Best USB over Ethernet software solutions

The best features of USB Network Gate

• The app allows you to seamlessly share and access USB devices over Ethernet not just on Windows but also on Mac, Linux, and Android OSes. Being cross-platform compatible, this program makes it possible to share USB peripherals between different platforms, for example, connect from Windows to Mac, from Mac to Linux, etc.


• USB Network Gate helps resolve the issues of accessing local USB devices from VMware, VMware ESX, Citrix XenDesktop and Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization apps.


• The solution lets you share USB over the Remote Desktop Protocol, making it simple to work with local USB devices in a remote session.


• USB Network Gate has the ability to compress traffic, which allows improving the data transfer speed and optimizes bandwidth usage.


• The app supports advanced 256-bit SSL encryption that guarantees the security of your communications when you share USB via Ethernet.

USB/IP - free software alternative

USB/IP project is designed to establish a general system for sharing USB peripherals over Ethernet network. This solution is free. Its mission is to convert USB I/O messages to IP packets for their further redirection to a required computer. What’s nice about the project is that you can use original USB device drivers and programs for remote USB peripherals. As for the weaknesses, USB/IP solution hasn't been updated for quite a long time and is recommended for experienced users rather than computer novices.

USB over Network

Another great tool for remote access to USB-based devices is USB over Network software. The utility works perfectly well on Windows and Linux operating systems. It gives you a way to connect to a USB peripheral even if it’s located miles away from you. With this application, you get an effective USB server auto-discovery feature which allows you to find USB servers installed in your local network without specifying their remote IP address.

FlexiHub

USB over Ethernet also supplies the user with a method of accessing USB devices over Ethernet. It accomplishes this by creating virtual copies of physical USB ports on remote machines that desire access to the USB equipment. When a device is connected to the physical port, FlexiHub connects this real interface with its network-attached virtual copy. Now the remote machine with the virtual port can access the device as if it were physically connected.

FlexiHub supports the Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android operating systems and cross-platform connectivity between any of the supported platforms is easily achieved. The tool also works with many virtual environments including ESX, VMWare, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenDesktop, and Windows Virtual PC. The tool offers users a simple and intuitive method to access USB over the Ethernet.

VirtualHere

VirtualHere is a handy app that eliminates you of the need to physically plug USB devices into your computer when you want to use them. With this solution, your valuable peripherals can be accessed remotely over a local network, the Internet or in the cloud. The app has a clean and friendly GUI and requires minimal effort to be installed. It’s compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, which is also a great advantage. Some other benefits you get with VirtualHere include a built-in VPN subscription service and a special version for network attached storages.

USB over Ethernet - KernelPro

USBDeviceShare

How to choose the best USB over Ethernet software?

Here are some of the most common criteria users take into account when selecting a solution to share USB over Ethernet:

1. The security of data transfer. Different software tools offer different levels of protection when redirecting USB data over the network. If you are going to share USB over Ethernet, you should make sure your USB over LAN application forwards your sensitive data over encrypted channels.

2. The software integration option. It’s important whether the solution can be utilized only as a standalone USB over Ethernet app or can be integrated into a custom product.

3. In a shared computer environment, use USB Network Gate to isolate any connected USB devices and prevent unauthorized access. With any USB peripheral device, whether it’s a USB drive, camera or audio card, you can manage access by specifying a session ID, or a specific user by Microsoft user account.

4. The price. There are free and paid USB over network apps.

If you are developing your own product and your goal is to add some basic USB sharing capabilities to your project, the free solution may be sufficient. However, if you are looking for some advanced USB redirection features like remote access to USB devices over RDP, forwarding of USB to a virtual environment or blade servers, etc. it would be wise to consider a paid application with a powerful feature set.

Now, let’s have a look at some of the most efficient software USB to Ethernet converters to date.