A method, system, apparatus, and signal-bearing media for determining the name of a remotely attached device. A server discovers the devices attached to it and extracts the device names in a first protocol format. The server encodes the device names into a second protocol format. When a client requests a list of supported devices, the server sends the device names found in the second protocol format. The client decodes the names into the second protocol format back into the first protocol format and presents the device names to a host attached to the client. In this way, the host is freed from manually predetermining the device names, and the host need have no knowledge of the server or the second protocol.