Setting up Chrome Remote Desktop

1Using the computer you will want to access from a remote location, point your browser at remotedesktop.google.com, log in to your Google Account and click Turn On. Needless to say, this needs to be set up before you leave home, so it’s worth doing now rather than realising too late.

2You can add multiple computers to every Google Account, allowing you to set up simultaneous access to work and home machines – as well as to less technically literate relatives who may want you to have access so you can help them out of a future hole directly, rather than trying to talk them through applying a fix over the phone. For that reason, each computer registered to your account needs a unique name. Make it something logical so you can easily tell them apart.

3Finally, supply a PIN of at least six digits. This is your secondary line of defence, after your Google Account password, for which you can only use numbers – not letters or punctuation. So, the usual rules apply about not using obvious dates, phone numbers or strings of repeated digits, and go beyond the minimum if you want to keep your account as safe as possible. Decide whether you are happy to send metrics back to Google, then click Start.

4Confirm that you’re happy for “Native messaging host for remoting host management” to make changes to your device, and your PC will be added to the list of computers accessible through your account. If you’ve not yet set up any other devices, it will be the only one shown. Notice the trash icon, which removes the PC from your account, and the pencil, through which you can change its name and PIN. There are no other settings.

5Before travelling, test the connection to make sure it works. Use a Chromium-based browser on another PC or Mac to log in to the same Google Account as you have just been using and, again, visit remotedesktop.google.com. Click Start to retrieve the same list of registered computers, alongside an option to “Set up remote access” on this second machine. Ignore the setup option; instead, click the name of the device you’ve already set up, which is “Win10-laptop” in our case.

6There

are several functions and key combinations that, when performed on the local machine, would affect it directly, rather than being passed through to the remote host. These include Ctrl+Alt+Del for opening Task Manager and PrtScr for capturing screenshots. Click the small blue lozenge protruding from the right edge of the browser window to open the Remote Desktop control pane, where you’ll find two clickable links for these functions.