How to Use
a Game Controller
over a Remote Desktop

Olga Weis Dec 8, 2022

In this article, we will demonstrate how to use the remote desktop protocol for gaming with a USB-connected gamepad. We’re going to show you how to connect a game controller to an RDP session using a third-party software application and alternately, with an RDP plugin.

Contents

Redirecting a Gamepad over a Remote Desktop
1.1 How to Connect a Game Controller over RDP
Using RDPGamepad to Connect an Xbox Controller in an RDP Session

How to Redirect a Game Controller
to an RDP Session

Many gamers are faced with the problem of having home computers that cannot handle the processing demands of new games. To get around this problem, they engage in remote gaming and use a more powerful machine to play their games.

While gaming over a remote desktop connection solves the original problem, it introduces another issue. You might not like the controller options available to you on the remote desktop. You might be limited to trying to play your favorite racing game using a mouse or keyboard, putting you at a distinct disadvantage versus other gamers.

If you want to use your Xbox One control remotely in an RDP session, you need to use a dedicated software tool. A versatile solution for connecting to controllers using the RDP protocol is USB Network Gate, also known as RDP USB Redirector.

The software is installed on the computer with a physical connection to the game controller, which will be referred to as the RDP client. You also need to install the application on the RDP server, which is the computer that will control the Xbox One remotely.

USB Network Gate redirects the USB device between the two machines. The result is that the user on the remote desktop can use the gamepad with the same functionality as a locally attached device.

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Using USB Network Gate to Connect a Game Controller over RDP

1

Download and install USB Network Gate on the computer that is connected to the gamepad and the machine that will access it remotely.

2

Launch the application on the RDP client and open the “Local USB devices” tab. Locate the game controller that will be redirected over RDP and click the “Share” button next to its name.

3

After sharing the controller, start USB Network Gate on the RDP server. Go to the “Remote USB devices” tab to view the devices that are available to be connected to the remote desktop. Select the gamepad and hit the “Connect” button.

4

It’s really that easy! You now can set up remote control for PC games using the RDP protocol and a gamepad connected to your local computer.

Watch our video tutorial:

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Using RDPGamepad to Connect an Xbox Controller in an RDP Session

RDPGamepad is a plugin developed by Microsoft that enables you to use a game controller in a remote desktop session. After installing this plugin on the local machine, you can use a connected game controller over RDP.

The RDPGamepad plugin transfers input data over a Remote Desktop Virtual Channel. The RDPGamepadViGEm file then takes the gamepad data and sends it to a virtual game controller on the remote desktop. The following steps show you how to use an Xbox controller on a PC over an RDP connection.

Download the latest release of the plugin’s client installer to your local computer. Install the plugin by double-clicking on RDPGamepadClientInstall-{version}.exe and following the on-screen prompts.

Perform the following two steps on each remote computer that you may want to use to control a gamepad over RDP.

Go to the ViGEmBus release page and download the latest release of the ViGEmBus drivers. Double-click on the ViGEmBus_Setup_{version}.exe file and follow the instructions to install the driver.
Download the most recent version of the receiver installer. Install I by double-clicking on RDPGamepadReceiverInstall-{version}.exe and following the on-screen directions.

Using the plugin
The plugin is loaded automatically when Remote Desktop starts. When an RDP session is initiated, the receiver is automatically connected to the plugin. After the connection is established, a virtual Xbox 360 controller is connected to the RDP session.

Plugin details
The Remote Desktop plugin is part of the RDPGamepadPlugin project. It reads local XInput data from a gamepad and transmits it over a Remote Desktop Virtual Channel. Then the RDPGamepadViGEm project takes the data from the virtual channel and uses the ViGEmBus kernel mode driver to present it through a virtual Xbox 360 controller. Communication with the drivers is accomplished using the ViGEmClient SDK.

If you want to learn more about the plugin and download the code, go to the tool’s GitHub page here.

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Requirements

Requirements: OS: Windows 7 SP1/8/8.1/10/11; Windows Server 2008 R2/2012/2012 R2/2016/2019/2022
Architectures: x86, x64, ARM64, 9.25MB free space

Latest version

Latest version: v10.0.2450, Released 15 Jan, 2022 Release notes

How to Use a Game Controller over a Remote Desktop

How to Redirect a Game Controller to an RDP Session

Using USB Network Gate to Connect a Game Controller over RDP

Using RDPGamepad to Connect an Xbox Controller in an RDP Session

How to Use
a Game Controller
over a Remote Desktop

How to Redirect a Game Controller
to an RDP Session