Remote assistance with Quick Assist is changing

[Nathan_Pfeifer]

Hi Insiders! Russell Mosier and Bianca Taylor, from the Experiences + Devices team are excited to share an upcoming change to their remote assistance app, Quick Assist.

Remote assistance with Quick Assist

Quick Assist is an app in Windows 10 and Windows 11 that enables you to receive or provide assistance with your PC over a remote connection. The current built-in Quick Assist app is reaching end of service. 

To keep your remote assistance sessions secure, you will need to download the new Quick Assist from the  Microsoft Store.

How it works

1. Select Start > Microsoft Store.
2. In the Microsoft Store window, type Quick Assist in the Search box.
3. Click Quick Assist in the list, and then click the Get button.

Find out the rest here in the blog post!

Cheers,
Nathan

Office Insider Community Manager

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[#2]

How is this exciting news? This is a big problem for our company. The version of Quick Assist that came natively installed with Windows 10 was great because we could instantly provide assistance to anyone with Windows 10, regardless of whether it was their home computer or their work (domain-attached) computer. We could simply have them launch Quick assist and then give them a six-digit support code (Very simple).

Not only does the new version require per-user installation from the Microsoft Store, but the installation requires admin rights. Yikes!

Is there a mechanism for deploying the new version to all users on all machines? A simple GPO deployment would be preferred.  Maybe an MSI could be made available? I am a one-man IT department managing roughly 70 Windows PCs and do not have any type of more sophisticated software deployment mechanism in place.

I am hoping that some simple solution is in the works to replace what seemed like an ideal solution that has now been taken away. 

Thanks

-paul

[#3]

This latest version logs an error in Event Viewer each time the app is run. Tested on Windows 10 and 11, same error.

[#4]

@ps_alisto, Thanks for the warning.
Echoing what Paul said: Best thing about the existing Quick Assist is that it's guaranteed to be on every Windows 10 computer, which means we don't have to walk someone through an installation over the phone, which always carries the risk that they will install an impostor (malicious) app.
When someone is in need a remote assistance, IS NOT the time to be installing new software.   What if their problem is a full system volume?
Further, if we were involved with the users PC setup, they are almost certainly logged in as a Standard Local Account, and may not be able to install new apps.
I came here looking for details about how Quick Assist is changing. Have searched high and low. Found only instructions to fetch new from app store. In App Store reviews, I see several experiencing trouble with new App. Why from App Store? Why not with Windows Updates? So far, I'm convinced we will stay with the old version.

[#5]

Is there a mechanism for deploying the new version to all users on all machines? A simple GPO deployment would be preferred. Maybe an MSI could be made available?

[#6]

@ps_alisto 

Hello Paul, and thanks for the question.

If accessing from the Store page that opens from the app prompt does not work – it is also available as an offline app for distribution and can be accessed via the Microsoft Store for Business. More details are here: Distribute offline apps (Windows 10) | Microsoft Docs

If this will also not work/be viable then we’d love to get some more details about your scenario if you’d like to provide that.

Thanks so much for the feedback!

[#7]

Thanks for the note!

This doesn’t seem to be related to having issues getting the app, but just an error in Event Viewer.

Quick Assist does not log anything to Event Viewer directly, but there is shared code with another application that is likely showing as an error in Event Viewer.

This shouldn’t impact anything for a user. That being said we have heard the feedback and is something we could update to clean-up in the future.

Thanks!

Nathan

[#8]

Appreciate the note!

Understand the frustration of pushing a user to download the Store app to get a remote assistance app.

The nature of using remote assistance is that one of the parties is stuck and needs help – so it can be frustrating.

There is some underlying functionality, in how we currently have this set up, that needed to be adjusted that led to this.

That being said, this is time sensitive and sometime in mid-May the old version will no longer be usable.

Thanks for the feedback! It is being passed along, rest assured.

Nathan

[#9]

Thanks for the reply. The article that you referenced indicates that "the Microsoft Store for Business and Microsoft Store for Education will be retired in the first quarter of 2023". It seems like the options described in the referenced article require deployment tools that we do not have in place. I may have to hire a consultant to explore those options. This is so frustrating. The native app just worked.

Unfortunately in the case of business users, they cannot install the app themselves because it requires admin rights and we do not give users admin credentials. Isn't there a way to simply update the native Quick Assist feature through Windows Update? Alternatively (although less desirable)—If the MS Store version of the app were not user-specific, it might be far more practical to get it installed in advance.

[#10]

@Nathan_Pfeifer  In response to your previous replies, In certain instances It's not a viable option to deploy an offline version. I'm wanting to deploy this via Endpoint Manager (Intune) and the preferred method of publishing the online version via Company Portal.  My end users are not local admins nor do I want them to be.  I do not wish to deploy an offline version as when an app is updated, it's detection rules are often no longer applicable so I receive error messages as it tries to redeploy the older version.

It needs to be deployable in a system context and Microsoft need to understand that sysadmins do not want their end users to be administrators of their machines.

[#11]

@Nathan_Pfeifer 

Hi Nathan,
I think the offline installer will work for getting this rolled out in my environment but I'm running into one big issue. How do we remove the old version of Quick Assist? No matter how I install this update, it leaves both versions installed. I can find no straightforward way to remove the out dated version.

[#12]

well, it was good while it lasted: Introduced with Windows 10. Gone before Windows 11 reaches 25% adoption.
With Quick-Assist, we could deliver remote help to a near complete stranger. Usually someone just referred to us by an other client. To build trust, I usually begin by explaining that Quick-Assist is a Microsoft product, and in fact, it is part of Windows 10, already installed on your PC. Further, Windows even gave you a HotKey (Win+Ctrl+Q) to launch it. This is far more reassuring to security conscious users than "I need you to install something that lets me remotely control your computer".
Microsoft needs to re-think this.
Why can't Windows Update continue to maintain this feature?
Why does the inbuilt Quick-Assist need to be eliminated so quickly? We only just learned of the change less than a month ago.
If Microsoft insists, this will drive many to move back to 3rd party tools. Some will pay for proprietary solutions, making connections proxied through systems hosted by possibly trustworthy organizations (or not). Others will search out free tools, with obvious risks.

[#13]

@ShawnZ1H - Well stated. Thank you.

[#14]

This was brought to my attention by our Helpdesk staff and it looks like it's going to be a big problem for us. We also don't grant our users local admin rights. This seems to be a replacement rather than an update, but either way we need our users to be able to get it without elevated privileges.

Please remove the requirement for admin rights, or do away with the May 23rd deadline, or make the update available through Windows Update, or provide an MSI or EXE installer.

[#15]

@Nathan_Pfeifer 

The only time I use Quick assist, is when I have to deal with office356 support.

We use Anydesk, err should i say admins and people in the know.

But it was nice to have an alternate option for users and customers that needed help.

MS really screwed up a good thing.

Why couldnt they just update it windows update. IM not going to install it on 50+ PCs.

Bye, bye Quick assist.

[#16]

Hi Nathan,

When I try to download the offline version using the link above I get the following error:

tlu.dl.delivery.mp.microsoft.com normally uses encryption to protect your information. When Chrome tried to connect to tlu.dl.delivery.mp.microsoft.com this time, the website sent back unusual and incorrect credentials. This may happen when an attacker is trying to pretend to be tlu.dl.delivery.mp.microsoft.com or a Wi-Fi sign-in screen has interrupted the connection. Your information is still secure because Chrome stopped the connection before any data was exchanged.

You cannot visit tlu.dl.delivery.mp.microsoft.com right now because the website uses HSTS. Network errors and attacks are usually temporary, so this page will probably work later.

And I am not able to download the package to deploy.

[#17]

I can just say big ouch.

like the old remote assistance tool never worked for me, then there was something that actually works even if it needs windows 10/11 and needs to be logged into an MS account every **bleep** time).

not only have others mentioned that local admin perms are needed for install which is annoying enough especially every literally everyone and their mother's remote support tool can work without admin in a limited fashion (as in no transmission of UAC/security page and no interaction with admin windows)

and some tools are even crazy enough to allow basically self elevation by supplying admin creds remotely and the user just clicking yes on a UAC prompt without needing to enter admin creds himself (which is pure heaven for the admin)

now people need to go onto the MS store which most people dont even really know about except it maybe existing. it might be easier for people to just go to a website and just download a different tool for remote support.

[#18]

The 2 biggest upsides of quick assist were that it was installed on every system by default, and the hotkey for it. I could just ask the user/family member/friend to press the key combo and start troubleshooting. This is going to add a significant amount of unnecessary hurdle, which is going to cost me days in the coming years. The worst part? I don't see any upsides to this change. Please rethink this approach if possible.
Thank you.

[#19]

Quick Assist is simply one of the best things that Windows has going for it, PLEASE make it attached to every install of Windows without the need of going to the store just to get it, it should be on EVERY Windows install by default.

[#20]

I just tested Quick Assist on a PC with a non-admin user and the old Quick Assist prompts to go to the MS Store page to download the new version. It does NOT require Admin rights to download and install. I was able to connect to that PC with the original version of Quick Assist without any problems. As long as the prompt in the old version stays available after the deadline, we should be okay.