[German]As of today, May 16, 2022, the remote support Quick Assist for Windows 10 and Windows 11 is only available in the Microsoft Store. The previous Windows 32 application for Quick Assist, which was available as a standalone application, has fallen out of support. Seems to frustrate some Windows administrators, because the whole thing is probably only half-baked implemented.
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Quick Assist, a short review
Quick Assist is the English-language name for the remote support included in Windows and in Intune. Microsoft has published the article Solve PC problems over a remote connection on the subject. The Windows Quick Assist app (Remote Assistance) lets people get or provide PC support over a remote connection.
On April 22, 2022, I had already written about this application and issues in the blog post Quick Assist: Intune certificate expired and TLS problems in Windows. But now there is a new development that may not be met with joy – because Quick Assist is only available via Windows Store as of today.
Quick Assist only via Store
The April 27, 2022 announcement Remote assistance with Quick Assist is changing is changing by Russell Mosier and Bianca Taylor on the Office Insider blog pretty much passed me by. But it's important for administrators.
There, one learns that the Quick Assist app currently integrated in Windows 10/11 has reached the end of its support. Those who want to receive or provide remote support for Windows systems will need the new Quick Assist app from the Microsoft Store in the future (requires Windows 10 build 17763.0, so Windows 10 LTSC versions like 1607 are not supported). The colleagues from Bleeping Computer write that the new app will be available in the Store from May 16, 2022 (this Microsoft support post says, that the new Quick Assist version was released on April 28, 2022). A post by a Microsoft employee states, that the old app will no longer be usable after mid-May 2022 (I've also seen May 23, 2022 as the deadline in the comments).
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Administrators are frustrated
The announcement of the change in strategy at Quick Assist can also be found in the Techcommunity post Remote assistance with Quick Assist is changing. Microsoft employee Nathan Pfeifer tries to sell the change under the heading "exciting news". This does not go down well with users or administrators. On May 2, one user writes:
How is this exciting news? This is a big problem for our company. The version of Quick Assist that came natively installed with Windows 10 was great because we could instantly provide assistance to anyone with Windows 10, regardless of whether it was their home computer or their work (domain-attached) computer. We could simply have them launch Quick assist and then give them a six-digit support code (Very simple).
Then he goes on to point out that not only does the Store app need to be installed per user from the Microsoft Store, but the installation also requires local administrator privileges. This is not a lone voice, more administrators from companies are coming forward who do not think this change in strategy is a good and well thought out idea. Users have to browse the Microsoft Store and install an app when they need remote support – that is hardly feasible for many users.
Nathan Pfeifer from Microsoft is still trying to convince the administrators that the Quick Assist app can be distributed offline in companies and that the app can be obtained via the Microsoft Store for Business. In 2021 I had the article Windows Store for Business dies in Q1 2023, and that's exactly what other commenters mentioned in the Techcommunity.
Another administrator points out to the Microsoft employee that in certain cases, deploying an offline version is not a viable option. This administrator prefers to deploy via an endpoint manager (Intune) and his preferred method is to deploy the online version via the corporate portal. He also points out that end users are not local administrators and he doesn't want them to be. This is because deploying offline versions causes problems when updating an application, as their detection rules are often no longer applicable. The administrator then receives error messages when trying to redeploy an older version.
Another administrator puts it sarcastically, "Quick Assist was introduced as built-in remote support with Windows 10, so you could easily give users support (a key combination (Win+Ctrl+Q) to start it is enough). Just before Windows 11 reaches 25% adoption, this feature disappears from the OS again and has to be reinstalled via app.
He sees that people then resort to third-party solutions. None of this is really well thought out. Anyway, it looks to me like the administrators are frustrated there and Microsoft's approach isn't working. How is this solved in your companies? Is the issue well known and already addressed, or has it not been on the radar so far – or are third-party solutions being used?
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