Home technology help · Remote session
I will never call you and ask you to install anything. You call me first.
If anyone phones and asks you to install a remote-access program, hang up and call me. That goes for callers who say they are Microsoft, Apple, your bank — or me.
Call me and I’ll do it. We use a screen share you already have — Teams, Zoom, Meet, or press the Windows key and type Quick Assist, which is already on your machine. Two minutes, you watch, you never open a settings screen.
Follow the six steps below, in order. Step 1 before step 2 matters — it saves you jumping back and forth between this page and the program.
Point your phone’s camera at the square. Then you can read along on the phone while your computer screen stays on RustDesk — no switching windows at all. This one thing makes everything else easier.
Do this now, before you download anything. It stays on your clipboard through everything else, so you only come back here once.
Setup code
This is the right file for the computer you are reading this on. You don’t need to know anything about your computer — the page worked it out.
Not sure which Mac? Apple menu → About This Mac shows either “Chip: Apple M…” or an Intel processor.
Double-click the file you just downloaded. RustDesk runs straight away. It will offer you an Install button: leave that alone unless I ask for it. Not installing keeps this simpler and leaves less behind on your machine.
On a Mac: open the file, drag RustDesk into Applications, then open it from there. It will ask for Screen Recording and Accessibility permission — click Configure on each and switch RustDesk on. Call me and I’ll walk you through it; this part is fiddly and it is not your fault.
If Windows shows a blue box saying it protected your PC, that means the program is new to it, not that something is wrong. Choose More info, then Run anyway — but only because you downloaded it from the button on this page. If you got the file any other way, stop and call me.
You should now see the RustDesk window, with a number called “Your ID” on the left.
Three clicks, all inside RustDesk. You won’t need this page again until the end.
Click the Settings tab along the top of the RustDesk window, then Network on the left. Click the row that says ID/Relay Server. A box opens — in its top right corner are two small grey icons with no words next to them. Click the left one, the clipboard. Everything fills in by itself. Click OK.
It worked if the ID Server box now reads biz.iscs-i.com.
If the paste icon does nothing, your clipboard was emptied along the way. Take a photo of this card with your phone and type the three values into that same box.
One more thing while you are still in Settings, and it is the one that actually keeps strangers out. Click Security on the left. The first box is headed Password. At the top of it is a dropdown reading Accept sessions via both — change it to Accept sessions via password.
It worked if the dropdown reads Accept sessions via password.
Why this one matters more than the rest: left as it comes, RustDesk will put an Accept button on your screen for anybody who knows your ID, and that button lets them straight in with no password at all. A caller only has to talk you into clicking it — which is exactly how the phone scams work. Changed to Accept sessions via password, that button is not drawn at all, and the password you read me is the only way in.
If you have one screen and everything opens full-size, here are three ways to move between this page and RustDesk.
On the left of the RustDesk window, under Your Desktop, are an ID (a long number) and a one-time password. Read both to me on the phone. Never give them to anyone else, and never to someone who called you.
That one-time password is the gate. Without it my connection is refused, and RustDesk replaces it with a new one every time it starts, so it is no use to anyone afterwards. A small bar stays on screen the whole time I’m connected, and your mouse pointer will move on its own — that’s me, not a fault. Click Disconnect whenever you like, for any reason.
While I’m typing that password, a small box may appear on your screen asking whether to allow access, and then vanish by itself once I’m in. That is normal. If one appears when you are not on the phone with me, click Dismiss. With the Security change from step 4 in place that box carries no Accept button at all, so no caller can talk you into letting them in. If you ever do see an Accept button on it, that setting has come undone — ring me.
When we’re finished, click the circular arrow beside the password. It turns into a different password on the spot and the one you read me stops working, so I cannot come back without asking you for a new one. You can watch it change on screen — that is the whole proof, and you don’t have to take my word for any of it. Quitting RustDesk does the same thing: the password is never written to disk, so a fresh one appears every time it starts. RustDesk also retires it on its own the moment a connection succeeds, so the one you read me is spent as soon as I’m in — the arrow is there so you can watch that happen rather than take it on trust.
On Windows I can’t click the “Do you want to allow this app to make changes?” box from my end, so I’ll tell you when one is coming. Click Yes only then.
What my server does see: that your client is online, its ID and public key, and your IP address. It also introduces the two ends to each other, so it is trusted for that introduction. RustDesk encrypts the session itself between your computer and mine, so a relayed session passes through as ciphertext. The key in the setup code is a public key — it’s meant to be handed out, and it is not a password.
The setup code decides which switchboard you dial. These decide who gets in, and they’re all yours, not mine.
When the work is done: click the circular arrow to retire the password you read me, quit RustDesk so nothing is listening, clear the ID Server and Key boxes to go back to the public server, or delete the file you downloaded. None of those needs me.