Remote Assistance Operational States

Remote Assistance has three operational states:

• Waiting For Connect This state occurs when either:
  • The Helper has offered Remote Assistance to the User, but the User has not yet agreed to allow the Helper to connect to his computer.
  • The User has sent the Helper an invitation but the Helper has not yet responded by opening the invitation, or the Helper has opened the invitation and the User has not yet agreed to allow the Helper to connect to his computer.
  In the Waiting For Connect state, the Helper cannot view or control the screen of the User's computer until a Remote Assistance connection has been established and both computers have entered the Screen Sharing state. After the Remote Assistance application has been started and is running in the Waiting For Connect state, the application should not be closed until the other party responds and establishes the connection. For example, if the User uses the Solicit RA Using E-mail method and sends an invitation file to a Helper, the Remote Assistance application opens on the User's computer and waits for the Helper to accept the invitation. If the User closes Remote Assistance on her computer before the Helper accepts the invitation, the Helper will not be able to connect to the User's computer and the User will need to send a new invitation.
• Screen Sharing This state occurs when the User has consented to allow the Helper to connect to his computer-either after the User has sent the Helper an invitation or the Helper has offered Remote Assistance to the User. In the Screen Sharing state, a Remote Assistance session has been established and the Helper can view-but not control-the screen of the User's computer.
  When the User is prompted for consent to allow the Helper to connect to his computer, a warning message appears on the User's computer saying that the Helper wants to connect to his computer. This warning message is customizable using Group Policy.
  See the section titled "Managing Remote Assistance Using Group Policy" later in this tutorial for more information.
• Control Sharing This state occurs after the Screen Sharing state when the Helper has requested control of the User's computer and the User has consented to allow the Helper to have shared control of his computer. In the Control Sharing state, the Helper has the same level of access to the User's computer that the User has, and the Helper can use his own mouse and keyboard to remotely perform actions on the User's computer. Specifically:
  • If the User is a standard user on his computer, the Helper will be able to perform only those actions on the User's computer that can be performed by a standard user on that computer.
  • If the User is a local administrator on his computer, the Helper will be able to perform any actions on the User's computer that can be performed by a local administrator on that computer.

For more information on the level of control that a Helper has on a User's computer, see the section titled "Remote Assistance and the Secure Desktop" later in this tutorial.