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]

Thank you Sir!!! I don't know what did it, either the -ExecutionPolicy Bypass part or the fact that you run it in a separate PS1 script (I ran it inline from a batch script calling PowerShell to execute), but it doesn't really matter, because of your help I was able to deploy it just using the DISM command now through GPO at startup. :thumbs_up:

[#3]

That is good news! Glad it worked out for you.
Honestly though I think Microsoft should have implemented this as a normal update or at most give us admins something to work on such as deploying it as an msi application; but I suppose, nothing is straight forward after all.

[#4]

Absolutely, I 100% agree.
I guess they try to push the Microsoft Store down everyone's throat, because otherwise hardly anyone would be using it. It is also a way to push businesses from Pro to Enterprise, since the latter can create a customized store with only approved apps. Also, the fact that they will include QuickAssist by default in future Windows 11 images, but not in future Windows 10 images, makes it pretty clear what agenda Microsoft is following.

[#5]

Yep i totally agree.

[#6]

We're likely needing to deploy the Offline version of Quick Assist from the MS Store since we don't give our users admin rights. How often will this be updated in the Store? Will change logs be provided on new versions? Is there a way admins can be notified so we are able to download the newest version of the offline installer to deploy to stay on top of any future security vulnerabilities?

[#7]

@Nathan_Pfeifer 
This is what happened to us when we installed new QuickAssist app from Microsoft store:

When open normally:

When open with elevated right as required:

I've never had any problem with the old version, yet i couldn't get this new version to work. I tried to look for solution but none available at the moment.

Can someone please point me to the work around ?

Quang

[#8]

We are using MSFT private store in our company and after whitelisting the new QA app you can install it but we also see the UAC ADM prompt. When you cancel the ADM prompt the store app is installed nonetheless and QA seems to work with no issues. Can MSFT confirm please that "one-time" ADM credentials are not needed for the app

[#9]

This happened to me as well in the beginning, but it then stopped working, clicking cancel would eventually display an error that the new quick assist app was not installed,and it would insist on admin credentials before being installed properly. The only way i got it to install across the other workstations was via a powershell script deployed through sccm or through gpo, if you check a few posts before this, it might help you out maybe.

[#10]

I have the same error perpetrating around to different site admins in my organization where they are unable to launch the new version. Please provide an update if you were able to find a resolution to the error.
Thank you,

[#11]

@Nathan_Pfeifer

I have a few site admins in my org. seeing the errors. Are there any known resolutions to this, as of yet?

[#12]

@Nathan_Pfeifer 

Easily the worst decision Microsoft has made today.  You FINALLY had a remote assist applicaiton that JUST WORKED, and decided to wipe your behind with it.

[#13]

@NVQUANG 

We get the same thing.   Any resolution to this?

1. Download the app bundle
2. Add-AppxPackage MicrosoftCorporationII.QuickAssist_2022.509.2259.0_neutral___8wekyb3d8bbwe.AppxBundle
3. Open the new app and get the same errors as Nathan - "the requested operation requires elevation" and then "The request is not supported" when opening the app with "run as administrator".

I've tried with two different computers.   Both using Windows 10 v1809 LTSC

[#14]

We've managed to install the new Store version offline in Endpoint/Intune:

- Download the appx bundle. I used https://store.rg-adguard.net/  as explained on How to Download APPX File from Microsoft Store for Offline Installation? | Windows OS Hub (woshub.co...

- Create a small Powershell script to remove the old version and install the new:

# remove old version
Remove-WindowsCapability -online -name App.Support.QuickAssist~~~~0.0.1.0

# install new
DISM /online /add-provisionedappxpackage /packagepath:"MicrosoftCorporationII.QuickAssist_2022.414.1758.0_neutral___8wekyb3d8bbwe.AppxBundle" /skiplicense

- Install this with powershell -executionpolicy bypass .\install_quick_assist.ps1

I've made a batch file (install.bat) like this:

powershell -executionpolicy bypass .\install_quick_assist.ps1

REM create a empty control txt file
copy /y NUL "C:\Program Files\quick_assist_2022_414_1758_0.txt" >NUL

With this I made an intunewin package with IntuneWinAppUtil.exe that contains:

• install.bat
• install_quick_assist.ps1
• MicrosoftCorporationII.QuickAssist_2022.414.1758.0_neutral___8wekyb3d8bbwe.AppxBundle

Last step is to deploy this as an app in Endpoint/Intune. I just check for the empty textfile to see if it has installed. There are better ways to do this, but it works fine.

We have deployed this to our devices this week and it works like a charm. Our users do not have elevated rights and won't even notice that the new version is installed (don't forget to select that pop-up messages won't show up when the app is installed).

I don't know yet what will happen when there is an update of the new Store app of Quick Assist. As mentioned before, the app won't update when you install it offline. Probably just repeat the same steps as described to create a new intunewin package and update the app in Endpoint/Intune with a slightly changed empty control txt file. 

Hope this helps.

[#15]

How to deploy Quick Assist on LTSC version wich does not have Microsoft Store?

[#16]

@PaulKoning

Thank you for the script, Paul.  Unfortunately, I think what it comes down to is that this is not supported on LTSC 1809.    I can install Quick Assist fine on Windows 10 1903 but not on LTSC.

Otherwise, the only thing I see that is different is that I'm trying to install a slightly higher version. 

The version you noted:  MicrosoftCorporationII.QuickAssist_2022.414.1758.0_neutral___8wekyb3d8bbwe.AppxBundle

The version I downloaded yesterday:  MicrosoftCorporationII.QuickAssist_2022.509.2259.0_neutral___8wekyb3d8bbwe.AppxBundle

[#17]

I have indeed downloaded it a bit earlier. Fortunately, this does not cause any problems.

As for the LTSC version, it may not be supported on earlier versions of Windows?

[#18]

Ya, I don't see any minimum requirements stated anywhere so hard to say.

[#19]

We found the shortcut doesn't work, but if we search for QA from Start, it does launch. But then it still tells us to update, but there's a little link below "Already installed it? Open it now" that works. First run can take quite few seconds.

[#20]

Uh-oh, we're finding issues with Win 10 versions 1909 and older. Yes, we're trying hard to get everyone upgraded, but so many remote users makes that difficult... Our 20H2 and later PCs can install QA without any problems.

[#21]

This is so stupid. Why change what is working just fine? We are still working in hybrid mode and this update is asking for elevated permissions and will create so much unnecessary admin for us.