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How to connect a USB device to Shadow

Updated 

10 months ago

Shadow can support basic mice, keyboards, gamepads, and many other USB devices using our simple Plug and Play feature. For high-performance USB devices—such as webcams, virtual reality headsets, racing wheels & pedals, flight sticks, or capture cards—we suggest enabling USB Redirection.

Important:

  • USB Redirection is currently supported on Windows and macOS operating systems.

  • High-performance USB devices may be incompatible with Shadow or require an upload speed between 50 - 100Mb/s, in particular webcams, virtual reality headsets, racing wheels and pedals, flight controllers, or other game controllers.

  • We recommend using an Ethernet cable for potentially faster or more stable upload speeds.

  • Your device must be natively compatible with Windows and the device you're using.

  • When a device is forwarded to Shadow, it is automatically disconnected from the local device. It is not possible to use your devices from your local computer and your Shadow at the same time.

  • If you have a Shadow PC with Windows Server 2019 and want to connect a controller to it, we invite you to read the following article: How to connect a controller with Windows Server 2019?

See more instructions below:

Plug and Play (PnP)

Some USB devices, including PlayStation and Xbox controllers, can be used once they're plugged in. This is commonly referred to as Plug and Play (PnP).
Plug your USB devices into your computer then start your Shadow. Shadow will automatically forward these devices. If your device isn't working, try USB Redirection.

USB Redirection

If you want Shadow to detect or improve compatibility with your mouse, keyboard, or any other USB device, we invite you to install the drivers like this:

  1. In your Shadow launcher, go into the settings "icons8-settings-24.png" > "Controllers & USB" and click on the button next to "Use my USB devices on my Shadow":

    USB_setting_en.gif

  2. Follow the instructions according to your operating system:

    • On icons8-windows-client-24.png Windows, allow Shadow to install drivers on your computer if you want. These drivers allow you to connect your devices to Shadow using your network.

    • On rebranding-ios.svg MacOS, go to the Apple Menu > "System Preferences", click on "Security and Privacy", then on "General". Click on "Allow" at the bottom right on the new window.

      On macOS Catalina, some users may experience a loss of control when Shadow launches in full screen. If this happens, stop the Shadow application, check the security and privacy settings described above, and then restart Shadow.

  3. On your Shadow, open the Quick Menu

    To access the Quick Menu, once Shadow starts, click on the Shadow logo quickmenu.png located at the top of the screen, or press the Quick Menu shortcut:

    Windows : ALT + WIN + O
    macOS : ALT + CMD + O

    ​

  4. Go to the icons8-1st-20.png "Controllers & USB" section, then click icons8-circled-2-20.png the box next to the device you want to forward to Shadow

    micro_usb_en.png

FAQs

If you've enabled USB Redirection, but your device isn't appearing in the Quick Menu, we recommend trying the solutions below:

      1. Plug your device into a USB 3.0 port

      2. Use an Ethernet cable or a 5GHz WiFi connection

      3. See if your device manufacturer has additional drivers you need to install

      4. Shut down Shadow using the icons8-windows-client-24.png Start menu, the Quick Menu, or the Help Help_icon.png section of the Shadow launcher.

      5. Restart your computer

      6. Go to the Launcher Settings "icons8-settings-24.png" > "Controllers & USB" then click on "Uninstall drivers". Wait 5 minutes, then install them again by clicking "Install drivers". Finally, restart your local computer.

      7. Go to the Launcher Settings "icons8-settings-24.png" > General > Advanced settings > Reset settings, then click "Reset".

You've forwarded your device in the USB peripherals menu, but Shadow does not respond to any input.
It's possible the device is not yet compatible with Shadow. High latency, low upload speeds, and packet loss can also prevent your device from connecting to Shadow.
See how to test your connection for any signs of these issues.

You've tried to check the box next to your device in the Quick Menu, but it refuses to check.

In this case, we invite you to reinstall the USB drivers:

Go to the Launcher Settings "icons8-settings-24.png" > "Controllers & USB" then click on "Uninstall drivers". Wait 5 minutes, then install them again by clicking "Install drivers". Finally, restart your local computer.

You forwarded the device from the Quick Menu. Although the device seems
to work at the beginning, it then disappears from the Quick Menu and does not work anymore.

Confirm all of your devices are displayed in the Quick Menu and that they have been forwarded.

Otherwise, we suggest you:

  • Unplug the USB device from your local computer, then retry to connect it.

  • Shut down Shadow, and in the launcher > Settings icons8-settings-24.png> "Controllers & USB", and click "Clear redirected devices list".

Still have questions after reading this article?

Feel free to check out our other articles.

You can also contact Shadow support via our form.

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