up on it.

I did try a second and after several minutes it started to show up (generic removable drive) but was not labeled properly and could not access.

Maybe if I had waited...

I will try NTFS and your suggestions!

Thanks again.

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