Troubleshooting Windows XP Professional with the Remote Assistant, Part 2

Troubleshooting Windows XP Professional with the Remote Assistant, Part 2

Thursday, November 29, 2001

By Greg Shultz

(This article was originally published on the 8wire Web site and is reprinted on TheWinWiz with permission.)

In Part 1 of this series, I introduced you to the Windows XP Remote Assistance feature and explained how it works on a corporate network. I then showed you how to configure a novice user's Windows XP Professional system to accept a Remote Assistance request. This article will show you how to use the Offer Remote Assistance feature from an expert's system. I'll also show you what occurs on a novice user's system during the Remote Assistance session, and pass on some tips that will help you get the most out of the Offer Remote Assistance feature.

Offering Remote Assistance on a Network

As I mentioned in Part 1, the default method of operation for the network mode of Remote Assistance assumes that there's already a system in place for the corporate help desk to receive requests for assistance from novice users. As such, if you're an expert who has received a request for assistance, you may want to begin by contacting the novice and informing them that you're ready to assist with the problem.

Once the novice is standing by, you can launch the Offer Remote Assistance feature on your Windows XP Professional system. To do so, open the Help and Support Center and select the Use Tools link under the Pick a Task category. When the Tools page appears, select Offer Remote Assistance in the Tools list and the Offer Remote Assistance page will appear.

If you want to make the Offer Remote Assistance feature easier to access in the future, you can add it to the Help and Support Center's Favorites list. To do so, just click the Add to Favorites button on the toolbar. Now, the next time you need to offer Remote Assistance to a novice user, you open the Help and Support Center, click the Favorites button on the navigation bar, and double-click Remote Assistance in the Favorites list.

Once you see the Offer Remote Assistance page, you'll type either the name of the computer or its IP address in the text box and click the Connect button. For example, if you want to connect to a computer that is assigned the IP address 192.168.1.103, you'd fill in the text box as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. You can use either the name of the computer or its IP address to start a Remote Assistance session.

If the system you're attempting to connect to has multiple users, when you click the Connect button you'll see an additional prompt that asks you to confirm which user you want to offer assistance to, as shown in Figure 2. This is kind of a bogus step considering that only the user currently logged on to the system will appear in that list.

Figure 2. If more than one user has accounts on the system, you'll be asked to confirm which user you want to assist.

To continue, just click the Start Remote Assistance button. When you do, the Offer Remote Assistance feature will log on to the novice user's system and load the Remote Assistance interface, as shown in Figure 3. As you can see, Remote Assistance's Status bar indicates that the program is waiting for an answer from the novice. During this time most of Remote Assistance's features are inoperable - the only things an expert can do are click the Disconnect button, which will immediately terminate the Remote Assistance session, or click the Help button, which reveals an About screen that contains some pretty basic information.

Figure 3. Before you can continue, Remote Assistance requires that the novice user accept the offer of assistance.

Accepting an Offer for Remote Assistance

Once the expert initiates an offer for remote assistance, the novice's system displays the Remote Assistance dialog box shown in Figure 4. As you can see, this dialog box informs the novice that an expert is requesting remote access to their computer, tells them who the expert is, and prompts them to allow the expert to access their computer.

Figure 4. The novice must click Yes before the expert can even view their system.

If the novice doesn't respond within five minutes, the request will time out and the expert will see a message box letting them know the request timed out. If the novice clicks No, the expert will see a message box letting them know that request was denied. In both these cases, the only thing the expert can do is to click the Disconnect button, which will immediately terminate the Remote Assistance program.

When the novice clicks Yes, they'll immediately see the Remote Assistance client window on their screen as shown in Figure 5. As you can see, the Connection Status pane informs the novice, Joe Newuser in this example, that the expert, Bob Helpdesk, is connected to his computer with "screen view only" rights. This means that the expert can only see the novice's desktop; he doesn't have full control of the system right off the bat.

Figure 5. The Remote Assistance client window appears on the novice's screen.

Configuring the Expert's Remote Assistance Screen

At this point, the expert's Remote Assistance screen shows the entire desktop on the novice user's system in actual size. Since the expert's Remote Assistance screen contains the Chat History panel and its own toolbar, the expert will have to use the scroll bars to see the novice's entire desktop.

To make the novice's desktop easier to see, the expert has two choices:

click the Hide button in the upper right corner of the Chat History panel to temporarily remove the Chat History panel from the screen; or
click the Scale To Window button, which shrinks the view of the novice user's desktop to fit the available space, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. The Scale To Window button shrinks the view of the novice's desktop, making it easier to see the full remote desktop.

Taking Full Control

As you look at the screen in Figure 6, you can see that both the expert's Remote Assistance screen and the novice's Remote Assistance client window contain a Chat History panel and a toolbar that provides access to a set of additional Remote Assistance communication features.

The Chat feature is pretty straightforward, so I won't go into any more detail on it. I'll come back to the additional Remote Assistance communication features on the toolbar in a moment. Right now, I want to direct your attention to the Take Control button on the expert's Remote Assistance screen. When the expert clicks this button, the dialog box shown in Figure 7 appears on the novice user's desktop prompting them to allow the expert to take full control of their system.

Figure 7. Before the expert can take full control of the system, the novice must give permission.

Once the novice clicks Yes, the expert will see a message box informing him that he now has full control on the novice user's system. At this point, the expert can perform any operation on the novice user's system just as if he were sitting at the keyboard.

At any point in time, the novice can terminate the expert's full control of the system by pressing the ESC key or by clicking the Stop Control button on the Remote Assistance client window. The expert can terminate full control of the novice user's system by either pressing the ESC key or by clicking Release Control button, which appears in place of the Take Control button.

Using the Voice Communication Feature

In addition to the Chat History panel, the expert and the novice can communicate via voice as long as both systems have sound cards with either speakers and a microphone or a headset. However, it's important to understand that adding voice communications to a Remote Assistance session will dramatically increase network traffic. If you feel your network is too congested to handle the extra traffic generated by the Remote Assistance voice communications feature, you might want to stick with the Chat feature or just use the telephone.

To start a voice connection, either the expert or the novice can click the Start Talking button. The other will then receive a message containing an invitation to use the voice connection feature. The first time you use the voice connection feature, the Audio and Video Tuning Wizard will walk you through a configuration procedure that makes sure your speakers and microphone are configured properly for voice communication.

Once the wizard is finished, you may want to configure the audio quality for the network mode of operation. However, keep in mind that while doing so will improve the audio, it will also take up additional bandwidth on your network. To configure the audio quality, click the Settings button on the toolbar. From the Remote Assistance Settings dialog box, you can select the High Quality setting, as shown in Figure 8. You can also access the Audio and Video Tuning Wizard from the Remote Assistance Settings dialog box. On the expert system, you can configure the default screen view as well.

Figure 8. If you have the bandwidth to spare, you can use the High Quality audio setting.

Either party can cancel the voice communication session by clicking the Stop Talking button, which appears in place of the Start Talking button.

Transferring Files

If either the expert or the novice needs to send files to the other, they can do so using the Send A File feature. To do so, you just click the Send A File button on the toolbar. You'll then see a dialog box that allows you to select the file and then send it, as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. You can easily send files from within Remote Assistance.

When you click the Send File button, the other party is prompted to accept the file and can then choose where to save it. Once the file is saved, Remote Assistance will ask if you want to open the file.

As you can see, Windows XP Professional's Offer Remote Assistance feature provides you with all kinds of features that can make it easy for help desk or other IT personnel to provide firsthand troubleshooting and technical support without ever having to leave their desks.