How to set up audio/video communication?

Thinstuff Support
2022-07-19 16:07

Sometimes Voice-over-IP (VoIP) applications may not play well with XP/VS Server out of the box. More specifically, you may find that the audio and microphone from your local PC is not routed through to Discord, Skype, or Zoom.  The redirection for audio and video must be configured or enabled correctly. The client-side part is covered here.

Configuration check in the remote session

1. In the microphone privacy settings (Settings -> Privacy ->Microphone), enable the "Allow apps to use my microphone" option.

 

2. In camera privacy settings (Settings -> Privacy -> Camera), enable the "Allow apps to use my camera" option.

 

3. The input and output devices selected in the client operating system are available within the RDP session on XP/VS Server under Control Panel -> All Control Panel Items ->Device Manager as "Remote Audio":

  

Check enabled group policies

Sometimes local microphone and video access is disabled by default due to security reasons. In this case, you need to manually enable audio and video playback on your XP/VS Server instance via group policies.

To do this, open the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) on the server and navigate to:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop Services\Remote Desktop Session Host\Device and Resource Redirection
Settings Status
 Do not allow video redirection   Disabled 
 Do not allow redirection for supported Plug & Play devices    Disabled 
 Allow redirection of audio and video playback   Enabled 
 Allow redirection of audio recording   Enabled 


Please note that updating group policies (when group policies become active) depends on several factors. Also, configured domain policies may overwrite your local computer group policies in case your machine is joined to a domain. For more details, see the Microsoft documentation:

 Disable Audio Sandbox

Further, if you are using a modern browser, you might need to disable the Audio Sandbox as following:

Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/i-cant-play-audio-remote-desktop-connection

Chrome: https://cloud.google.com/docs/chrome-enterprise/policies/?policy=AudioSandboxEnabled

Edge: https://admx.help/?Category=EdgeChromium&Policy=Microsoft.Policies.Edge::AudioSandboxEnabled

 

Tags: audio redirection windows, audio sandbox, chrome audio, edge audio, microhphone input, rdp audio not working, rdp audio not working, rdp microphone quality, rdp microphone quality, remote desktop audio mac, remote desktop audio not working, skype, video playback, zoom rdp