Remote PC login: how to sign in to your PC from anywhere

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   Step 1: Install RemoteAccessApp on the PC

   On the PC you'll want to log in to, run the installer from the download page and pick the Agent. It installs just for you, without administrator rights.

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   Step 2: Link the PC to your account

   Choose Set up this PC and sign in with your free account, or type the 6-digit code from Add a PC on your dashboard. The PC appears in your account within seconds.

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   Step 3: Keep it ready

   Leave Start RemoteAccessApp with Windows ticked, and set the PC not to sleep while you need it. To get in when nobody is there, turn on unattended access at the PC.

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   Step 4: Sign in from wherever you are

   Sign in at remoteaccessapp.com in any browser, including on a phone, or in the RemoteAccessApp Console on another Windows PC. Your PCs are listed with whether they're online.

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   Step 5: Open your PC

   Click it. You see its screen and use its mouse and keyboard as if you were sitting at it, with a banner on the PC for as long as you're connected.

"Remote login" mixes up two different sign-ins, and it helps to keep them apart:

• Your RemoteAccessApp account (email, password and, if you turn it on, a two-factor code). This is what you type on the website or in the Console. It opens your list of PCs and nothing else.
• Your Windows account on the PC (its password or PIN). RemoteAccessApp never asks for it and never sees it. Once you're connected you're already inside your Windows session, so you only need it when an app or Windows asks for it on screen.

Your account password doesn't travel to our server either: the apps and the website turn it into a key on your own device and send only that. More in how RemoteAccessApp is secured.

From any web browser

Go to remoteaccessapp.com, sign in, and open the PC from your dashboard. This works on a Mac, a Chromebook, Linux, a work laptop where you can't install software, or another Windows PC. The browser connection is encrypted, but not end to end, because our website decodes the picture in memory to show it to you. It never records or stores it.

From your phone or tablet

Use your phone's browser the same way. Touch works like a laptop trackpad by default, or you can switch to tapping where you want to click; a two-finger tap right-clicks in Trackpad mode, and you can pinch to zoom. On iPhone, add RemoteAccessApp to your home screen and it opens like an app. There's more in access your PC from a browser.

From another Windows PC

Install the RemoteAccessApp Console (the same installer, pick the Console) and sign in with the same account. Console sessions are end-to-end encrypted between the two PCs, and you can open up to 3 PCs at once on the free plan, side by side or in tabs.

By default, the PC asks before anyone connects: a prompt titled Allow remote access? appears, and nothing is shown until someone there clicks Allow. That's right when someone is using the PC. To log in to your own PC while you're away, turn on unattended access at the PC (right-click the RemoteAccessApp icon in the taskbar tray and choose Unattended access).

Your own browsers and consoles, signed in to the account that owns the PC, then get straight in, with nobody at the PC. Anyone else is allowed once at the PC, ticking the box to connect without asking next time (to remember it, for a browser). Protect your account with two-step verification. Unattended access can only be switched on at the PC itself, and the trusted list stays on that PC. The full walkthrough is in how to set up unattended access safely, and free unattended remote access explains what's included.

What unattended login can't do

RemoteAccessApp works inside a signed-in Windows session. It doesn't sign in to Windows for you, and it can't type your Windows password or PIN at the sign-in or lock screen. So an unattended PC has to stay signed in: after a restart, someone signs in at the PC first, and a PC locked during a session stays locked until someone signs in there. The checklist below keeps it ready.

Windows itself can be set to sign in to one account automatically after a restart. That's a Windows setting, not a RemoteAccessApp one, and it means anyone who switches the PC on is signed in, so only consider it for a PC in a place you trust.

Linux PCs work the same way: install RemoteAccessApp for Linux on the PC, add it to your account with a setup code, and it shows up next to your Windows PCs. The Agent starts when you sign in to the desktop, on X11 or Wayland. On Wayland, the desktop asks once at the PC to approve screen sharing, and remembers it.

One difference helps when nobody is there: if a Linux PC's screen locks, you can type that user's password in the session and the system unlocks it. After a restart, someone still has to sign in to the desktop first, unless it signs in automatically. See install RemoteAccessApp on Linux and unlock a locked Linux PC remotely.

RemoteAccessApp can reach a PC only while it's on, online and signed in to Windows. A few settings make sure it is, and before a trip it's worth checking you can get back into your PC before you leave home:

• Stay signed in to Windows. RemoteAccessApp runs in your Windows session and starts when you sign in. After a restart, such as one for Windows updates, someone has to sign in at the PC (or Windows has to sign in by itself) before it shows as online again.
• Don't lock it remotely. Remote tools can't unlock the Windows lock screen or press Ctrl+Alt+Del. If you lock the PC during a session, you may not get back in until someone signs in at the PC.
• Keep it awake. In Windows Settings, under System and then Power, set the PC not to sleep while it's plugged in if you'll need it while you're away. A PC that's asleep or shut down shows as offline. Some PC makers add their own power and network tools; setting up remote access on an MSI PC covers MSI Center and the BIOS settings, for example.
• Keep it online. Any ordinary home or office internet connection works. There's no port forwarding or VPN to set up, because the PC connects out to RemoteAccessApp (how that works).

• Use a long, unique password for your RemoteAccessApp account. A password manager makes that easy.
• Turn on two-factor sign-in with an authenticator app under Security on your dashboard, and keep the backup codes somewhere safe.
• Without two-factor, a browser or PC you haven't used before also needs a 6-digit code we email you, which you can remember for 30 days.
• Limit sign-ins to trusted networks if you always connect from the same places, like home and the office.
• On a shared or public computer, use a private browser window and sign out when you're done.

• The PC shows as offline. It's asleep, shut down, not signed in to Windows, or not connected to the internet. Someone at the PC can check the RemoteAccessApp icon in the taskbar tray.
• Nothing happens after you click it. The PC is waiting for someone to click Allow. Without an answer, the prompt denies the request by itself after a short wait. Turn on unattended access if you'll connect while nobody is there.
• The PC says it needs Pro. The free plan covers 5 PCs. Remove a PC you no longer use from your dashboard to make room.
• You forgot your account password. Use Forgot password to get a reset link by email.