DESKTOP REPRESENTATIVE CONSOLE USER GUIDE

What is the Desktop Representative console?

The Desktop Representative console is the Remote Support desktop client. Use it to support your customers remotely by connecting to them through the B Series Appliance.

How do I access the Desktop Representative console?

Once installed on your machine, locate the Representative Console application and sign in with your credentials.

Quick steps to get started in the console

Installation

In any web browser, go to the URL of your B Series Appliance followed by /login and enter the username and password set by your administrator. You may be prompted to change your password the first time you log in.

From the My Account page, download and install the BeyondTrust representative console. The option will default to the appropriate installer for your operating system.

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On a Linux system, you must save the file to your computer and then open it from its downloaded location. Do not use the Open link that appears after downloading a file from some browsers.

When the installation wizard appears, follow the instructions to install the software. After installing the representative console, you can choose Run Representative Console Now and Run at Startup, and then click Finish.

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If you choose Run Representative Console Now during installation, a login prompt will appear on your screen.

Login

After installing the BeyondTrust representative console, launch the console from its directory location as defined during installation.

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By default, in Windows, you can access the console from Start Menu > All Programs > BeyondTrust > support.example.com, where support.example.com is the hostname of the site from which you downloaded the console.

If the Login Agreement has been enabled, you must click Accept to proceed.

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For more information on how to set up, enable or disable this feature, please see Site configuration.

At the prompt, enter your username and password.

If two-factor authentication is enabled for your account, enter the code from the authenticator app.

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If more than one language is enabled for your site, select the language you want to use from the dropdown menu.

Use passwordless login

FIDO2-certified authenticators can be used to securely log in to the desktop representative console, web rep console, and the /login administrative interface without entering your password. You can register up to 10 authenticators.

If passwordless login has been enabled, Authenticate Using may default to Passwordless FIDO2, or it can be selected. The exact process for passwordless login depends on the type of device and manufacturer.

You can enable passwordless login and set the default authentication after logging into the /login administrative interface, by navigating to Management > Security, and then registering passwordless authenticators at My Account > Security.

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Passwordless login for the desktop representative console on macOS or Linux systems is supported only for roaming authenticators (such as the YubiKey hardware security keys). Platform or integrated authenticators (such as Face ID and fingerprint scanners) are not supported for the desktop desktop representative console login when using macOS or Linux systems.

Use Kerberos server

If your administrator has configured a Kerberos server to enable single sign-on, you can log in to the console without entering your credentials. The representative console remembers the last used login mechanism, whether it used local credentials, Kerberos, or another security provider.

Invited users can also enter a session key to join a shared session on a one-time basis.

Check Remember my login information to have the console save your username and password. This option can be enabled or disabled from /login > Management > Security.

If you have multiple languages enabled for your site, select the language you wish to use from the dropdown beside the globe icon. If you wish to change the selected language after logging in, you must log back out to choose another language.

Once you log in, the console will open, and a BeyondTrust icon will appear in your computer’s system tray. If you close the console but remain logged in, you can reopen the window by double-clicking the system tray icon or by right-clicking the icon and selecting Show Window.

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Your administrator might require you to be on an unrestricted network to log in to the console. This network restriction might apply only the first time you log in or every time. This restriction does not apply to rep invites.

If you lose your connection, the representative console attempts to reconnect for 60 seconds. If your connection is restored within this time, your representative console reopens, restoring all of your open sessions. If the connection cannot be restored within this time, your sessions fall back according to the rules set on /login > Configuration > Options, and you are prompted to retry login or quit.

If you are logged into the representative console in one location and then log in from another, your open sessions are maintained.

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To log in with an account already in use and forcibly close the connection on the other system, the setting Terminate Session If Account Is In Use must be checked on the /login > Management > Security page.

After an upgrade or at first launch of the desktop representative console, a What's New dialog appears automatically upon login for all non-invited representatives. This dialog may be viewed at any time through Help > What's New and shows new release information for current and past releases. This is a roaming preference per account, so the dialog appears just once regardless where a representative signs in from.

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For more information about invited users, please see Rep invite.

Interface

Sessions: Manage multiple remote sessions at the same time.

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Session tabs can be moved and reordered to help you organize and prioritize your workload. Simply click and drag a session tab to a new position. Session tabs can also be detached from the main representative console window.

Quick Start Buttons: Easily access frequently needed tools. Quick start buttons can be turned on or off from File > Settings.

• Start: Open a dialog for a quick-reference guide to starting a session.
• Session Key: Begin sessions with randomly generated, one-time use session keys.
• Support Buttons: View details and usage statistics of deployed Support Buttons.
• Present: Share your screen with one or more remote attendees. Start a presentation immediately or schedule a presentation for a later time.
• Jump To: Jump to a computer on a remote network via Jumpoint or on your local network. BeyondTrust’s Jump Technology enables privileged representatives to connect to an unattended remote computer to start a session without end-user assistance.
• RDP: Start a Remote Desktop Protocol session with a remote Windows system.
• VNC: Start a VNC session with a remote Windows system.
• Shell Jump: Quickly connect to SSH-enabled and Telnet-enabled network devices through a deployed Jumpoint.
• Intel® vPro: Using Intel Active Management Technology, support fully provisioned Intel vPro Windows systems below the OS level.

Queues: Queues list customers who are waiting for support or who are in a session. Details about the remote system being supported appear in this section.

Dashboard: Privileged users can view and monitor ongoing sessions and teammates of a lower role, providing administrative oversight to help manage staff. Status indicators show whether representatives are available, are idle, are busy, or have auto-assign turned off. A bar at the bottom of the dashboard shows the percentage of representatives in each state.

