Microsoft is adding an unattended mode to Remote Help in Intune. IT administrators will soon be able to take over a Windows device remotely without the user needing to accept a pop-up or even be logged in. The feature is planned for July 2026 and falls under the Intune Suite licence.
Microsoft Remote Help has been part of the Intune Suite for some time, but until now had a fundamental limitation: the user had to be present. A pop-up appeared on the screen, the user clicked Accept, and only then could the IT administrator view the screen or take over the mouse. Useful for helpdesk sessions, but unusable for maintenance outside office hours, devices without an active user, or machines in a server room.
That is about to change. Microsoft has announced on the official Microsoft 365 roadmap (item 499154) that Remote Help will receive an unattended mode for Windows devices, also known as Unattended Remote Help. The planned release date is July 2026.
With the unattended mode, an IT administrator can remotely log in to a Windows device without the user needing to accept a request or even be present. The connection runs through the Intune Management Extension and uses Remote Desktop infrastructure in the cloud. The administrator logs in with their own credentials, receives temporary access to the device, and that access is automatically revoked when the session ends.
This is not a permanent backdoor. Access is managed per session, logged in Intune Audit Logs, and secured via role-based access control. Only administrators with the specific Intune role Remote Help Unattended can initiate this type of session.
Researchers at Patch My PC discovered in late March 2026 that the required code is already present in the Intune Management Extension. They found components such as WindowsRemoteHelpUnattended, WindowsUnattendedHandler and WindowsUnattendedHelper. The flow works as follows: the administrator starts a session from the Intune admin centre, the IME on the target device receives a notification, temporarily configures the RDP infrastructure, adds the administrator to the local Remote Desktop Users group, and after the session ends all changes are automatically reversed.
The device does not need to have a user account logged in. The connection is entirely cloud-based, which means it also works for Azure AD-joined devices where traditional RDP tools are not available.
The unattended mode is particularly valuable in three scenarios. First, overnight or out-of-hours maintenance: software updates, configuration changes or troubleshooting no longer need to wait until the user is at their device. Second, shared devices without a fixed user, such as kiosk PCs, devices in warehouses, or shared workstations. Third, devices where the user is not technically skilled enough to accept a Remote Help session, or where user presence makes the problem harder to resolve.
For organisations currently using TeamViewer, AnyDesk or a similar third-party tool for unattended access, this offers a serious alternative that sits fully within the Microsoft environment and the compliance framework of Intune.
The unattended mode falls under the Intune Suite licence. This is an add-on on top of Microsoft 365 that currently costs approximately ten euros per user per month, or is included in Microsoft 365 E5.
At the same time, Microsoft has announced that the standard, attended version of Remote Help, where the user is present and accepts the connection, will be included in Microsoft 365 E3 from 1 July 2026. That is a significant expansion of what the E3 licence includes. Organisations with E3 will no longer need a separate add-on for the basic Remote Help functionality.
The unattended mode therefore requires the Intune Suite, but the attended mode becomes a free part of E3. For many organisations this makes it worthwhile to at least activate the basic functionality and evaluate whether the Intune Suite is a sensible investment for the extended capabilities.
Microsoft has built in several safeguards. Every session is recorded in Intune Audit Logs, including who started the session, on which device, and how long the session lasted. Conditional Access policies can be applied to the administrator starting the session, so that MFA and device compliance can be made mandatory for Remote Help sessions. Via RBAC you determine exactly which administrators have access to the unattended mode.
On Android, where the unattended mode has been available for longer, the device shows a visible notification when a session is active. Similar behaviour is expected on Windows, so users can see that their device is being managed remotely, even if they return to their screen later.
General availability is planned for July 2026. The feature is available as part of the Intune Suite and requires no additional configuration beyond assigning the correct RBAC role to administrators. A preview may become available earlier, but Microsoft has not communicated a concrete date for that.
Are you already using Remote Help or considering the Intune Suite? Zarioh helps SMBs in the Utrecht region with the implementation and management of Intune, including Remote Help. Get in touch to discuss what this means for your organisation.
