I just came across this post, on some forum, and I thought I'd better share it with you guys.

It's very simple: create a shortcut with the following target:

%windir%\explorer.exe "hcp://CN=Microsoft%20Corporation,L=Redmond,S=Washington,C=US/Remote%20Assistance/Escalation/Unsolicited/Unsolicitedrcui.htm"

and give it a name you like.

All you have to do now is entering a pc's computername or IP address and he/she will be prompted right away: all he/she has to do is click 'OK' and that's it!

I hope this post is useful to somebody...

really great trick i saw it on the wiki

just fyi you need to have remote assistance enabled (which is the default in xp), and if the pc is behind a NAT Router you need to forward the specific ports (3389).

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...n/rmassist.mspx

Edited July 23, 200521 yr by DigeratiPrime

I tried this from behind my router (so no need to open 3389 for access from outside my LAN). I have enabled RA on both machines and am not blocking machine to machine ports. I can successfully create the shortcut on machine A and when I type in machine B's IP address I get the following error:

Access to the requested resource as been disabled by your administrator.

Is there a service I need to have active or something? As I said, the RA check box is checked on both machines as is the "allow this computer to be controlled remotely" check box.

Thanks for any help all!

Help and support service and Remote assistance and Terminal Services services should be all set to started on the pc you are trying to access

help and support service should be set to started on the pc you are trying to access the other pc from

Thanks for the info, Chili. They are all started as per your suggestion yet that error message is present

I can take control of the target PC if I go through the process of creating an invitation so I know it works. This shortcut method doesn't seem to work though which would make things MUCH easier. Could it be some sort of security policy issue anyone?

Edited April 15, 200620 yr by graysky

Think I figured it out!

Start up gpedit.msc (windowskey+r then gpedit.msc)

Then navigate to: Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Remote Assistance

Open up Offer Remote Assistance and enable it.

You'll have to enter the user name of the person you want to be able to get into your system

Doing this, I've been able to use this shortcut method behind my LAN. I'll try on a friend's machine later on and report back but I see no reason why it shouldn't work.

Nope.. doesn't work outside my LAN. RA does work if the user makes a formal invite and emails it to me.... Help anyone this has to be some policy setting.

Edited April 16, 200620 yr by graysky

I've been poking around HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp but haven't see anything really telling... can someone who can actually get this method of RA to work please post their entries under that reg area so I can compare their to mine?

Edited April 16, 200620 yr by graysky

Can anyone else try this and report back here? I can't be the only one