Toolbelt Connect vs. Remote Help and Intune device actions

A service desk that manages Windows devices with Intune already has tools from Microsoft. This page puts them next to Toolbelt Connect and its Remote Control add-on, so you can see what each one does, and where each one is stronger.

Remote Help

Remote Help is Microsoft’s service to view or take over a user’s screen. You start a session from the admin center through Devices > All devices > the device > New remote assistance session > Remote Help. Helper and user both sign in with Microsoft Entra ID. In an attended session the user gives consent first; the helper can then only view, ask for full control, or enter credentials at a UAC prompt when their role allows it. There is a chat, unless the administrator turns it off.

Since August 2026, Remote Help on Windows also offers unattended access. It works on physical x64 devices owned by the organization that are enrolled in Intune and joined to Microsoft Entra ID (or hybrid joined); Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop and personal devices are excluded. The helper needs a separate permission for it, which the Help Desk Operator role does not include, and signs in to a separate Windows session. When someone is signed in, they get a question; if they do not respond within 30 seconds, the session starts anyway and their own session is locked.

Under Tenant administration > Remote Help, on the Remote Help sessions tab, you see the helper, the user, the device, the times and the kind of session for each session. Microsoft keeps only metadata there, for 30 days. Sessions also appear in the Intune audit logs and in the RemoteHelp Windows event log on the device.

Remote Help needs a license for every helper and user. From July 2026, Remote Help comes with Microsoft 365 E3 and E5; Microsoft rolls this out gradually and announces it 30 days ahead in the Microsoft 365 admin center. With another subscription it is available as part of the Intune Suite.

The admin center’s device actions

From a device’s page you start actions such as Sync, Restart, Collect diagnostics, Quick Scan, Update Windows Defender security intelligence and Wipe. Collect diagnostics collects logs, registry keys and event logs from a Windows device owned by the organization, without interrupting the user, and makes them available in the admin center, where you can download them for 28 days. Microsoft keeps them in its support systems, outside Intune’s data management. With Restart, Windows tries to show the user a notification, but Microsoft does not guarantee it. With Run remediation, still in preview, you start a custom or built-in remediation script on one device; the users need a license such as Windows Enterprise E3 or E5 for it. Every remote action is recorded in the audit logs under Tenant administration > Audit logs.

Toolbelt Connect and Remote Control

Toolbelt Connect starts the repair actions of Endpoint Toolbelt remotely, fetches logs and files and reads the registry, with audit on every command, consent as the policy sets it, and the ticket number when you enter one. The Remote Control add-on adds the screen: viewing or taking over the signed-in user’s session, in the same console. Every session has a time box of 5 to 240 minutes and a banner with the technician, the ticket and the end time, and is recorded by default and kept for 90 days, in your own organization’s environment. Remote Control does not yet show or operate the sign-in screen or UAC prompts.

Side by side

	Remote Help	Device actions	Toolbelt Connect
View or take over the screen	Yes, including UAC prompts with the Elevation permission	No	Yes, with the Remote Control add-on; not yet the sign-in screen or UAC prompts
Recording of the session	No; metadata only, 30 days	Not applicable	Yes, by default; 90 days, adjustable
Without asking the user	Unattended access in a separate Windows session, physical x64 devices only; a signed-in user gets a 30-second question	Collect diagnostics does not interrupt the user	Actions: with the setting Notify, Silent, or Ask-or-run-when-nobody-is-signed-in when nobody is signed in. Screen: setting Unattended, in the user’s own session with a banner; not when nobody is signed in
Repair of the Intune Management Extension as a fixed action	No fixed action	Not in the list; Run remediation (preview) with a script of your own	Yes, the actions of Endpoint Toolbelt
Fetch logs and diagnostics	Not described as a feature	Collect diagnostics, downloadable for 28 days	Support package in one click, and log files the policy allows
Ticket number with the action	Not described	Not described	When you enter it: on the command or session, in the banner and in the audit trail
Evidence of the effect	Not described as a feature	Status of the action	Success only when the device shows the effect
License	Per helper and user; from July 2026 in Microsoft 365 E3 and E5, otherwise through the Intune Suite	In Intune; Run remediation also needs a Windows Enterprise license or similar	Per organization, Remote Control as an add-on; not for sale yet

Where Remote Control goes further than Remote Help

A recording of what happened. