The office key and new PCs

3 min read · Applies to RG-DesktopLink 0.9.4 on Windows 10 and 11

All your PCs share one secret office key, like a Wi-Fi password. A PC without it cannot connect, cannot see what you type and cannot control anything.

Create the key on the main PC

Step 1: Create a new office key

The first time, RG-DesktopLink shows its welcome page. On the PC whose keyboard and mouse you keep (the main PC), click Create a new office key.

On the other PCs you will use the right-hand side, Join the office.

The welcome page — Left: for the first PC. Right: for the other PCs.

Step 2: Keep the key

The key shows once, in a window: write it down or keep it in a safe place, then click Done. Later, Settings → Office key → Show shows it again on the main PC.

You rarely need to type it: new PCs join with a code (below).

The new office key — The office key (this one is only an example).

Join the other PCs with a code

The main PC shows 482 915; you type it on the new PC; the office key goes over inside a channel locked with the code

Step 1: on the main PC, make a code

Settings → Add a PC with a code. Six digits show, like 482 915, with the time and the tries left.

A code works once, for 10 minutes, with 3 tries. Then make a new one.
One new PC at a time.

Settings: a code for a new PC — The code (482 915 here), the time and the tries left.

Step 2: on the new PC, type it

Install RG-DesktopLink on the new PC. Under Join the office the main PC is already there: type the six digits and click Join with code. A moment later the new PC is on the main PC's desk.

Nobody can learn the office key by watching the network: the two PCs first prove to each other that they know the code, and only then does the key go over, encrypted with it.

Joining the office with the code — The new PC found the main PC; the code is typed.

Or type the office key itself

On the new PC, under the code, "Or type the office key shown on the main PC": type it in the box there, then Join office. This also works when the main PC is not on the same network (see PCs on another network).

The key in Settings

On the main PC, Settings → Office key:

Show and Copy: the key, for your records.
The fingerprint (like 4C2A-91E7) is the same on every PC of the office: a quick way to check that two PCs share the key, without showing it.
Add a PC with a code, as above.
Use this key: move this PC to another office's key.
Generate a new key: then join the other PCs again.

Settings: the office key — Settings → Office key.

Choose the main PC

The PC where you created the key is the main PC: its keyboard and mouse drive the others. To make another PC the main one, click it on the desk → Make main (or right-click its screen → Make it the main PC). The others follow it by themselves, and the licence goes along.

Tip

A PC that shows different key on the desk has another office's key: join it again with a code.