Start a Remote Assistance session in a Small Office Home Office Network

Summary

Remote Assistance provides a way for you to get help when you run into problems on your computer. If you are a experienced user, you can use Remote Assistance to connect to your friend or family computer and directly help them. This article explains how to use Remote Assistance via sending a file across your small office or home network.

For more information on how to enable Remote Assistance in Windows XP, please see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article.

HOW TO: Enable Remote Assistance in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305608

More Information

To invite a person to connect via Remote Assistance:

1.      Click Start, click Help and Support, and then click Invite a friend to connect to your computer with Remote Assistance. This is located under the Ask for assistance heading.

2.      Click Invite someone to help you, and then select Save Invitation as a file.

3.      Enter a descriptive name, then choose a time on the Set the Invitation to Expire drop down box. The default time is 1 hour. Click Continue.

4.      Type in a password and then click Save Invitation. The Save File dialog box appears. Save the file to a folder that is shared on the network.

To accept a Remote Assistance invitation:

1.      Open the Remote Assistance Invitation file. The Remote Assistance Invitation box appears.

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2.      Enter the password and click Yes.

3.      The Attempting to Start Remote Assistance Session dialog box appears. The Remote assistance requires action by both parties, the helper who sends the file and the requestor who accept and saved it.

4.      When the Remote Assistance session opens, you will see two Start menu buttons. The outside Start button controls your computer, the inside Start button controls the computer that you are assisting.

5.      You can click the Take Control button. The permission who sent the invitation must confirm permission for you to take control. After you take control, you can work on a remote computer using the mouse and keyboard to help the other person.