USB Paper Scanning in AVD without 3rd Party Tools

Summary

I've seen numerous post and blogs about people lamenting because they can't get USB paper scanners to work in AVD. Or, that they can only get them to work with 3rd party software subscriptions.

After a lot of trial and error, I believe I cracked the "secret" to getting them to work without any 3rd party tools.
There are quite a few caveats and YMMV scenarios (described in the Prerequisites), but for customers who need to be able to pass through a paper scanner to their AVD Desktop, this will likely work for them.

NOTE: If you have a scanner that doesn't support a TWAIN Driver, but it can save directly to the cloud (i.e. SharePoint and/or OneDrive), you can save yourself the steps below and scan directly to a cloud source.

Prerequisites

• A working AVD Host Pool (no sense in going down this path if you don't already know your AVD environment works 😉)
• A Windows 10 or 11 Computer (not ARM) with either the Windows App or Remote Desktop App installed
  NOTE: It may work with Windows ARM computers and Thin Clients. However, when I tested with my ARM computers, the scanner drivers were not compatible. And, at the time of writing, I did not have a thin client to test with.
• Advanced USB Redirections must be configured on the host and the client device
  see Advanced (USB) Device Redirection in AVD – Nerdio Help Center (getnerdio.com)
• A USB scanner with a TWAIN Driver
  NOTE: I was able to find one on Amazon fairly easily by searching for TWAIN Compatible Scanner, but in general any Epson, Brother, or Ricoh scanners "should" work. However, you will want to confirm they have a TWAIN driver before purchasing.
  Ideally, everyone in the office would have the same model to simplify the driver/software requirements
• Scanner Driver installed on the Client Computer and on the Session Host
• Scanner Software (if needed/wanted) installed on the Session Host
• Explain to the end-user that they will only be able to scan from their AVD
  (Yes, they can scan from their local computer, but when the scanner is passed through to the AVD Host, the local computer doesn't see it anymore)

Instructions

1. Have the end-user logon to their AVD session using one of the AVD Clients specified in the prerequisites
2. At the top of the Connection bar, have them click the Printer icon
3. Walk them through checking the box for Other supported RemoteFX USB devices
4. Have them check the box for their Scanner
   NOTE: If the scanner isn't showing up, review the Prerequisites to make sure the driver is installed correctly on both the customer computer and the AVD Host.
5. Have them click OK
   
6. Test the scanner
   At this point, the end-user should be able to put their document(s) into their scanner and press the scan button
   Bonus: Even the two-sided automatic scan feature passed through with no issue!
   
   
   

Conclusion

With this newly discovered (to me at least 😂) way of redirecting a scanner to AVDs, it greatly shortens the list of things you can NOT do fully in your cloud desktop.

This worked for me in my testing, but I would love to see your comments if this works for you as well!