How to manage multiple Windows computers remotely (and your Linux PCs too)

Most remote tools are built around one connection at a time. That's fine for a quick fix, but it falls apart when you need to:

• check which PCs are online right now
• find out why one PC is slow without interrupting whoever is using it
• restart a stuck service or clear a print queue on a PC across town
• run the same check, such as free disk space or the Windows version, on every PC
• do all of that for a Linux desktop or two as well

Windows has its own tools for remote management, but they mostly assume the PCs share a network or a company domain. PCs in different homes, behind ordinary routers, need something that works over the internet without opening ports.

With RemoteAccessApp, each PC runs the small, free Agent and joins your account once. After that, the Devices page in the RemoteAccessApp Console lists every PC, Windows and Linux together, and shows which ones are online. Nothing needs port forwarding or a VPN: each PC connects out to RemoteAccessApp, and you connect to it from wherever you are.

From that list you can open a PC's screen, or work on it without touching the screen at all, which is what makes looking after many PCs practical. Our guide on how to manage multiple computers from one place covers setting up the account and the everyday jobs.

Select several PCs on the Devices page, right-click and choose Run a command. Type the command once and every selected PC runs it. You get each PC's output and exit code side by side, so you can see at a glance where it worked and where it didn't. It's one of three ways to control multiple computers at once, along with mirrored mouse and keyboard input and watching them side by side.

• Windows PCs: Command Prompt, PowerShell or VBScript, several lines if you need them.
• Linux PCs: bash, as the person signed in to the desktop.
• No screen sharing: nobody's screen is shown, so you can check ten PCs without opening ten sessions.

For an interactive prompt on one PC, choose Open command prompt instead. The run a command guide has the details and a few useful one-liners.

The Console's Windows tools show the processes, services, sign-in sessions and Event Log of one PC or several at once. Find a program that has stopped responding and end it, or start, stop and restart a service, all while the person at the PC keeps working.

The same tools work on Linux PCs, using their Linux counterparts: processes, systemd services, who is signed in, and the systemd journal as logs. Anything that needs root is refused with a clear message rather than a password prompt on someone's screen. See controlling a Linux PC from Windows.

Some jobs need the desktop itself. Open sessions in tabs, or in a live grid to watch several screens at once, and turn on Mirror input to type the same thing into all of them. The free plan keeps up to 3 sessions open at once. See how to remote desktop into multiple computers for working with several open, from the app, a browser or your phone.

In Management you can tag your PCs and run a saved script, restart them or install Windows updates on many of them at once for free. For regular upkeep, Pro adds schedules and maintenance windows, and winget app installs on many PCs at once. You see the exact command and the PCs it will run on before anything starts, and every run shows a notice on the PC. Management works with Windows PCs; it's not available on Linux PCs yet. The script guide walks through it.

The Devices list, running commands on several PCs, the command prompt, the Windows tools and unattended access are all in the free plan, for up to 5 PCs with 3 sessions open at once, at home or at work. Pro removes the limits and adds Management. If you're turning on unattended access across several PCs, setting up unattended remote desktop on multiple computers goes through the one-time part on each PC in a sensible order.