Lesson 2: Offering Remote Assistance in VS .NET

Drawing Code 3/9 in VS .NET Lesson 2: Offering Remote Assistance

Windows Remote Assistance is a Windows Vista feature that allows one user, called a helper, to connect to another user s desktop session on a remote computer. Once connected, the helper can view and optionally interact with the assisted person s desktop. This lesson describes step by step how to offer technical assistance to another user through this tool.

After this lesson, you will be able to: n Request Remote Assistance from another user. n Answer a Remote Assistance request. n Offer unsolicited Remote Assistance to another user. Estimated lesson time: 40 minutes

To allow a helper to connect to a computer by using Remote Assistance, you first need to enable Remote Assistance on that computer. To do so, select the Allow Remote Assistance Connections To This Computer check box in the Remote tab of the System Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 12-8.

As mentioned in the previous lesson, to locate the Remote tab, first open the System window, and then click Remote Settings on the Tasks menu, as shown in Figure 12-9.

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After Remote Assistance is enabled on a computer, a Remote Assistance connection to that computer can be initiated in one of two ways: by the user s requesting assistance from the helper or by the helper s offering unsolicited assistance to the user. Of these two methods, the first is simpler to implement.

When you enable Remote Assistance, Windows Vista automatically adds a local f irewall exception for Remote Assistance.

A user can request remote assistance from a helper by creating a Remote Assistance invitation. To create a Remote Assistance invitation, first open the Windows Remote Assistance wizard by clicking Start, pointing to All Programs, clicking Maintenance, and then clicking Windows Remote Assistance. The first page of the Windows Remote Assistance wizard is shown in Figure 12-10.

To request remote assistance, on the first page of the wizard, click the option to invite someone you trust to help you. This step opens the page shown in Figure 12-11.

On this page you can choose whether to send the invitation file to the helper through e-mail or simply to save the invitation in the file system so that the helper can later access it

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through a network share or another means. In either case, the invitation file must be password protected. After you choose the password and complete the wizard, the Remote Assistance toolbar, shown in Figure 12-12, appears on the user s desktop. Note the toolbar s status message of Waiting for incoming connection .

At this point the helper must use the Remote Assistance wizard to open the invitation he or she has received. To do so, the helper first chooses the Offer To Help Someone option on the first page of the wizard. This step opens the page shown in Figure 12-13. To open the invitation file, the helper uses the Browse button or enters the path to the file in the appropriate text box and then clicks Finish.

The helper is then prompted for the password of the file. If the helper can successfully enter the password, the assisted party receives a Windows Remote Assistance offer message, such as the one shown in Figure 12-14.

Before you can successfully offer unsolicited Remote Assistance to a user running Windows Vista, you need to perform a number of preparatory steps: 1. Add the following local firewall exceptions on the assisted party s computer: a. Msra.exe (program). When Remote Assistance is enabled on the user s computer, this exception is created automatically. b. Raserver.exe (program). You must add this firewall exception manually. c. TCP 135 (port). You must add this firewall exception manually. 2. In Local Computer Policy or Group Policy, enable the Offer Remote Assistance policy setting for the assisted party s computer. You can find this policy setting in a Group Policy object (GPO) by navigating to Computer Configuration Administrative Templates System Remote Assistance. a. To enable this setting, you must add at least one user account to the Helpers list in the policy setting. Once added in the policy setting, these user accounts also appear in the Offer Remote Assistance Helpers security group on the local machine. b. By default, when you enable this policy setting, the designated helpers are allowed to view and control other users computers. However, in this policy setting you can also choose the option to allow helpers only to view remote computers. The Offer Remote Assistance policy setting is shown in Figure 12-15.