Forum Discussion

cgallimore_1748's avatar
cgallimore_1748
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
Jan 12, 2016
Solved

Remote Desktop Resources - printer redirection

I have looked around and haven't found much about printer redirection with the F5's Remote Desktop Resource. When you launch one of the resources from the WebTop you can see the printers are redirect...
application delivery
BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)
remote desktop services
  • Lucas_Thompson_'s avatar
    Lucas_Thompson_
    Jan 12, 2016

    Unfortunately 3rd party DLL over RDP virtual channels can't work with APM's current RDP implementation. This means you can't use Screwdrivers or Easy Print.

     

    Eventually the current mechanism of ActiveX-RDP will be replaced with a MUCH better one that supports MSRDP Applications and Desktops using the native MSTSC in any web browser. The release to support this should come out in mid to late 2016.

     

Lucas_Thompson_'s avatar
Lucas_Thompson_
Historic F5 Account
Jan 12, 2016

Unfortunately 3rd party DLL over RDP virtual channels can't work with APM's current RDP implementation. This means you can't use Screwdrivers or Easy Print.

 

Eventually the current mechanism of ActiveX-RDP will be replaced with a MUCH better one that supports MSRDP Applications and Desktops using the native MSTSC in any web browser. The release to support this should come out in mid to late 2016.

 

  • cgallimore_1748's avatar
    cgallimore_1748
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Jan 13, 2016
    Thanks for the reply Lucas. I look forward to seeing this update. Just wish it would come sooner. :)
  • Baddogsettle_16's avatar
    Baddogsettle_16
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Dec 06, 2016

    Any update on this release?

     

    I am running 12.1.1 HF1. I have an RDP VS configured to load balance 3389 to multiple backend Microsoft RDS servers. I then have a VS to present the webtop and Remote Desktop profile that points to the RDP VS. This works great except for printing.

     

    When I use my RDP client through the RDP VS (bypassing the webtop VS), I can print. When I browser through the Webtop VS, connect to the Remote Desktop profile, printing does not work. I do have Drives and Printers enabled in my Remote Desktop profile.

     

    Mike S.

     

  • The-messenger_1's avatar
    The-messenger_1
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Dec 12, 2017

    Anything new on this? I have the same issue. Do we have MSRDP support now, in 12.1?

     

  • Lucas_Thompson_'s avatar
    Lucas_Thompson_
    Historic F5 Account
    Dec 12, 2017

    Starting with 13.0 there is built-in native RDP support for all client platforms.

     

    Basically what happens is that APM behaves as a RD Gateway. The client dowloads an .RDP file and then the browser hands that off to the Remote Desktop client.

     

    The APM Operations Guide has a tabular comparison of all the RDP access mechanisms.