Overview
PDQ Connect offers Remote Desktop functionality, accessible via the Device details page, which allows you to connect and offer fully unattended remote desktop functionality or remote assistance.
Install remote desktop agent
On the left navigation bar, click Devices, and then click the name of the device you would like to connect to remotely.
On the device details page, click Remote desktop.
If this is your first time connecting to this device, note the status at the bottom of the tab, which indicates Remote desktop agent not installed. Click the button labeled Install remote desktop agent to begin the installation.
A circular progress indicator will appear, along with the notice Installing agent:
When the installation process is complete, a message will appear indicating Agent installed successfully.
Note that the status at the bottom of the window will also indicate that the agent is installed.
The remote desktop agent makes use of a third-party provider with additional connectivity requirements - see Network Requirements for details.
Download and install local viewer application
These instructions are for users accessing PDQ Connect and initiating a remote desktop connection from a computer running Windows. If you're connecting from a computer running macOS, see: Install Remote Desktop local viewer app on macOS.
In order to connect to a remote desktop client managed in Connect, you will need to install a local viewer application onto the computer where you are accessing Connect. The remote desktop session can only be launched from within the Connect web app in your browser, but it will open the local viewer application, which must be installed before you can use remote desktop.
To proceed, click the Continue button to proceed to Step 2, and then click Download local viewer to download and install the Connect viewer application onto your computer.
- Double-click on the downloaded file, PDQ RD Viewer.exe.
- At the User Account Control prompt, click Yes to continue.
- In the Setup window, click Install to continue.
- When the installation is complete, click Finish.
Start a remote desktop session
After you have installed the remote desktop agent on an endpoint, and installed the local viewer application on your computer, you can click Continue to proceed to Step 3, and then click Start remote session button to begin a remote desktop session on that endpoint.
Depending on your browser security settings, you may receive a pop-up asking if you want to open the link in the PDQ RD Viewer Program. The exact appearance and wording of this warning may vary by browser, but click to continue. The PDQ RD Viewer will launch.
The end user will be able to observe the remote session as it is happening, and can continue to interact with the computer.
Remote desktop settings: User notification, user session approval, and display name
To configure user notification when a remote desktop session begins, click the Settings ⚙ icon, and then click Remote desktop. On the remote desktop settings page, you can switch on Notify local user when remote desktop session starts.
By default, the user notification does not require any response from the user in order to begin the session. However, if you prefer the user to to approve any remote desktop session request from Connect, you can tick the box for Logged-in user must approve before session can start. If this box is ticked, a remote desktop user in Connect will not be able to start a remote desktop session unless the end user approves the request.
By default, the remote desktop request will show the user a display name, which will match the name of your organization as it was originally entered when your account owner created the account. If you wish to change the display name to something else, you can do so in the Display name text box.
Click Save changes to save these settings. Note that any changes to this page will require a few minutes to take effect, as they need to be rolled out to each remote desktop agent.
Alternately, you may click Cancel to revert the settings back to how they were previously.
Bulk installation of the remote desktop agent
To install the remote desktop agent on multiple devices at once, browse to the Devices page (or a group) and select one or more devices.
Click the kebab menu (⁝) in the upper-right corner, and then click Install remote desktop agent.
Enable black curtain mode
If you would prefer to display a black screen for the end user while the remote session is happening, you can click the tools icon and select Black Screen (Curtain Mode).
The user will see a black screen indicating Remote user is working on this computer, and their keyboard and mouse inputs will be suppressed, meaning they will not be able to interact with the session.
The user can press and hold the Esc key for 10 seconds to close black curtain mode while leaving the remote desktop session active.
Troubleshoot connection
Because PDQ Remote Desktop relies on a separate agent and local viewer application which use unique connection protocols compared to the Connect agent itself, you may need to check your local security environment and add appropriate exceptions in your antivirus or firewall configuration.
See these articles for further details:
If you're unable to resolve the issue after checking these articles, feel free to submit a support ticket and we can assist further.
