The feature was first introduced in
Windows XP as Remote Assistance and based on Remote Desktop technologies. Remote Assistance in Windows XP is integrated into the Help and Support Centre UI and allows sending invitations to the support person by email,
Windows Messenger or saving the invitation as a file and transferring the file across through other methods. Two
systems administrators can simultaneously connect to a single computer. Remote sessions automatically reconnect after restarting the computer. It also supports session pausing, built-in diagnostics, chat,
file transfer and
XML-based logging. It reduces
bandwidth requirements for low-speed connections.
NAT traversal allows a session to be established even if the user is behind a
Network Address Translation (NAT) device, for example, a router in a home network. Remote Assistance is configurable using
Group Policy and supports
command-line switches so that custom shortcuts can be deployed. In
Windows 7, Remote Assistance is based on RDP 7. An extra option to connect using
Peer Name Resolution Protocol is added, called
Easy Connect if IPv6 connectivity is present. With
Easy Connect, only a password needs to be shared instead of an
invitation file, and two computers can establish a
peer-to-peer connection over the
local area network (LAN) or the Internet without a relay server. However, Windows Remote Assistance does not support file transfer and clipboard sharing in Windows 7. Remote Assistance is installed by default on Windows clients, but must be added manually on
Windows Server 2008 R2 servers. Remote assistance sessions may be initiated using the Windows Remote Assistance application available on the
Start menu under All Apps → Maintenance or by invoking msra.exe from
command-line interface. The original Remote Assistance is included on all releases of
Windows 10 as well, but since the
Windows 10 Anniversary Update, its Start menu shortcut is removed, effectively hiding it from the user. Instead, a new app called Quick Assist is added. It has mostly the same functionality and a similar user interface with buttons called
Get assistance and
Give assistance. The design is like
UWP apps. Unlike Remote Assistant, Quick Assist requires the support person to sign in using a
Microsoft account before dispensing help. In November 2021, Microsoft announced a more business-friendly version of Quick Assist, called Remote Help. While later versions of Windows 10 allowed users and technicians to authenticate against Azure Active Directory, this version includes new integrations such as: • UAC Elevation • Remote Assistance Sessions Reports • Roles Based Authentication (RBAC) • Management from Intune / the ability to launch from Intune • Limiting sessions within the organization (Azure AD Tenant) • Branding • Conditional Access • ADFS support While Remote Assistance establishes a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connection to the end user's computer (requires TCP port 3389 to be opened on the client machine and the firewall/NAT/router behind which the machine is), Quick Assist is cloud-based and requires one outbound connection from the helper's PC to the cloud service/Microsoft server, and a separate connection from the cloud service to the machine of the person getting assistance. There are no ports opened on the client device's firewall. == Features comparison ==