hello, i recently installed windows server 2008 r2 and have about 30 users and about 100 computers i saw and option in the users profile properties that said remotely control this users session, so i was wondering how i would go about remotely observing or controlling another users session through windows server if anyone knows that would be great... thanks

You can use the built-in tool called Remote Assistance. The command to initiate a session is msra.exe. You can specify a computer to connect directly: msra.exe /computer:<computername> Once you have connected, you can request to take control from the user. If you found this post helpful, please give it a "Helpful" vote. If it answered your question, remember to mark it as an "Answer". Rich Prescott | MCITP, MCTS, MCP Blog | Twitter: @Arposh | Powershell Client System Administration tool

i know of that option but im just wondering why it has the option there to take over the session and how todo it without asking permission of the domain user

Unfortunately Remote Assistance does not allow you to take over the session without the permission of the user.If you found this post helpful, please give it a "Helpful" vote. If it answered your question, remember to mark it as an "Answer". Rich Prescott | MCITP, MCTS, MCP Blog | Twitter: @Arposh | Powershell Client System Administration tool

do you know of any other built in programs that would allow me to take over without permission from the user ? the only way i know how todo it is to remote desktop the machine and then just get into task manager and goto the users tab and right click on the user then click on remote control but there has tobe a way todo this through the server

You can use VNC, this will allow transparent viewing of the session

that remote control tab is used when the users are logged in through the REMOTE DESKTOP SERVER Formerly terminal server. If the users logs on using the terminal server then you should be able to remote control the users using Terminal Services Manager. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/232792 http://www.virmansec.com/blogs/skhairuddin

We currently use a 3rd party piece of software called Dameware, Dameware Mini remote control, licenses are fairly cheap and it has options to enable / disable of needing confirmation.

We currently use a 3rd party piece of software called Dameware, Dameware Mini remote control, licenses are fairly cheap and it has options to enable / disable of needing confirmation. hi, do you know if dameware has a client and a server side? i got the trial version of VNC but i have to manually enter the ip we dont have static ips on all of our computers so that program would be something pretty difficult to use also do you know if it will connect to the server and the server will show it as connected? so for example if i wanted to remote control a tablet and its name was 11523 would there be a list saying that 11523 is connected or would i have to type in the computer name for it to connect

Dameware has a client side piece of software when you connect to the client it installs the viewing software on it, and it has a piece of software that you run your comuputer to connect to the clients, it can work on names or ip addresses. It can do many things but a few that may interest you are, request permission / not request permission for remote control, show that you are viewing / not show you are viewing (good for schools). they do have other software called Dameware NT Utils, this when opened shows a live list of computers which you can perform many tasks on from viewing installed software to a remote command prompt. best to ahve a read of the site and see if it sounds like what you want.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. If you find an answer helpful then please "Vote As Helpful"