How to use your Windows PC from a Chromebook

Your programs keep running on the Windows PC. The free RemoteAccessApp Agent there keeps an outgoing connection to your account. On the Chromebook, you sign in to remoteaccessapp.com and open the PC from your dashboard: its screen appears in the tab, and your keyboard, touchpad or touch screen drive it. Nothing is installed on the Chromebook, which suits school and work Chromebooks that don't allow extra apps. Students can use their home PC for uni or school work this way, and it's the same in a Mac's browser if you want to control a Windows PC from a Mac.

1. 1

   Step 1: Install RemoteAccessApp on the Windows PC

   On the PC, download the free installer from the download page and run it. Choose Set up this PC and sign in, or create your free account first. Leave Start RemoteAccessApp with Windows ticked.

2. 2

   Step 2: Keep the PC awake and signed in

   In Windows Settings, under System and then Power, set the PC not to sleep while it's plugged in. Stay signed in to Windows: remote tools can't get past the Windows sign-in or lock screen.

3. 3

   Step 3: Choose who clicks Allow

   If someone will be at the PC, they click Allow when you connect. For your own PC, turn on Unattended access from the RemoteAccessApp icon in the PC's taskbar tray, and two-step verification for your account. See how to set up unattended access.

4. 4

   Step 4: Open the PC in Chrome

   On the Chromebook, open remoteaccessapp.com in Chrome, sign in and click the PC. Its screen opens in the tab, and a banner shows on the PC for as long as you're connected.

Chromebook keyboards don't have a Windows key, and Chrome OS keeps some shortcuts for itself (more on keyboard shortcuts in a remote session). Open Shortcuts in the session's toolbar for the keys Windows needs: the Start menu, Task Manager, Run (Win+R), File Explorer (Win+E), Settings (Win+I), Alt+Tab, Close window (Alt+F4), Copy, Paste and more, with one click each.

For long sessions, go full screen from the session's menu. In Chrome, full screen locks the keyboard to the page, so keys like Alt+Tab and Esc go to the PC instead of the Chromebook. Hold Esc to leave full screen.

On a touch screen you can tap the PC directly. The session's top bar switches between Trackpad mode, where one finger moves a pointer like a laptop touchpad, and Touch mode, which clicks where you tap. Pinch to zoom in on small buttons. The gestures are the same as on a phone: see control your PC from a phone.

• Balanced is the everyday choice. Use Sharpest for documents and spreadsheets on a fast connection, and Saves data on a phone hotspot or busy Wi-Fi.
• The PC's upload speed matters most, because the picture comes from there. A cable on the PC helps more than anything you change on the Chromebook.
• Short drops are fine. If the Wi-Fi blips or you switch to another tab, the session picks up again when you're back.

If you look after a Linux server or a Raspberry Pi, your saved SSH hosts open in a terminal in Chrome with Open terminal on your dashboard, with a key row for Esc, Tab, Ctrl and the arrows. See remote console access.

A browser session is encrypted, but not end to end: our website decodes the picture in memory to show it in Chrome, and never records or stores it. Sessions from the Windows app are end-to-end encrypted, one of the differences covered in browser or Windows app: which should you connect with. If the Chromebook belongs to a school or employer, follow its rules, don't tick Remember this browser, and sign out when you're done.