For some reason, you may need to forward your own web camera to a remote desktop under Windows Server. This article describes the actions that will help you connect your web camera to an application on the server.
However, it should be noted that the quality of the transmitted image may be low, with significant display lag, and it is also possible that none of the steps will work (depending on the camera device and some other factors).
To set up forwarding on your computer, you must have Windows operating system 7 or higher with SP1 installed. Also, configure the camera usage resolution in the settings panel of your computer.
Server preliminary setup
To configure on our servers, you can ask Zomro technical support for help.
In order for the web camera forwarding (as well as for other remote desktop systems) to work, the server must have the terminal server installed and configured. A more detailed instruction will soon appear as a separate article, and you can also find installation information on the network.
In short, you need to open the Server Manager and in the Management - Add Roles and Features menu. In the dialog box that opens, on the Server Roles step, select Remote Desktop Services for installation. Then select the child components of this component group. Select: Remote Desktop Session Host and Remote Desktop Licensing.
To complete the setup, you should restart the server. Further configuration of the terminal server is beyond the scope of this article.
Connecting the web camera as a video capture device
To start, try forwarding 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 disks, 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 this case, try the following setting.
Connecting the web camera as a RemoteFX USB device
This setting needs to be done 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. Enter gpedit.msc and click Ok.
In the program, go to: Administrative Templates - Windows Components - Remote Desktop Services - Remote Desktop Connection Client - RemoteFX USB Device Redirection.
Open and enable the policy Allow 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 indicated above, but instead of forwarding video capture devices, select Other supported RemoteFX USB devices.
If none of these actions helped, try reinstalling the operating system on the server to a different one. For example, if the server is running Windows Server 2016, try installing Windows Server 2019 and repeat the steps above.
Conclusion
Actions have been shown that can be taken to forward a web camera to a remote server. As you can see, in most cases, this can be done. However, there may be devices for which connection in this way is not supported.