Skip to content

Set up unattended access

Unattended access lets you connect to a remote computer when no one is there to accept the connection: you sign in with an account on that computer. With attended access, someone at the computer approves a temporary screen sharing request instead. Use unattended access to reach your office computer from home, or any computer nobody sits at.

Access Who approves it Set up with
Attended Someone at the remote computer accepts a Screen Sharing Request. Sharing is temporary. The Share your screen link in Connect, or Ask to Share Screen when you connect.
Unattended No one. You sign in with an account on the remote computer. A remote access user added to Connect (this page).

Applies to

  • Remote computers running Jump Desktop Connect on Windows, macOS, or Linux (beta).

Steps

  1. On the remote computer, install Jump Desktop Connect.
  2. On a Mac, grant Connect the Screen Recording, Accessibility, and Remote Desktop permissions. Remote Desktop applies to macOS 14 and later.
  3. In Connect, add a remote access user with your Jump Desktop account.
  4. On the device you connect from, sign in to Jump Desktop with the same account. The computer appears in your list.
  5. Connect to the computer. When asked, enter the username and password of an account on the remote computer.

In a team, administrators can also grant access from the Teams dashboard. See Control access with Access Groups.

To skip the password prompt (Enterprise plan, Windows, macOS, and Linux (beta)), see Sign in to remote computers without a password.

Result

The Connect service starts with the computer. With the Connect setting Start Jump Desktop when my computer starts on (the default), it also goes online then, so you can connect before anyone signs in. If it's off, Connect goes online only while someone has Connect open. Check it in Connect under Settings (gear) > General.

Keep the computer reachable

  • Set the computer not to sleep. A sleeping computer can't accept connections.
  • On Windows and macOS, Connect keeps the computer awake while a session is active. On Linux it doesn't.
  • On a Mac with FileVault, someone must unlock the disk at the Mac after a restart. See Computer shows as offline.

When no one is signed in

Remote computer What you get
Windows The sign-in screen.
macOS The login window.
Linux A new X11 desktop session for the account you sign in with, even if the account normally uses Wayland. Without an X11 desktop installed, the connection fails. The session closes about 30 seconds after the last person disconnects, so save your work first.