Remotely Control a User Session

You can remotely control a user session in Remote Desktop Services Manager by using the Remote Control action.

To remotely control a user session

In Remote Desktop Services Manager, in the left pane, click the Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) server on which the user session is running.
To remotely control a user session, do either of the following:
- On the Users tab, right-click the user session, and then click Remote Control.
- On the Sessions tab, right-click the user session, and then click Remote Control.
In the Remote Control dialog box, under Hot key, select the keys that you want to use to end the remote control session.
Click OK to start the remote control session.
To end the remote control session, press the keys that you specified in Step 3.

You can always remotely control your own sessions (except the current session).
You can only remotely control another session from within a remote session.
To remotely control another user's session, you must have Full Control permission or Remote Control special access permission.
To configure remote control settings for a connection, use Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration. To configure remote control settings for a particular user account, use the Remote Desktop Services extensions to Local Users and Groups and Active Directory Users and Computers.
You can either view or actively control the session. If you choose to actively control a user's session, you will be able to input keyboard and mouse actions to the session.
Before monitoring begins, the server warns the user that the session is about to be remotely controlled, unless this warning is disabled. Your session might appear to be frozen for a few seconds while it waits for a response from the user.
Your session must be capable of supporting the video resolution used at the session that you are remotely controlling, or the operation fails.
You can use the shadow command-line tool to remotely control a user session.