Offer Remote Assistance - Permission Denied - What's a Domain?

[extremepilot]

OK, I looked at some guides on how to get "Offer Remote Assistance" working. Right now I am getting a "Permission Denied" error when I try to offer help to a computer in my network. What it says to do is, click the Add button and type the name of a user or group in the Add Item dialog box. When you do, you need to use the following formats:

* Domain\user

* Domain\group

I don't understand what you need to do. I am in a Wireless network with the Novice computer (computer I am trying offer help to), I have no idea what they mean by domain. Do I just add my computer user name (which in this case is Administrator)? Or do I put down the network we are in, then slash, then administrator? How do I know what the network is called?

Edited November 5, 2006 by extremepilot

[N1K]

Hi there, welcome to the forums..

You can find useful information about domain here.

while loging on to a remote computer you can use domainname\username or username@domainname

[Geek Prophet]

OK, I looked at some guides on how to get "Offer Remote Assistance" working. Right now I am getting a "Permission Denied" error when I try to offer help to a computer in my network. What it says to do is, click the Add button and type the name of a user or group in the Add Item dialog box. When you do, you need to use the following formats:

* Domain\user

* Domain\group

I don't understand what you need to do. I am in a Wireless network with the Novice computer (computer I am trying offer help to), I have no idea what they mean by domain. Do I just add my computer user name (which in this case is Administrator)? Or do I put down the network we are in, then slash, then administrator? How do I know what the network is called?

You probably can't do this. But there is a solution.

If you don't know what a domain is at all, then you likely are not on one. If you and the remote computer are not on a domain, then you cannot offer remote assistance. See KB308013. However, they can still invite you.

Read the explanation in the link given by the previous poster. If you are still uncertain whether or not you or the remote computer are on a domain, then, when you log onto your computer, look for the box labelled "Log onto" and see what domain it says. You may have to click the "Options" button on the logon screen to see it. If no "Log onto" window appears even after pushing the "Options" button, there is no domain.

If there is no domain, then the solution is to have the end user request remote assistance. The end user choses Start, then Help and Support, then goes to the first option in the second column, "Invite a friend to connect to your computer with Remote Assistance". Once they have invited you (requires either email or both of you to be using Windows Messenger, or for them to save it as a file, open it in notepad, read off the exact contents and file name including extension, and you to create an identical file, with the same name and contents), you will be able to help them.

If this option is disabled, or you can view the remote computer's screen but not actually control it, they need to right-click on "My Computer", select "Properties", go to the "Remote" tab, put a check mark in the top check mark box. Then they need to click on "Advanced" and put a check mark in the box on the next page, if empty. Make certain that the boxes below that give a resonable amount of time for you to connect to their computer and fix the problem, then click "OK", then "OK".

Hope that helps!

[extremepilot]

Thanks guys.

Now theres another small problem. I save it to a file (which is what I always do, but I would really prefer to offer), but now I wanted to use Windows Messenger. I think this only works with the old Windows Messenger. Help and Support says it isn't installed when it is in fact installed, only it's called Windows LIVE Messenger now. So I would have to dig a little and get an older version of Windows Messenger that supports Remote Assistance requesting?

[Geek Prophet]

If the offer is saved as a file, then you could send the file via Windows Messenger, if the Live version is remotely as functional as the old version. I don't know enough about the Live version to offer any more advice on that subject.

However, why not have them email the file to you as an attachment? This will work with any email client, unlike the email option. If you don't want to give them your email address (say, because if they have it, they will treat you as their personal tech, on tap at any time they wish), then have them send it via Trashmail, which will create a temporary forwarding address that you can cancel at any time.