Can anyone help me resolve a long running issue regarding Remote Assistance on Windows 7?
We have recently upgraded many of our PCs from XP to Win7 but our Helpdesk are no longer able to use Remote Assistance on the Win7 PCs so I've been trying to get it fixed. I’ve read dozens of articles on various forums (including this one) and tried a wide range of suggested solutions - I’ve dug into the registry, tweaked DCOM settings, modified GPOs, messed around with Teredo and PNRP settings, amended firewalls and changed permissions – all to no avail!
This is my test setup:
- Windows 2003 corporate domain
- Helper and target PCs both running Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. Both PCs on same subnet (actually on adjacent desks)
- Offer Remote Assistance GPO setting enabled and helper is a member of the listed group
- Firewalls on both PCs have default Remote Assistance rules enabled
- Target PC has Remote Assistance enabled and the Offer Remote Assistance Helpers local group is populated as per the group policy
So far, so good.
Now, Remote Assistance works fine when the target PC user solicits help through an invitation file or email (Easy Connect option not available though). However,offering remote assistance has never worked.
This is the scenario:
- Helper runs MSRA.EXE /OFFERRA and is prompted for the name or IP address of the target PC
- On entering the address and clicking OK receives the message “Offering Remote Assistance: Connecting to the remote computer to get the logged in users…”
- At this stage Event Viewer on thetarget PC shows raserver.exe as running (which I thought a little odd as Windows 7 uses msra.exe for remote assistance). Nothing else appears on the target PC, i.e. no RA prompts
- After 15secs or so an error message is displayed on the Helper PC “Your offer to help could not be sent. Check the following: Do you have the correct permissions on the remote computer [I have]. Is the remote computer turned on and is it connected to the network [Yes and Yes]. Is there a network problem [No]. “
- In the event viewer of the Helper PC the following events are logged:
Event id 9 - There was a problem interacting with COM object 833E4010-AFF7-4AC3-AAC2-9F24C1457BCE. An outdated version might be installed, or the component might not be installed at all.
Event id 13 - Remote Assistance started with: /offerRA as the command line parameters
Event id 41 - Diagnosis Repro Attempt resulted in a failure.
Event id 44 - Remote Assistance troubleshooting has confirmed the problem: Remote Assistance Easy Connect isn't available.
Event id 30 - Remote Assistance has ended.
This has been driving me crazy. Why is a supposedly simple admin tool so difficult to implement?
Anyone found a solution for this yet?