RG-DesktopLink›Everyday use

Lock screen, sign-in and UAC

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

Windows keeps its lock screen, its sign-in screen and its "Do you want to allow this app to make changes?" questions on a separate, protected desktop that ordinary programs cannot reach. A small service, the RG-DesktopLink Agent, lets you use them from the main PC anyway.

What it gives you

• A PC that is locked (Win+L, or after a while) still shows its screen on the desk and on the phone, and you type its password from the main PC or the phone.
• A UAC question ("Do you want to allow this app to make changes?") on another PC shows in its picture: click Yes or No from here.
• After a restart, before anyone signs in, the PC is in the office already: its sign-in screen shows and you sign in from here.

Install it

Why it is safe

The agent can type on the protected desktop, so it is guarded closely:

• Only RG-DesktopLink itself can use it: the program is checked on both sides of the link.
• Only an administrator's program can talk to it, and only on that PC: never over the network.
• What reaches it from elsewhere came over an encrypted link that was let in: a PC with the office key, a phone with its own key, or, when remote access is on, a remote visitor.

Without the agent

The program starts at sign-in. Without the agent, for PCs that should work with no keyboard of their own:

• let them sign in by themselves: run netplwiz and untick "Users must enter a user name and password", or use Microsoft's free Autologon tool;
• stop them locking themselves: Windows Settings → Accounts → Sign-in options → "If you've been away, when should Windows require you to sign in again?" → Never, and no screen saver lock.

The Microsoft Store edition of RG-DesktopLink cannot install the agent and does not type into windows opened "as administrator": for both, use the setup from this site.