MCTS 70-680: Windows 7 Remote Assistance/Desktop

This video will look at Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop. Remote Assistance is designed to provide help to the user in the same way that they would get help from someone if the person were looking over their shoulder so to speak. Check out http://YouTube.com/ITFreeTraining or http://itfreetraining.com for more of our always free training videos. Remote Desktop is designed to allow a user to take complete control of their P.C. from remote. For example they could access their computer from home.

Remote Assistance: 0:13
Remote Desktop: 05:58

Remote Assistance
This allows anther user to connect up to your computer in order to provide assistance. This can be done through an invitation or via easy connect. An invitation is a file that can opened, e-mail through to the second party. Easy connect is a system that can directly contact the second user, it does however require IPv6.

To configure remote assistance, open the control panel, system and security and under system select allow remote access. The system properties will then open. Ensure that allow remote assistance connections to this computer is ticked. In the advanced options you can configure if the remote user can take control of the desktop and also how long it will take for the remote assistance invitation to expire. In order for the remote user to control the desktop permission still need to be given from the local user.

In order to start using remote assistance, run it from the start menu and generate an invitation or ask someone for help. If you generate an invitation you will be given a password. That password will need to be given to the other party in order for them to connect. Remote assistance no longer provides voice capable but does have text chat option.

Remote Desktop
Remote desktop allows you to take control of your computer from remote. It is different from remote assistance in that when you connect up to the computer the desktop of the computer is locked. Using Remote Desktop you could potential have two users using the same computer at the same time. For this reason this is why the desktop is locked when anther user connects.
To use the Remote Desktop client, you can be running any version of Windows 7. You can also use operating systems like Windows Vista and Windows XP. The computer however that you are connecting up to must be running Windows 7 professional or above.

To configure Remote Desktop, open the control panel, select system and security and then under system select allow remote access. On the remote tab of the system properties, the remote Desktop settings are at the bottom. If you are using an older client to connect to the computer like Windows XP, you need to select the option allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop. This does use a less secure protocol. At the bottom of the screen, you can press the select user's button to add additional users that will be able to access this computer, remember that Administrators by default will be able to use Remote Desktop.

Once you run Remote Desktop you will have the option to the save the Remote Desktop settings to a file. This file at any time you can edit. Under the experience tab there are default profiles that are designed for different networks. For example Lan's and Wan's networks. These options will change the number of colors used and settings like the background being visible. If you experience slow or sluggish performance from Remote Desktop you should change some of these settings. Remote Desktop also supports clipboard transferring between the local and remote computer. If you want to transfers file between the remote and local computer, Remote Desktop can map your local driver so they appear in Windows Explorer in Remote Desktop.

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Closed Caption:

