Overview

This article explains how to forward camera and microphone input — Real-Time Audio and Video (RTAV) — from the end user's device to the remote host through a Thinfinity Workspace RDP session. Enabling multimedia redirection turns a Workspace session into a fully collaborative environment, capable of running Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, and any other application that depends on local camera or microphone access.

RTAV configuration spans three layers: the remote host, the user's local device, and the Thinfinity Workspace portal. Skipping any of them — particularly the certificate requirements on the portal — will cause the camera or microphone to fail silently with no clear error message in the browser.

Prerequisites

Before starting, confirm that the following are in place:

• The Workspace Access Profile is configured for RDP. RTAV does not work over VNC or the native protocol.
• The Thinfinity Workspace Server is published over HTTPS with a valid, browser-trusted certificate. See Certificate requirements below — this is the most common cause of RTAV failing after every other step looks correct.
• H.264 is enabled in the Access Profile. H.264 is a requirement for video quality on RTAV. See How to Enable H264 in Thinfinity Workspace.
• The remote host is running Windows Server 2019/2022 with the Remote Desktop Services role, or Windows 10/11 with Remote Desktop enabled.

Configure the remote host

The configuration on the remote host depends on the operating system. Follow the section that matches your environment.

Windows Server 2019 / 2022 — install the RDS role

If the remote host is a Windows Server, install the Remote Desktop Services role:

1. From the search bar, type server manager and open the Server Manager.
2. Click Add roles and features.
   
3. On the Before You Begin page, click Next.
4. On the Installation Type page, make sure Role-based or feature-based installation is selected, then click Next.
   
5. On the Server Selection page, select the server where you want to install the role and click Next.
   
6. On the Server Roles page, select Remote Desktop Services and click Next.
   
7. On the Features page, click Next.
8. On the Remote Desktop Services page, click Next.
   
9. On Role Services, select Remote Desktop Session Host and Remote Desktop Virtualization Host, then click Next. When the Add Roles and Features Wizard dialog appears, click Add Features.
   
10. Click Install to add the Remote Desktop Services role.
    
11. When the installation completes, click Close and close Server Manager. A reboot may be required.

Windows 10 / 11 — enable Remote Desktop

If the remote host is a Windows 10 or 11 client, enable Remote Desktop instead:

1. Click Start and open Settings.
2. Scroll to Remote Desktop and open it.
   
3. Set the Remote Desktop switch to On and confirm. Close the window.

Configure Windows on both ends

Windows privacy controls block camera and microphone access at the OS level. These settings must be enabled on both the end user's device and the remote host. Skipping either side results in a session where the user appears to grant access but no audio or video is captured.

Allow camera access

1. In the search bar, type Camera privacy and select Camera privacy settings.
2. Set Camera access to On. If it is Off, click Change and toggle it.
   
3. Below, set Allow apps to access your camera and Allow desktop apps to access your camera to On as well.
   
4. Close the settings window. Repeat the same steps on the other side (end user or remote host).

Allow microphone access

1. In the search bar, type Microphone privacy and select Microphone privacy settings.
2. Set Microphone access to On. If it is Off, click Change and toggle it.
   
3. Below, set Allow apps to access your microphone and Allow desktop apps to access your microphone to On.
   
4. Close the settings window. Repeat the same steps on the other side.

Configure the browser on both ends

After the OS-level permissions are in place, the browser also has its own permission layer. The example below uses Google Chrome — Edge follows the same flow and Firefox is similar. Repeat on both the end user's device and the remote host.

1. Open Chrome, click the three dots at the right of the URL bar, and choose Settings.
   
2. Select Privacy and security, then in the right pane click Site settings.
   
3. Open Camera. Choose the webcam to use and select Sites can ask to use your camera.
   
   
4. Go back to Privacy and security → Site settings and open Microphone. Select Sites can ask to use your microphone.
   
   
5. Close the settings tab.

Configure the Thinfinity Workspace portal

With the host and the operating system permissions in place, enable Remote Sound on the Access Profile. This is the step that turns on the RTAV channel within the Workspace session.

Certificate requirements

A self-signed certificate is not enough.

Browsers only grant camera and microphone permissions on what they consider a secure context — that means HTTPS with a certificate that the browser actually trusts. If the user sees any "Not secure" or "Your connection is not private" warning when opening the portal, RTAV will fail silently regardless of every other step in this guide.

For RTAV to work, the Thinfinity Workspace Server certificate must meet all three of the following:

• Issued by a trusted Certificate Authority. Either a publicly trusted CA (Let's Encrypt, DigiCert, Sectigo, etc.) or an internal/enterprise CA whose root certificate is already installed as Trusted Root on every client device that will connect.
• Subject Alternative Name (SAN) matches the DNS name users actually type. A certificate for workspace.example.com will not work for users who connect via https://192.168.1.10 or via a different hostname. Verify the Workspace binding hostname matches the certificate exactly.
• Currently valid. Not expired, not revoked, and within the validity window. Expired certificates trigger the same browser warning and the same silent RTAV failure.

Self-signed certificates are acceptable only for development or proof-of-concept environments where the same certificate is manually trusted on every test device. They are not viable for production RTAV deployments.

Enable Remote Sound on the Access Profile

1. Navigate to the Thinfinity Workspace Portal and sign in.
2. Locate the Access Profile to configure, click the three dots on the top-right of the icon, and select Edit. The profile must use the RDP protocol — RTAV is not supported on other protocols.
   
3. In RDP Settings, scroll down and open the Resources tab.
4. Set Enable Remote Sound to On and click Save.
   
5. Refresh the portal for the changes to apply.

The first time a user connects after this change, the browsers on both sides may prompt for camera and microphone permission. Once granted, refresh the page for the change to take effect. The end user's camera and microphone are now available inside the remote session.

Verify the setup

After applying every step, validate end-to-end with the following sequence:

1. Connect to the Workspace portal from a clean browser profile (no cached permissions). Confirm the URL bar shows the padlock icon with no certificate warnings.
2. Launch the RDP Access Profile. When the browser asks for camera and microphone permission, accept.
3. Inside the remote session, open Camera (Windows) or run a quick recording in Voice Recorder. The local camera and microphone should be visible.
4. Test inside the actual collaboration tool the user needs (Teams, Zoom, Meet) and verify that audio and video transmit in both directions.

Troubleshooting

Related articles

• How to Enable H264 in Thinfinity Workspace
• How to Install and Enable Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Role on Windows
• How to Enable the Multi-Monitor Feature in Thinfinity Workspace
• Remote Desktop Session Recording with Thinfinity Workspace