How to forward a webcam to a remote desktop

For some reason, you may need to forward your own webcam to a remote desktop running Windows Server. This article describes the steps that will help you connect your webcam to an application on the server.

However, it should be warned that the quality of the transmitted image may be low, with significant display lags, and it is also quite possible that none of the steps will work (depends on the camera device and some other factors).

To set up the forwarding, your computer must have an operating system of Windows 7 or higher with SP1 installed. Also, configure the permission to use the camera by applications in the settings panel of your computer.

Preliminary Server Setup

To perform the setup on our servers, you can request this from Zomro support.

In order for the webcam forwarding (as well as for other remote desktop systems) to work, a terminal server must be installed and configured on the server. A more detailed instruction will soon appear as a separate article, and you can also find information on installation online.

In brief, you need to open Server Manager and in it, from the menu Manage - Add Roles and Features. In the opened dialog, on the Server Roles step, select Remote Desktop Services for installation. Next, you need to select the child components of this group of components. Choose: Remote Desktop Session Host and Remote Desktop Licensing.

To complete the setup, you should restart (reboot) the server. Further configuration of the terminal server is beyond the scope of this article.

Connecting the Webcam as a Video Capture Device

First, try to forward the video capture devices in the remote desktop connection settings. To do this, in the Remote Desktop Connection program, click the Show Options button at the bottom (1), go to the Local Resources tab (2), and click the More button (3).

In this menu, you can also connect drives, USB drives, and other devices. Enable Video Capture Devices, as shown in the screenshot below, and click OK. You can also expand the menu and select only the necessary devices.

After that, connect to the server. Your webcam should be visible in the Device Manager on the server.

Some devices may not be forwarded in this mode via RDP. In that case, try the following setup.

Connecting the Webcam as a RemoteFX USB Device

This setup needs to be performed on your own computer running Windows 7, 10, or 11.

Run the Local Group Policy Editor as a user with administrative rights. Alternatively, right-click the Start button and select Run. Type gpedit.msc and press OK.

In the program, navigate to: Administrative Templates - Windows Components - Remote Desktop Services - Remote Desktop Connection Client - RemoteFX USB Device Redirection.

Open and enable the policy Allows RDP redirection of other supported RemoteFX USB devices from this computer. Below, select the access rights, i.e., who is allowed to redirect the webcam: only users with administrative rights or all users of your computer.

After that, you must restart your computer. Then configure the application for connecting to the remote desktop in the same way as described above, but instead of redirecting video capture devices, select Other Supported RemoteFX USB Devices.

If none of these actions helped, try reinstalling the operating system on the server to another one. For example, if the server is running Windows Server 2016, try installing Windows Server 2019 and repeat the steps mentioned above.

Conclusion

The actions that can be taken to forward a webcam to a remote server have been shown. As can be seen, in most cases, this can be done. However, there may be devices for which connection in this way is not supported.

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