Using External Devices

You can use keyboards, displays, microphones, and other external devices with remote desktops and published applications.

International Keyboards

When using non-English keyboards and locales, you must use certain settings in your client system, browser, and remote desktop. Some languages require you to use an IME (input method editor) on the remote desktop.

With the correct local settings and input methods installed, you can input characters for the following languages: English, Japanese, French, German, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Korean, and Spanish.

Required Input Language Settings
Language	Input Language on the Local Client System	IME Required on the Local Client System?	Browser and Input Language on the Remote Desktop	IME Required on the Remote Desktop?
English	English	No	English	No
French	French	No	French	No
German	German	No	German	No
Chinese (Simplified)	Chinese (Simplified)	English Input Mode	Chinese (Simplified)	Yes
Chinese (Traditional)	Chinese (Traditional)	English Input Mode	Chinese (Traditional)	Yes
Japanese	Japanese	English Input Mode	Japanese	Yes
Korean	Korean	English Input Mode	Korean	Yes
Spanish	Spanish	No	Spanish	No

Shortcut Key Combinations

You can enable certain settings that affect keyboard behavior for certain key combinations.

Web browsers allow some key presses and key combinations to be sent to both the client system and the destination system. For other keys and key combinations, the input processing occurs locally and not on the destination system. The key combinations that work on your system depend on the browser software, the client operating system, and the language settings.

Without certain settings, the following keys and keyboard combinations often do not work in remote desktops.

Windows key combinations
Alt+Backspace

Note: To input Ctrl+Alt+Del, use the Send Ctrl+Alt+Delete toolbar button at the top of the sidebar.
Caps Lock+modifier_key (such as Alt or Shift).

To simulate pressing the Windows key in desktops, activate the corresponding shortcut mapping as described in Configure Keyboard Shortcut Mappings section.

For Windows client devices, activate the Control+Win mapping.
For Mac client devices, activate the Control+Command mapping.
For Chrome client devices, activate the Control+Search mapping.

Note: If you are using a Mac, you can map the Command key to the Windows Ctrl key when you use the key combinations to select, copy, and paste text. To enable these features, activate the corresponding shortcut mapping as described in Configure Keyboard Shortcut Mappings section.

Windows key combinations do not work for published applications. These key combinations do work for Windows Server 2019/2022 and Windows 11 remote desktops and published desktops.

Note: For a list of the default keyboard shortcuts for your client OS, refer to your client OS documentation. For a list of the default Windows shortcuts, refer to the Microsoft Windows website ( http://windows.microsoft.com).

Configure Keyboard Shortcut Mappings

You can customize how remote desktops and published applications interpret keyboard shortcuts entered on the client device by creating keyboard shortcut mappings. When you create a keyboard shortcut mapping, you map a keyboard shortcut on the client device to a Windows keyboard shortcut that triggers the associated action in the remote desktop or application.

A keyboard shortcut consists of one or more key modifiers, such as Control and Shift, and a key code. A key code can be any key on your keyboard. When you press a mapped keyboard shortcut on your client keyboard, the corresponding Windows keyboard shortcut and action occurs in the remote desktop or application.

Video

To get a quick introduction to keyboard shortcut mappings, watch this three-minute video.

Keyboard Shortcuts in Omnissa Horizon Client for Chrome

Considerations for Mapping Operating System Keyboard Shortcuts

Many operating systems include default keyboard shortcuts. For example, Command+Tab and Command+Space bar are common keyboard shortcuts on Mac systems and Ctrl+Esc and Alt+Enter are common keyboard shortcuts on Windows systems. If you attempt to map one of these operating system (OS) keyboard shortcuts in Horizon Client, the behavior of the shortcut on the client device and in the remote desktop or published application can be unpredictable.

