When you connect your USB device to a remote computer that is shared between two or more users, you may want to make the device unavailable for others, especially if the device contains sensitive data.
If you need to restrict access to a USB device, e.g. a USB flash drive, 3D mouse, web camera, audio card, etc., when it’s connected to a shared computer, you can isolate the device with the help of USB Network Gate. The program lets you make the device available for access only in your current session or only from your local, domain, or Microsoft user account.
USB Network Gate offers the device isolation option that allows limiting access to a particular USB device based on your session ID or user account information.
In order to utilize the device isolation functionality, you should install the USB Network Gate Device Isolation Components on USB Network Gate Client, the computer to which USB devices are connected remotely. To do this, check the box “Device Isolation Components” when installing the software on the client machine:
| Note: There’s no need to install the Device Isolation Components on USB Network Gate Server, the computer to which USB devices are connected physically. |
The USB Network Gate Device Isolation Components include the following files:
Device isolation driver (sessapart.sys);
Dynamic link libraries (sessapart32.dll and sessapart64.dll).
Per-session USB device isolation
USB Network Gate allows you to isolate your USB device when it’s connected to a remote shared computer so that the device is not visible and accessible in other user sessions.
To isolate your device from other sessions on a remote computer, take the following steps:
Install USB Network Gate on your local computer to which the USB device is connected directly. This computer is referred to as USB Network Gate Server;
Start the program and open the “Local USB devices” tab;
Find the required device in the USB device list and click “Share” next to the device’s name;
Now that the USB device has been shared on USB Network Gate Server, install the software on the Terminal Server (or the computer from which you want to access the shared device remotely). This computer is referred to as USB Network Gate Client;
Note: Be sure to install the USB Network Gate Device Isolation Components on the client PC. |
Open the “Remote USB devices” tab and find the device in the device list;
Select the “Connect for this session” option from the drop-down menu:
Or select Connect devices > Connect for this session from the main menu:
Note: The Auto-reconnect option does not work for the connection of this type. |
Once the device is connected, the device status will indicate the name of the session in which it is accessible:
When you end the session, the device automatically disconnects from the client computer.
Note: In case multiple sessions for the same user are run, a USB device connected in one session will not be available in all other sessions of this user. |
Per-user USB device isolation
You can isolate a USB device from other users when connecting the device to a remote machine. The isolated USB device will be available for access on the remote computer only in your user account.
To enable device isolation, do as follows:
Repeat steps 1-5 mentioned above;
Select the “Connect for this user” option from the drop-down menu:
Or select Connect devices > Connect for this user from the main menu:
Once the device is connected, the device status will indicate the name of the user that is allowed to access it:
| Note: If you select the “Connect for this session” or “Connect for this user” option on a client computer that doesn’t have the USB Network Gate Device Isolation Components installed, you will be prompted to install them to be able to access the device isolation functionality: |
| Note: The list of USB devices supported by the device isolation feature includes (but is not limited to) devices of the following types: USB flash drives, external hard drives, 3D mice, webcams, printers, scanners, audio cards, and USB microphones. |