AnyDesk remote access

AnyDesk provides secure and reliable remote access for supporting your customers anywhere, anytime. AnyDesk can be used on Windows, Mac, or Linux devices to connect to all your end-user devices. It is available for free to Atera Growth and Power plan users.
Note:

• No prior AnyDesk account is required.
• The integration is with AnyDesk's Enterprise package (see the full list of AnyDesk Enterprise features). Please note that certain features (e.g., 'Address Book' ) are not available through Atera.

 

Set up AnyDesk in Atera

You can set AnyDesk as your default remote access within Atera. By doing so, AnyDesk will automatically install on all your existing agents and any agents you install in the future. AnyDesk can still be used without setting it as default — it will simply install on specific agents when remote access is first initiated on them.

You can also set the remote access type to be 'Attended' or 'Unattended'. If set to 'Attended', users will have to manually confirm the connection request.
Note: The remote access type for servers is set as 'Unattended' and cannot be changed.

 

To set AnyDesk remote access as the default remote access tool:

1. From Admin (on the sidebar), click Settings.

The Settings page appears.

2.  Click Remote access (on the side menu). Then select the AnyDesk tab.

3. Click Set as default.

AnyDesk is now your default remote access and will be installed on all existing and new agents.

 

To set AnyDesk remote access as 'Attended':

1. From Admin (on the sidebar), click Settings.

The Settings page appears.

2.  Click Remote access (on the side menu). Then select the AnyDesk tab.

3. Select Attended. Then click Save.

Now that AnyDesk remote access is set to 'Attended', users will have to manually confirm the connection request.

 

Initiate a remote connection with AnyDesk

You can use AnyDesk on your Windows, Mac OS, or Linux device to connect to all your customer devices. If this is your first time connecting via AnyDesk, you'll be prompted to download AnyDesk (Atera's custom version).
Note:

• Atera's custom AnyDesk version must be installed on your device to enable remote access —even if you've installed a generic version of AnyDesk in the past.
• Installation is one-time only, per technician device.
• You cannot connect to a Linux device from a Linux device.
• Permissions for 'Server Remote Manage' are required to remotely connect with Linux devices using AnyDesk. 
• Note about the newer Mac devices: When connecting to newer Mac devices that use the M1 processor, you'll need to instruct your customers to manually install AnyDesk from the popup window that appears after initiating a connection with them. This is a temporary workaround and installation will become a completely automatic process in upcoming Atera versions.

 

See our video tutorial on connecting to your end user's device via AnyDesk!

 

To connect to a device via AnyDesk:

1. From the Devices page, navigate to the Remote Access column and click the Connect dropdown on the device. Then select AnyDesk.

Note:

• If you've set AnyDesk as your default remote access, you can simply click Connect.
• If you've initiated a remote connection with AnyDesk before, go to step 5.

2. Click Download AnyDesk

3. Click on the downloaded file, at the bottom-left of the screen. The AnyDesk New Session screen appears.

4. Click Install AnyDesk.
Note: Installing AnyDesk on your device is a one-time process.

AnyDesk installs, and the AnyDesk Connection screen appears.

5.  Click Copy & open AnyDesk to copy the session password and access the authorization screen.
Note: The AnyDesk session password is necessary for a secure AnyDesk connection.  

The Authorization screen appears.

6. Paste the password into the field. Then click OK.

The remote connection is initiated, and the AnyDesk session screen appears.
Note: Please allow a few seconds for AnyDesk to install, upon first connection with the device.

The session toolbar, at the top of the screen, displays available features and actions such as file transfer,  screenshots, chat, and more.

Note: You can access AnyDesk support articles, at any time, by clicking About AnyDesk from the hamburger menu icon ().

 

Disable AnyDesk

If you no longer wish to use AnyDesk remote access, you can easily disable and uninstall it from your agents.

Note:

• For online agents, uninstallation will occur within one hour of disabling AnyDesk.
• For offline agents, the command will run after the agent appears online in the Atera Dashboard. The uninstall command will remain in the queue of offline agents for 30 days.

 

To disable and uninstall Anydesk from your devices:

1. From Admin (on the sidebar), click Settings.

The Settings page appears.

2. Click Remote Access on the side menu. Then select the AnyDesk tab.

3. Click Disable and uninstall. A confirmation message appears.

4. Click Disable. The uninstall command is sent to the agents.

 

Troubleshoot

Disconnected from AnyDesk network

If the client cannot connect to the AnyDesk server, this message will be displayed. To ensure connectivity in Cloud versions of AnyDesk, please verify that the host device has an active internet connection and that all device and network-level security solutions are configured to allow access to our servers. For additional details, refer to the "Firewall" section.

For On-Premises versions of AnyDesk, please verify that the host device can establish a connection with your On-Premises server.

Another possible problem may arise from an incorrectly configured system time on the host device, which can cause certificate validation issues. In such cases, we strongly recommend synchronizing the system time using an online time server.

 

To rectify any system clock issues, we recommend executing the provided script as a .bat file within the Atera platform. For further information, we encourage you to refer to our comprehensive article on executing scripts.

:: resync time
net stop w32time
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:"time.windows.com"
net start w32time
w32tm /config /update
w32tm /resync /rediscover

 

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)

If you've enabled ESET, this may block Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connections by default. You can customize the ESET installer configuration to allow for RDP connections. Learn more

 

AnyDesk on MacOS devices

Security permissions for Screen Recording and Accessibility may need to be granted by the end user on their macOS device before remote connection can be established.

This can be done by navigating to System Preferences > Security & Privacy on the macOS device, clicking the lock on the bottom-left of the window to allow changes, and then granting security permissions to AnyDesk in both the Screen Recording and Accessibility sections.

See this article for more information on enabling security permissions for AnyDesk on macOS devices.

 

AnyDesk on Linux devices

Remote-Display/Desktop Server (RDS) not supported

If you encounter an issue where a remote display server is not supported (e.g., Wayland), you can switch to the X11 display server on the end-user device — while the user is logged out of the session — to resolve this problem.

To configure the GDM (GNOME Display Manager) settings and enable X11:

1. Open the GDM configuration file by running the following command in the terminal:

sudo vim /etc/gdm3/custom.conf

2. Update the configuration file by uncommenting or adding the following lines under the [daemon] section:

WaylandEnable = false
AutomaticLoginEnable = true
#replace 'USERNAME' with your actual username
AutomaticLogin = $USERNAME

The configuration should look like this:

sudo vim /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
#GDM configuration storage
#
#See /usr/share/gdm/gdm.schemas for a list of available options.

[daemon]
#Uncomment the line below to force the login screen to use Xorg
WaylandEnable=false

#Enabling automatic login
AutomaticLoginEnable = true
AutomaticLogin = $USERNAME

#Enabling timed login
#TimedLoginEnable = true
#TimedLogin = user1
#TimedLoginDelay = 10

[security]

[xdmcp]

[chooser]

[debug]
#Uncomment the line below to turn on debugging
#More verbose logs
#Additionally lets the X server dump core if it crashes
#Enable = true

3. Reboot your Ubuntu 22.04.