Do you want to help a friend or a relative far from you in difficulty with his PC? With the Quick Assist tool included in Windows 10 and 11, you can see their screen and even take control of their computer remotely.
In IT, problems are common and not necessarily understandable by everyone. A bug or mishandling can lead to frustration or panic among beginners or those who have never been interested in the operation of their PC. And the sentences that begin with “You who know about computers, do you…” rarely augur a short conversation, ending most of the time with troubleshooting if possible “on site” as the professionals say.
To go faster, and avoid unnecessary travel, you can rely on a remote control app. The best known is undoubtedly TeamViewer (read our practical sheet) but you can also count on the Google Chrome Remote Desktop or the venerable RealVNC. Easy-to-implement solutions that not only allow you to see on a PC what is displayed on the screen of the computer to be repaired but also, and above all, to take full control of it remotely, using your mouse and keyboard as if we were in front, at the controls!
But it gets even easier with Microsoft’s Quick Support app, which like the aforementioned solutions, allows you to both view and fully control a remote PC. . Here, there is no additional software to install since the app is already installed as standard with Windows 10 and 11. You can therefore ask for help or provide assistance to a PC running Windows 10 from a computer running Windows 10. Windows 11 and vice versa. Simple to set up and convenient to use, Quick Support is totally free.
To make it work, a few criteria must be met. First of all it is necessary that the PC to troubleshoot like the one who troubleshoots has an Internet connection, without which remote control is obviously not possible. Then, the PC to be repaired must be able to launch Windows and a user session. Impossible to take control of a machine that does not start or does not start well. In addition, both users must have a Microsoft account, essential for this support service. Finally, they must be physically in front of their computer when starting the remote control in order to perform some manipulations to establish the connection between the two PCs. And have a means of direct communication – a telephone, for example – to exchange some information.
For our example, we will take control of a PC running Windows 10 22H2 from a PC running Windows 11 22H2, both versions of the system taking advantage of the latest Microsoft update. Taking control only takes a few minutes.
► On both PCs, launch the Quick Assistance application by typing, for example, its name in the Windows search field. On the troubleshooter PC, click on the button To help someone.
► Then enter your Microsoft ID, required to establish the connection and click on To log in.
► The app then presents a code made up of numbers and letters. Give this code to the person to be repaired by SMS, WhatsApp or by telephone for example.
► On the PC to be repaired, enter the code received in the field Assistant security code of the Quick Support app.
► Then click on the button To allow to enable screen sharing as a first step.
► After a few seconds, once the connection is established between the two computers, a yellow frame is displayed around the screen of the PC to be repaired, indicating that it is now shared with the second PC. A notification Screen sharing enabled is also present at the top of the screen.
► On the repairer PC, the screen of the remote PC is displayed in a window. It is now possible to see all the manipulations performed on the screen by the user of the remote computer. He can then redo the operations that cause him problems in order to show them to you live.
Quick Assist also allows you to take control of the remote computer. Convenient for the repairman to carry out manipulations himself.
► On the troubleshooting PC, click on the button Request controlat the top of the window.
► On the computer to be serviced, a notification appears indicating the request. Click on To allow. Now both users have control of the mouse and keyboard. The troubleshooter can manipulate the remote PC as if he were physically in front of the machine.
► It is also possible for the two users to communicate by text message. To do so, click on the bubble at the top of the screen. Write your message and click on Send.
► A message box then opens on the right side of the screen.
► For the troubleshooter, several tools are available. For example, you can instantly bring up the remote computer’s Task Manager by clicking the first button to the left of the button Quitat the top of the window.
► You can also show elements to the remote user thanks to the annotation tool represented by an icon in the shape of a pencil lead. Click on it then draw on the screen to, for example, surround an element of the interface. Your drawing or text will be replicated on the remote computer.
► Finally, if you perform operations that require a restart of the computer to be repaired, click on the button Restart and reconnect from the toolbar (to the left of the button Break) then the button To restart.
► On the screen of the PC to be repaired, a message indicates that it will restart.
► After the restart, its owner will have to open his Windows session again. Once the session is open, the connection with the repair PC is automatically re-established. Recovery operations can resume.
► When the remote intervention is completed, all that remains is to click on one of the two PCs on the button Quit at the top right of the window. Note that at any time, it is possible for the repaired user to leave the remote control session by clicking on this same button. A practical security measure if the troubleshooter were to poke around in files that have nothing to do with the problem.
