Initiating Remote Assistance
Remote Assistance sessions must be initiated by the person
requesting help. Although you might walk the user through the process
over the phone, through instant messaging, or even email, the person
requesting your help must take the steps to start a session.
The connection is established through an invitation. There are a few
types of connections, all of which require an Internet or local area
network connection. It is important to know and trust that the other
person on the connection is who he or she says he or she is. When a
connection is made, the person who is providing the assistance will
have access to the desktop and data on the computer of the person
receiving the assistance. Both users see the same screen while the
connection is active.
To locate Remote Assistance, search for Remote Assistance on the Start screen and select Settings. Four options are returned:
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Allow Remote Assistance Invitations To Be Sent From This Computer
This option enables the computer to send out invitations for Remote Asistance.
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Allow Remote Access To Your Computer This option enables you to initiate remote access to your computer for other users.
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Select Users Who Can Use Remote Desktop This option allows certain user accounts permission to access this computer by using Remote Desktop.
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Invite Someone To Connect To Your PC And Help You, Or Offer Help To Someone Else This option enables you to create or respond to a Remote Assistance session.
To start Remote Assistance, choose Invite Someone To Connect To Your PC And Help You, Or Offer Help To Someone Else. This opens the Remote Assistance dialog box shown in Figure 1. You can select whether you would like to receive help or offer help.
Note
REMOTE ASSISTANCE SETTINGS MIGHT BE CONTROLLED BY GROUP POLICY
In addition to being available to configure on a local computer,
these settings can be controlled by using Group Policy. However, when
Group Policy manages these settings, they might not be available for
selection on the local computer if disabled by policy.
After an option for Remote Assistance is selected, Windows displays the desktop to introduce the Remote Assistance Wizard to configure the settings for a new session or a session being joined.
To request assistance, complete the following steps:
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Tap or click Invite Someone You Trust To Help You.
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Choose the method of connection to use for the assistance session. The connection options are:
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Save this invitation as a file.
After saving the file, you can decide how to get the file to the
person providing assistance. After you save the file, a password is
generated for the session and displayed. This password is required to
access the remote session that is saved in the invitation file. You can
share the required password over the telephone or in email, but
remember to protect the password for the session.
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Use email to send an invitation.
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Use Easy Connect. This feature is the easiest way to connect, and you will use it most often.
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Tap or click Next.
Easy Connect removes the need for the invitation file but still
requires the exchange of a password for the connection to open. Easy
Connect has some caveats: both computers must run the same operating
system, Internet connectivity for both parties must be functioning
normally, and the user’s router must support the Easy Connect protocol.
After the connection is initiated, Remote Assistance prompts for acceptance. This operation times out after about one minute of inaction.
Providing remote assistance
When the session is accepted, you as the helper can see the screen
of the person you are assisting in addition to a session control window
by which you can pause screen sharing, chat,
and configure settings. When the connection begins, it will be in
view-only mode, allowing you to see, but not control, the user’s
screen. To control the screen, choose Request Control at the top of the
Windows Remote Assistance window. The person you are helping is
prompted to give you permission to control the screen.
When the user grants you permission, you can control the screen and
manipulate the system to help solve any problems. The user can see that
you are connected and sharing control of the computer (see Figure 2). The user can pause or stop the screen-sharing session at any time, removing your access to that system.
While the screen is being controlled remotely, all actions are
visible to the other party, and you can walk him or her through the
process of correcting the issue.
If you cannot use the phone or instant messenger to communicate
while working in a shared session, Remote Assistance provides a chat
that exists within the session. This enables quick communication during
the session.
While in a Remote Assistance Chat session, the default is to create
a log of all session activities, which appears at the top of the chat
window. It is a good idea to leave this option enabled in case a
similar problem occurs in the future. That way, you can refer to the
process that solved the problem.
Overall, Remote
Assistance is an excellent tool for direct interaction to solve a
problem without being physically present at the user’s location.
Depending on the nature of the problem and the instruction required to
start a session, using Remote Assistance can save significant time in
the troubleshooting process. Because it works over the network or
across the Internet by using an invitation file and password and is
encrypted from end to end, it can be used safely across the enterprise.
