USB redirection not working in Chrome OS

[Katrina Cruz]

Hi all,

 

We're having trouble redirecting USB devices from Chrome OS into Citrix. The ONLY devices we can redirect so far are keyboards, mice and certain USB flashdrives.

 

The devices we are trying to redirect and cannot do so are - headsets (Jabra 930, Jabra Evolve 20), webcams (integrated laptop webcams or Microsoft Lifecam Studio), as well as USB speakers.

 

According to the Citrix KB article below, Microsoft Lifecam should be supported:

https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX200825

 

All of these devices redirect and work fine if we test it on a Windows endpoint device. It is just failing from Chrome OS itself. Citrix Policies is configured correctly.

 

The KB article above and the article below are very simple and easy to follow. We have already configured what is recommended:
http://nickyfixit.com/2018/12/citrix-usb-redirection-on-cloudready-chrome-os/

 

 

I've uploaded more screenshots below as Citrix doesn't allow me to upload multiple photos due to a total size limit of a mere 2MB:

https://ibb.co/jWcy7GS
https://ibb.co/c3qB660
https://ibb.co/ZdWdqZK
https://ibb.co/Sstvq9R
https://ibb.co/ZgknndR

 

As mentioned, the device redirects just fine if testing on a Windows endpoint device. I believe the issue here is specific to the Workspace app for Chrome OS. There are many forum posts and articles on the lack of USB device types for redirection. If you view the changelog for Workspace for Chrome OS, you’ll find very little feature enhancements for USB redirection, which tells me that perhaps this is a compatibility issue.

 

If we do NOT whitelist the Lifecam webcam, then it will be automatically redirected and use the Citrix HDX Audio instead. Funny enough, this allows the microphone to work inside a Citrix session and this can be verified by testing it on sites such as https://www.onlinemictest.com/. However, this only works for microphone, not for the webcam function. This isn’t the true/full/proper redirection of the device though, as the device is seen as “Citrix HDX Audio”, rather than seen as “Microsoft Lifecam”. We need to present the device directly to the Citrix session in order to be able to select in softphone applications, e.g. as the default communications device in Skype, etc. To present the device directly to the Citrix session, we have to whitelist it in Google Admin Console, which I have discussed above already.

 

We have tried this on a Chromebook and a Chrome box. They are fully up to date. There are no restrictions applied to these devices, they are both under the admin group in Google Admin Console (see one of the screenshot links above).

 

The latest Workspace for Chrome is installed.

 

The VDA build is 7.15 CU1. I'm aware there are newer builds, but I don't think this is a server side issue, as this is working fine for devices redirect from Windows AND keyboards can be redirected from ChromeOS, as well as some USB flash-drives. We cannot simply just upgrade 7.15 to CU4 or newer, due to various internal reasons.

 

We have raised a case with Citrix already, but just wondering if anyone can help.

 

[Madhura Keshava Ummettuguli]

Hi Katrina,

 

Please try using webcam redirection instead of USB redirection to redirect Microsoft Lifecam.

 

Steps:

1) Disable auto usb redirection (do not redirect the device from toolbar) 

To disable auto usb redirection, set chromeAppPreferences in web.config file on the storefront to the below value

chromeAppPreferences  ='{"features":{" autoUsbDisable ":true}}'

2) Restart the citrix workspace app and insert the webcam

3) Launch a desktop session and try to access camera from a 32 bit application within desktop session 

 

Regards,

Madhura

[Ricky Liu]

Hi Madhura,

 

Thanks for your reply. Could you confirm if this article is outdated? It would seem so, as it hasn't been updated since 2016?

https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX200825

 

In the article, it recommends using USB Redirection (Citrix Policy). Is this now incorrect?

 

Furthermore, the Lifecam is just one of the devices we're trying to redirect. The Jabra headset devices, or USB speakers, cannot be redirected. The webcam redirection fix won't apply to them.

 

Also, could you please link me the documentation that highlights "autoUsbDisable"? I can't find this referenced anywhere.

 

 

 

Update:

 

Doesn't seem to work. The default value is this:

chromeAppPreferences="" />

 

I've tried this:

chromeAppPreferences='{"features":{" autoUsbDisable ":true}}' />

chromeAppPreferences='{"features":{"autoUsbDisable":true}}' />

chromeAppPreferences="{'features':{' autoUsbDisable ':true}}" />

chromeAppPreferences="{'features':{'autoUsbDisable':true}}" />

 

I presume that the Lifecam will still need to be whitelisted in Google Admin Console yes? I have tried whitelisting and de-whitelisting and still the same result.

 

Also, I found this, played around with the different configurations for web.config and they applied fine, but still can't get the webcam to work:

https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX229141

 

 

[Madhura Keshava Ummettuguli]

Hi,

 

"autoUsbDisable" setting has not been documented yet. We will soon be adding it to the documentation.

 

After disabling auto usb redirection, once you insert the webcam, you should not try to redirect Microsoft Lifecam via the toolbar (Do not click "add" in the USB dialog). This is to allow the Multimedia Virtual Channel to redirect the web cam instead of the USB virtual channel.

 

On 5/28/2019 at 11:38 AM, Katrina Cruz said:

it will be automatically redirected and use the Citrix HDX Audio instead

What we are trying to get working is the quoted behavior to be detected as Citrix HDX Web Camera instead of Citrix HDX Audio.

 

If you are using Skype, please ensure it is the 32-bit version. In Skype, once we click "Video Preview" button shown in above screenshot,  we see that the Microsoft Lifecam gets redirected to the session. Please try with a Chromebox first so that the in built webcam of Chromebook does not interfere with Microsoft Lifecam getting redirected.

 

Can you please share your email id? So that we can have further discussions about the other devices you are trying to redirect as well. 

