Available Devices List
The Available Devices tab displays a list of USB devices connected to your Router and allows you to select devices and specify connection settings for them. For more information, see device properties below.
To connect to a USB device, select it and click Use.
By default, disks attached to your Router are automatically shared with all computers on the network. A disk can be unmounted safely by selecting it and clicking Stop Using. A disk that is not mounted can be mounted again by unplugging and plugging its USB cable back into the router.
If someone is using a device you would like to use, select the device and click Request Use. A message will appear on the user's computer notifying them that you wish to use this device. They can elect to make the device available to you or not.
Device Properties
To access the properties sheet for an individual device, select the device in the USB Control Center and click Properties. The properties sheet allows you to specify general settings such as the name that device will appear as in the Control Center, whether the device should automatically connect with a computer as soon as the computer starts, and more.
General Properties
The General tab of the Device Properties screen enables you to change the name of the device as it appears in the Control Center and displays various reference information about the device.
In the Display Name field, enter the name of the device as you want it to appear in the software. The default name is gathered from the device itself. This default name will always appear as the USB device name, even if you change the Display Name.
Device speed is shown as reported by the particular device. Actual performance is also affected by other factors such as your network configuration.
- Hi Speed: USB products that carry the "Hi-Speed USB" logo and support a speed of 480 Megabytes per Second (Mb/s).
- Full Speed: USB products that carry the basic "Certified USB" logo and support a speed of 1.5 Mb/s or 12Mb/s.
- Low Speed: Low Speed and Full Speed are often used interchangeably by device manufacturers.
The General tab also contains reference information about the device.
Device Connection Properties
The Connection tab of the Device Properties screen enables you to specify whether the device should connect automatically to this computer when the computer is started, and to specify any software that should start automatically when the device connects. The information in this topic applies to all devices except printers and disks that are shared via NAS mode. To learn about connection properties for printers, see Printer Connection Properties.
Check the Automatically connect this device when Control Center starts checkbox if you want to this computer to automatically connect to this device each time Control Center starts. If you mark this checkbox along with the checkbox to specify that the Control Center should start, the device will automatically connect each time you start the computer.
Connections to devices may occasionally be lost due to network failures or other factors. If you want Control Center to automatically reconnect with the device should this occur, check Attempt to reconnect if a connection is lost. Control Center will try to reconnect with the device until the connection is reestablished or the computer is shut down.
Use the Start Program field to specify settings for any software associated with this device. For example, a webcam probably has software that captures video. By checking Launch a program when this device connects you can specify that the software start automatically when the Webcam is available. You can also check Disconnect device when the program is closed if you want to free up the device for use by other computers when you close the software.
In the Program field, browse to find the software you want to associate with the device. You can also enter the path to the program directly into the field. Once your settings are saved, only the name of the program’s .exe file appears in the Program field.
Printer Connection Properties
When a printer is selected the Connection tab of the Device Properties screen offers additional functionality specific to printers. In particular, you can select one of three options for automatically connecting the device.
If the printer is being shared among multiple computers, we recommend selecting This is a shared printer, automatically connect and disconnect only when printing. With this option, the printer is automatically connected when a print job is sent to it, then disconnected as soon as the job completes so the printer is then available for other computers.
Check Automatically connect when the USB Print and Storage Center starts if you want this computer to automatically connect to this printer each time the computer starts, preventing other users from connecting to the printer automatically.
You can force users to manually connect to the printer with the Never automatically connect, I will always connect manually option.
The Printer field is enabled if you select one of the automatic connection options. From the dropdown list, select the printer driver associated with this printer.
Connections to devices may occasionally be lost due to network failures or other factors. If you want Control Center to automatically reconnect with the device should this occur, check Attempt to reconnect if a connection is lost. Control Center will try to reconnect with the device until the connection is reestablished or the computer is shut down.
Use the Program field to specify settings for any software associated with this printer. You can also check Disconnect device when the program is closed if you want to free up the device for use by other computers when you close the software.
In the Program field, browse to find the software you want to associate with the printer. You can also enter the path to the software directly into the field. Once your settings are saved, only the name of the software’s .exe file appears in the Program field.