Welcome back to your free Windows 7
training. In this video I will
look at two ways that you can connect up to
the desktop of another Windows 7 computer.
The first way is Remote Assistance.
The idea behind Remote Assistance is that
the user on the computer asks for help. This
is done by creating an invitation. The invitation
can then be saved to a file, e-mail or used
in a system called easy connect. Easy connect
does require IP version 6 and a number of
services to be running for it to work. For
these reasons it is often easier to use the
file or e-mail method.
Once the second party receives the Remote
Assistance invitation they can open and their
computer will automatically connect to the
first computer. Once the user allows them
access they will be able to see their desktop.
Once connected the user can allow them access
to the keyboard and mouse and even open a
chat session with them.
To demonstrate Remote Assistance, I will now
switch to two computers running Windows 7
and put them side by side. The computer on
the right will provide Remote Assistance to
the computer on the left.
Before you can start using Remote Assistance
you need to make sure that it is first configured.
To do this, open the control panel and select
the option system and security. From inside
system and security select the option allow
remote access.
In order for the computer on the left to receive
Remote Assistance the tick box at the top
allow Remote Assistance connections to this
computer must be ticked. If you open the advanced
options you can firstly configure whether
this computer can be controlled remotely or
not.
Permission still needs to be given before
a remote party can control the desktop, however
if this setting is not set, they won’t be
able to control the desktop under any circumstances.
The next section determines how long the invitation
will last for. This may be minutes, hours
or even days. Once the invitation has expired
it will no longer be able to be used. Invitations
can be used more than once so it is not uncommon
for people who provide assistance to other
users on a regular basis to set this value
quiet high so invitations do not have to be
recreated very often.
The last option when enabled will limit the
computers that can connect to Windows Vista
or above. There have been some protocol improves
in Windows Vista to Remote Assistance so I
would select this option where possible.
Remote Assistance is now configured. If I
exit out I can now run Windows Remote Assistance
from the start menu .Before another person
can connect to this computer using Remote
Assistance you have to have an invitation.
From the wizard select the option invite someone
you trust to help you.
On the next screen you will need to determine
how the Remote Assistance invitation will
get to the other party. The first option simply
lets you save the invitation to a file. The
second option will e-mail the invitation to
the other party. The last option will use
easy connect. Remember that easy connect requires
IP version 6 to work.
In this example I will select the first option
and save the invitation to a file share that
both computers have access to. Now that the
invitation has been created Windows will give
you a password. This password needs to be
entered in on the other computer.
Now that the invitation has been created I
will run Windows Remote Assistance on the
right computer. From the wizard I will select
the option help someone who has invited you.
On this screen I will select to open the invitation
file that I saved to the file server.
Once open you can see that I have been asked
for the password which I will paste from the
clip board. On the left computer there is
now a message stating that a Remote Assistance
request has been received and do I want to
allow it.
Once I select yes the computer on the right
side will be able to see the desktop of the
computer on the left. Notice that when I open
Windows explorer on the left screen you can
see it on the right. However if I go to the
right computer and attempt to open any programs
I will not be able to.
By default Remote Assistance will only allow
the remote party to see the desktop. If they
want control over the desktop they need to
select the option at the top request control.
When I select this the computer on the left
will get a message saying the computer on
the right would like control of the desktop.
Notice also the tick box allow admin to respond
to user account control prompts. If this option
is ticked, if the remote party attempts to
perform an action that requires user account
control prompt they will be able to accept
it, otherwise they will not.
Once I press yes the computer on the right
will now be able to open applications on the
computer on the left. Remote Assistance was
built under the idea that you would be talking
to the other party over the phone or some
sort of teleconferencing. If you do not have
this in place you can always press the chat
button to enable a chat session. Remote Assistance
is primary designed for getting help when
you need it from another party. If you want
to remote control your computer then Microsoft
Offers Remote Desktop. This allows you to
take control of the keyboard and mouse on
a remote computer but in the process it will
lock the desktop of the computer.
The idea behind Remote Desktop is that allows
you to access anther computer from remote.
For example if you are at home and then realise
0:06:22.889,0:06:28.279
you left an important file on the desktop
of your computer at work. Using Remote Desktop
you could connect up to the computer at work
from home and then e-mail the file to yourself.
If you start using Windows Server, Windows
Server allows two Remote Desktop connections
to one server at the same time and does not
lock the servers desktop. In Windows 7, Remote
Desktop was designed to allow a user the ability
to control their pc but not share the pc with
others. Also by locking the computer when