Before you create a keyboard shortcut mapping, review the following considerations:

The physical layout of keys on a keyboard can differ depending on the language of the keyboard. To ensure that keyboard shortcut mappings register correctly with Horizon Client, use the Language Setting to specify the language and layout of your keyboard.
If you map a keyboard shortcut, how the shortcut behaves on the client device depends on how the OS manages the shortcut. For example, the keyboard shortcut might trigger an action in the OS and Horizon Client might not respond to the shortcut. Alternatively, the keyboard shortcut might trigger an action in both the OS and Horizon Client.
Before you map an OS keyboard shortcut in Horizon Client, try to deactivate the shortcut in the client OS, if possible. Not all OS keyboard shortcuts can be deactivated.
If you map a Windows keyboard shortcut in Horizon Client, the mapped action occurs when you use the shortcut in the remote desktop or published application.
Shortcut mappings that include the Windows key are deactivated by default in the Horizon Client Key Mapping dialog box. To use one of these mappings, you must activate it by selecting its Open check box in the Key Mapping dialog box. These shortcuts are included with the mapping feature by default and cannot be deleted.
Each shortcut mapping applies per user connected from a specific client OS, but not across devices running different OSes. For example, a mapping for an origin Mac shortcut takes effect for a user whether they are running a Chrome browser on Mac device 1 or a Firefox browser on Mac device 2. However, the mapping has no effect if the same user connects from a browser on a Windows device.

Create Keyboard Shortcut Mappings

Follow these steps to configure keyboard shortcut mappings.

Connect to a server and click the Settings toolbar button in the upper-right corner of the desktop and application selector window.

If you have an active session running, you can also access Settings by clicking the Open Menu button at the top of the sidebar.
In the Settings window, find Keyboard Setting, and click Set.
In the Keyboard Setting window, specify the language of your keyboard.

a. Find Language Setting, and click Set.

b. In the dialog box that appears, select the language and keyboard layout combination that matches your device, and click OK.

In the Keyboard Setting window, configure the keyboard shortcut mappings.

a. Find Key Mapping Setting, and click Set.

b. In the Key Mapping dialog box, configure the keyboard shortcut mappings.

Action	Procedure
Delete a keyboard shortcut mapping	Select the mapping to delete and click the minus (-) button.
Add a keyboard shortcut mapping	Note: Certain rules and limitations can apply to mappings. See the descriptions in the next section of this article. Click the plus (+) button. Under the From: section, specify the client keyboard shortcut sequence by selecting one or more keyboard modifiers and typing a key code in the text box. The From: field shows the client keyboard shortcut that you specified. Under the To: section, specify the corresponding Windows keyboard shortcut sequence by selecting one or more keyboard modifiers and typing a key code in the text box. The To: field shows the Windows keyboard shortcut that you specified. Click Add to save your changes. The keyboard shortcut mapping that you created appears activated by default in the Key Mapping dialog box (the Open check box next to the mapping is selected).
Modify a keyboard shortcut mapping	Click the Edit button next to the mapping and make your changes to the From: and To: keyboard shortcut sequences. Click Update to save your changes.
Activate/deactivate a keyboard shortcut mapping	Select/deselect the Open check box next to the mapping in the Key Mapping dialog box.
Activate/deactivate language-specific key mappings	Select/deselect the Enable Language Specific Key Mappings check box. When you select this check box, Horizon Client recognizes the default key mappings associated with the keyboard language that you specified.
Restore the default mappings	Click Restore default. Any changes that you made to the default keyboard shortcut mappings are deleted and the default mappings are restored.

Click Save to save your changes. Then click Close twice to exit the Settings screens.

Your changes to the keyboard shortcut mappings take effect immediately. You do not need to restart open remote desktops or published applications to make the changes take effect.

Shortcut Mapping Rules

The following rules and limitations apply to keyboard shortcut mappings.

An error message appears if you try to add a mapping that duplicates an existing mapping.
An error message appears if your origin and target shortcuts are identical.
You can map a single modifier key to another modifier key, for example, Command key to Control key. However, you cannot creating mappings between combinations of modifier keys.
You cannot map shortcuts that combine the Shift key with a letter key, for example, Shift+A.
An error message appears if you try to add a mapping without specifying an origin or target shortcut.
You cannot map combinations that include any of the LED keys: Caps Lock, Num Lock, Scroll Lock.
You cannot map a combination of keys to a modifier key.

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