Help Rdp agressive about redirecting a controller

Question

Hi i recently started using rdp to play a game while i play a different game on my normal pc,however when i connect the controller to my pc it also connects it to the rdp but when i disconnect it or disable it via device manager on rdp it disconnect and or disables it on my normal pc,ive been trying to find a solution myself for a while but always come up short,ive tried disabling device manager and enabling do not allow device redirection on group policy editor but both have not worked for me.Ive also tried unchecking everything in rdp connection.Ive also tried editing the registry editor,ive also tried .rdp connection file,as for using parsec,its confusing so id like to avoid it if possible

Answer 1

Hi omar,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

You've been creative with your setup, and you're definitely not alone in facing this frustrating issue with Remote Desktop Protocol aggressively redirecting your game controller. There's nothing that you did wrong — RDP just isn’t built for this specific use case, and Windows doesn’t offer native support for isolating controllers. Here are some recommendations:

1 - Use a virtual machine instead of RDP:

If your goal is to run a second game in isolation, consider using Hyper-V or VMware Workstation with GPU passthrough (if supported). This way, the controller stays on the host, and the VM won’t see it unless you explicitly pass it through.

2 - Use a different remote access tool:

I know you mentioned avoiding Parsec because it’s confusing, but it’s one of the few tools that lets you control exactly which devices are passed through. Other alternatives are:

• Moonlight/Sunshine
• Steam Remote Play (if both games are on Steam)

3 - Use a USB device isolation tool

There are third-party tools that can block specific USB devices from being visible to RDP sessions or isolate them per user session. However, they may require paid software or scripting, e.g. USB Network Gate, FlexiHub, RdpGamepad Plugin, etc.

RDP is generally not optimized for gaming. If you're open to alternatives, third-party tools offer better performance and device isolation. I really wish I could say there’s a built-in fix in Windows, but I think it's better to be direct: there isn’t one that works reliably (as you also already tried it yourself). Thanks for your understanding.

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