Windows Remote Desktop Audio Redirect to BOTH Local and Remote

Question

I have a headless Windows 11 machine used to run ham radio software. This software uses quite a few sound drivers for various application purposes, to redirect audio to other application (e.g. sound out from the radio to input to another application).

If I run the macOS version of Remote Desktop and configure it with "Play Sound On Remote Computer", then the software works as designed.

However there are times when I want certain audio output to come to my remote macOS laptop to run the radio software remotely and talk to people around the world. In this case, if I configure the Remote Desktop software as "Play Sound on Remote Computer", then yes windows system audio will default to be redirected to my laptop, BUT ALL OTHER SOUND DRIVERS ARE DISABLED AND DISAPPEAR. The ham radio software from FlexRadio (SmartSDR) requires its sound drivers to be available as installed for proper function.

So it appears that Remote Desktop disables all local sound drivers if you select "Play Sound on Remote Computer."

Question: Can I have it both ways? Can I have Remote Desktop be one of many input/output sound sources/targets controlled by the sound control panel, just as if it were one of many other input/output devices? Can I get it to be one of many, instead of the single sound input/output device?

Thanks!
pat

Answer 1

Pat, you are correct. If you select "Remote audio playback — Play on this computer," then the "Remote Audio" driver kicks in on the host machine, and it disables all other audio devices connected to the host and makes them disappear. I am pretty sure RDP is designed this way on purpose, and there is simply no way to hear the host's audio on both machines at the same time. I beat my head against the wall with all of the registry tweaks and group policy settings that you see online about RDP audio, for literally a couple of years, to figure out whether there is a way to tell RDP to allow microphones attached to a host machine to continue to be visible to applications running on the host while at the same time sending their output to me remotely, but there isn't any. To do that, you need to switch to another product such as AnyDesk.

I came up with a workaround, however. If you are still following this question, let me know and I can describe it. It involves setting up a second computer next to your host, sending your host's audio to it, and then logging into both remote machines at the same time using two separate instances of RDP on your local client. You watch the video on one of them, and you listen to the audio on the other one.

Jerry

Answer 2

I found this old thread when I had the same question. I've solved the "remote ham radio station audio" in two different ways: 1) isn't free: on the remote computer install "SoundWire" by GeorgieLabs and then install the matching app on an Android device and you can listen to the remote machine's audio on the Android device. or 2) free: Install VLC on the local and remote computers and stream the audio from the remote to the local.