 

Regards,
Madhura

[Ricky Liu]

Thanks for the reply.

 

I'm slightly confused about the setup. In order to get the device to show up as "Ctrix HDX ...", then it needs to be removed from the whitelist from Google Admin Console (see KB article - https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX200825). This is not a true/full redirection of the device.

 

If I were to whitelist the device in Google Admin Console, then that allows me to select and ADD the device under the Devices list (i.e the USB dialog).

 

You can't have both types of redirections happening at the same time, which sounds like is what you are suggesting? If I don't select the device in the USB dialog, that's fine, but this means the device must have been whitelisted in order to populate itself in the USB dialog. Therefore, you can't also get it to show up as "Citrix HDX ..." within Citrix either, you can only achieve that if the device is NOT whitelisted.

 

I have tried de-whitelisting and I can't see the device as Citrix HDX Web Camera. I'm trying to use this for the app "IPFX" and for Microsoft Teams Web.

 

I've also tried using one of those webcam online test sites to see if it can detect the webcam. It's only picking up as Citrix HDX Audio.

 

Lastly, did you want me to PM you my email? I've actually raised a case with Citrix already, but I'm not hearing back from them. I'm actually getting somewhere thanks to your help, so it is much appreciated.

 

 

Update:

 

I can see "Citrix HDX Web Camera" and I can see it in the Preview just before I start a SFB video call. But as soon as the call is started, I don't see the camera anymore and SFB is laggy. Could be a separate issue though.

 

I can also see websites like https://www.onlinemictest.com/webcam-test/ and Teams Web detecting the camera as "Citrix HDX Web Camera". However, they cannot use the camera, so it seems to be limited to win32 x86 apps?

 

The problem is, SFB is being replaced by Teams, so using SFB is a no-go. Also, Teams desktop client is unusable in a Citrix environment. There are a lot of articles on this. Performance is terrible, among other things. We've actually done a proof of concept trial of Teams for desktop a while ago and it wasn't good. The HDX optimization pack for Teams desktop isn't out yet, as far as I know. So currently, our choice is just going with Teams for Web.

[Madhura Keshava Ummettuguli]

My suggestion was to try by de-white listing the device in Google Admin Console and it should show up as Citrix HDX Web Camera.

 

Yes, you can PM me your email and we can get a mail chain going for this issue.

 

Regards,

Madhura

[Santosh Sahu1709152162]

In general using Webcam redirection is preferred instead of USB.

 

To redirect webcam over USB we need to whitelist both on ChromeOS and also set ALLOW rule for webcam classes on the VDA.

However even if you get it to work, the performance won't be great as video content would be sent as raw USB packets and would use lot of bandwidth.

 

Unfortunately with webcam redirection there is a limitation with 64-bit apps. https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX223199 
This is fixed in 7.17 and above VDA as mentioned in the article.

 

One  more caveat: Webcam redirection uses two codecs - Theora and H.264 (This is the reason it gives better experience than USB). Which one is chosen depends on the client capability. To get 64-bit working you would need client to support H.264 even if you have latest VDA.

On Chrome OS, Workspace app will try to use H.264 if available on a device else it will fallback to theora. This can be confirmed in logs.

 

Finally, if you are able to get webcam working, the default frameRate is just 4. You can change this using web.config.

Use '{"nacl":{"video":{"config":{"frameRate":16}}}}'
(When copy pasting paste into notepad and see if quotes got copied correctly. Use a number that looks acceptable)

 

[Brian Johnson1709155178]

On 5/31/2019 at 3:25 PM, Santosh Sahu1709152162 said:

 

Finally, if you are able to get webcam working, the default frameRate is just 4. You can change this using web.config.

Use '{"nacl":{"video":{"config":{"frameRate":16}}}}'
(When copy pasting paste into notepad and see if quotes got copied correctly. Use a number that looks acceptable)

 

 

I have added my two devices in the Chrome Admin console to the USB white list and the devices are detected locally on the Chromebook

 

I have not made the following modifications yet:

1. To disable auto usb redirection, set chromeAppPreferences in web.config file on the storefront to the below value chromeAppPreferences  ='{"features":{" autoUsbDisable ":true}}'
2. Restart the citrix workspace app and insert the webcam
3. Launch a desktop session and try to access camera from a 32 bit application within desktop session 

I am able to add a local USB printer without issue, but the Webcam gets stuck on Connecting...

 

 

 

Has anyone confirmed that modifying the web.config in Storefront to autoUSBdisable for chromeAppPreferences is working? 

[Ricky Liu]

Hi Brian,

 

The suggested fix does NOT work. We've raised this case with Citrix and they've identified this as a bug with ChromeOS. Citrix has raised a case with the Google team and working with them on this one. It has been a good 2 months since I've had any actual real update from them. Every week or so, I'll just get the same reply that this is still being investigated by Google/Citrix...

[Brantley Larew]

Hi.   

 

Just curious if you ever got ChromeOS webcam to work or heard back from Google/Citrix on this @Ricky Liu? 

[Luke Sonstegard1709161951]

Also curious as I'm having similar issues.

[Greg Fox1709163042]

I'm having a similar issue if anyone has an update. 

 

I am able to redirect some devices, like a USB C video adapter, but our identrust fails to connect. 

 

I have whitelisted the identrust, which fails, while the USB C Video Adapter connected without a whitelist value. 

[Greg Fox1709163042]

I found the issue. With my setup, we had to whitelist on the citrix side under policies. Once we whitelisted the Identrust HID device, redirection is working as expected. 

 

I did not have to whitelist in Google although I did try that. 

 

I also enabled the toolbar, but this was not required. The only piece that I found was needed to get this functional was whitelisting on the policies of Citrix.

 

We are running Citrix in KIOSK mode with chromebook's.