you connect also stops someone using your
computer while you are accessing it.
You can only access Windows 7 computers using
Remote Desktop that are running professional,
enterprise or ultimate editions. Keep in mind
that the client used to access Remote Desktop
can run on any edition of Windows 7. Let’s
have a look at how to configure and used Remote
Desktop on Windows 7.
First of all I need to configure this computer
to accept Remote Desktop connections. This
is done in the same place as Remote Assistance.
Open the control panel, go to system and security
and then select allow remote access.
At the bottom are the Remote Desktop settings.
By default Windows will be set to don’t
allow connections to this computer. The next
option allows connections from computers that
are running older Remote Desktop clients.
This is less secure then the current client
included in Windows 7.
If you are only going to be connecting using
Windows Vista or Windows 7 you can select
the last option which you the highest level
of security. Once you have enabled Remote
Desktop you can next add users that will be
able to access this computer by pressing the
select users button.
Notice at the top that the administrators
group is allowed access via Remote Desktop
by default. I will be using an administrator
account to connect to this computer so I won’t
add any users. Once I exit out Remote Desktop
is configure and ready to accept connections.
To demonstrate connecting up to Remote Desktop
I will change to anther Windows 7 computer.
I will leave this computer in a reduced view
in the top right hand corner so you can see
what happens when I connect.
First I will run Remote Desktop connection
from the start menu. Next I need to enter
in the computer that I am going to connect
to. Notice that under the options I can also
save the connection to the computer for use
later.
Once I have everything configured I can press
the connect button to start a Remote Desktop
connection to my Windows 7 computer. The first
message I will get is asking if I trust this
connection to be made. Next I will be asked
which user name and password I will be using
to access the computer.
Since I do not have certificates set up on
this network, the Remote Desktop connection
can’t verify the remote computers identity.
This is normal so I will press yes. You will
notice that now the remote connection will
start up and display the desktop of the other
Windows 7 computer. Notice also in the top
right hand corner the other computer desktop
has now locked itself. This means that while
you are using Remote Desktop no one will be
able to sit in front of the screen of the
other computer and see what is going on.
Notice also that the desktop has gone black
and looking glass effects have been disabled.
Remote Desktop has disabled these to reduce
the amount of data traveling over the network
and thus speed up the responsiveness of Remote
Desktop.
Any program that I launch now will be run
on the remote computer. I can also access
all the hard disks and any drive connected
to the computer like the DVD drive or USB
drives. Once I am finished all I need to do
is log off the connection from the start menu.
If I now right click on the Remote Desktop
connection I saved earlier I can select edit
and change the properties of the connection.
On the display tab you can change the display
that is used in Remote Desktop. Full screen
is the default but you will find that if you
start using Remote Desktop to administer servers
you may want to reduce the size of the Remote
Desktop so you can display more than one on
the screen and swap between them like you
would an application.
Down the bottom you can change the color depth.
The higher the color depth the more data that
needs to be transferred over the network.
If you are running Remote Desktop over a slow
connection you will notice the difference
if you reduce the number of colors.
On the local resources tab you can configure
which resources on the local computer will
be available to Remote Desktop. For example
you may decide you want to use the local
speakers and a microphone on your computer
over the Remote Desktop connection. However
if sound is not required it is best to switch
it off as it reduces the speed of your connection.
Down the bottom of the screen you can decide
if your local printers will be available to
the remote connection. This means you can
open a document on the remote computer and
have it print on your local printer. You can
also disable the clipboard. The clipboard
allows you to copy and paste information from
your local computer to the remote computer
using Remote Desktop. If you are using a slow
link, accidental coping or pasting a large
amount of data via the clipboard can cause
your connection to stall while the clipboard
is being transferred over the network.
If I select the more button you can also configure
the local drives to be available to the remote
computer. This is a good setting to switch
on if you need to copy files between the remote
computer and your local computer.
On the experience tab you can optimize what
is transfer over the connection. Currently
it is set to low speed broadband and that
is why the desktop background and look glass
effects were disabled. It is just a matter
of selecting the option that best matches
the speed of your network. In this case I
will select the last option LAN since both
these computers are connected to the same
local area network.
If I now save the settings and press connect
again. A Remote Desktop session will be started
and this time the connection is optimized
for LAN use. Once logged in you can see the
desktop background has returned.
This concludes Remote Assistance and Remote
Desktop. They are both useful tools. In the
next video I will look at other remote management
tools you can use to execute remote commands
and configure your computer. For exam questions
and more videos have a look at our web site.
I hope you enjoyed the video and thanks for
watching.