Access Requests: If a representative is a sponsor in one or more Access Sponsor groups, they see an Access Requests tab in the representative console. When a representative makes a request, all sponsors in the selected access sponsor group see a new request in the Access Requests tab of the representative console.

Jump Item Interface: Installed Jump Clients and Jump shortcuts appear here, grouped according to who can access them.

You can filter the list of Jump Items and search within specific fields. You can also save filters. Once a filter has been created and applied, click Save to enter a name for the filter and keep it for future use. Saved filters appear in a list under the Add Filter button. To apply a saved filter, double-click the filter name in the list, or right-click the filter name and click Apply. To delete a saved filter, right-click the filter name and click Remove.

Representative Status: If you have opted out of automatic session assignment, you can set your status from this dropdown. Your team managers see your status on their dashboard. If your administrator has configured custom statuses, you may select any of these here if you want your status to display as something other than a default status of Available, Busy, or Away.

Chat: Chat with other logged in users. You also can share your screen with a team member without requiring a session.

Settings and preferences

Click on File > Settings in the upper left corner of the console to configure your preferences.

In general, you may configure the console settings according to your preferences. However, your BeyondTrust administrator may choose to manage your settings, possibly enforcing those managed settings.

If your BeyondTrust administrator has changed and applied the default settings, then a Settings Changed alert appears the next time you log in to your console. Click View Settings to open your settings window to view the changes, or simply click OK to acknowledge the changes.

Changing settings

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These instructions assume you are allowed to choose the settings used in your console. Settings enforced by your administrator appear marked with an asterisk and grayed out, and they are not locally configurable. Please see your administrator or Representative console settings for more information.

Each console settings window includes a Restore Defaults button in the lower left corner of the window. Clicking the button returns all of your settings to the BeyondTrust default settings or to the default settings applied by your administrator, if any have been set. An alert dialog asks you to confirm that you wish to change to the defaults. Click Cancel if you wish to return to your locally saved preferences.

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If any of the defaults are forced by your administrator, you are unable to configure them.

From the Global Settings section, you can choose to enable or disable spell check for chat and session notes. Currently, spell check is available for US English only.

If, under Quick Start Buttons, you select Start Session, a Start button appears at the top of your representative console. Clicking this button walks you through the ways your customer can start a support session. You also can select Session Key to display a session key generation button, and select Support Buttons to display a button to launch the Support Button management interface. Select Jump To, RDP, VNC, Shell Jump, and Intel® vPro to display buttons to launch those respective Jump connections. Start Presentation allows you to easily start a new presentation.

Choose whether you want the session menu icon to display, whether the sidebar can be detached, and whether the widgets on the session sidebar can be rearranged and re-sized.

If real-time chat translation is enabled for your site, select your preferred chat language from the dropdown menu. This lets the rep console know what language you type in so that chat messages can be translated to the customer's selected language and vice-versa.

You can choose to change your display mode. Options include OS Setting (default), Light Mode, and Dark Mode.

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The Dark Mode option applies to Windows and macOS only.

In addition to switching the display mode within the access console, users can change it in OS Settings by selecting Themes and related settings > Color > Choose your color.

The CLI section indicates if a Command Line Interface tool is installed for this installation of the Representative Console. If it is not installed, you can choose to install it by clicking Install.

Choose your alert settings for chat messages. When you receive a chat message, you can choose to hear a sound and to see the application icon flash.

If you would like to upload a custom sound for chat messages, click the … button and select a WAV file on your computer. The file can be no larger than 1MB.

Choose whether the team chat should include status messages, such as users logging in and out, or only chats sent between team members.

Choose whether you want to receive pop-up notifications for messages received in a team chat and/or in a session chat.

Choose if you want to hear an audible alert when a customer enters one of your queues and/or when a waiting session has been marked as overdue. If you would like to upload a custom sound for either of these alerts, click the […] button and select a WAV file on your computer. The file can be no larger than 1MB.

Also choose whether you want to see the application icon flash when a customer enters one of your queues and/or when a waiting session has been marked as overdue. Additionally, when a customer enters your personal queue, such as by clicking on your name or entering a session key on the public site, the session can start immediately or prompt for your acceptance.

You also can choose to receive pop-up notifications for certain events. These notifications appear independent of your console and on top of other windows. Set where you wish to see pop-ups and how long they should display.

Choose whether you want to start sessions with chat only or to immediately request screen sharing.

You can choose to open sessions as tabs in the console or to automatically detach sessions into new windows.

For situations where you might experience issues because a customer’s secure desktop is enabled, you can be prompted to elevate to run with administrative rights when the session begins.

Set the default quality and size for a screen sharing session. When screen sharing starts, you can automatically enter full screen mode, which in turn can automatically collapse the chat bar.

Also when screen sharing starts, the remote system can automatically have its display, mouse, and keyboard input restricted, providing a privacy screen.

Select the default RDP display size for all RDP sessions. An option allows you to open a Remote Support connection expanded across all the monitors on the client computer regardless of the client monitor configuration. With this feature, you can fully utilize all the monitors connected to the client computer, therefore being able to adjust screen sizing and scaling during an RDP session across multiple monitors.

For easier access to screenshots you capture from the console, set the default directory where you will save your console-captured remote screenshots.

For an easier file transfer experience, set the default directory from which you wish to start browsing your local file system.

Set the number of lines to save in the command shell history.

You can change the command shell display by selecting the font type, font size, text color, and background color.

Several options for the default shell are available, including Windows Command Prompt, PowerShell, Zsh, Bash, sh, fish, and tcsh. To set the shell preference order, select each shell and use the arrow buttons beside the list to move the selected shell up or down. Sessions start using the first available shell for the session.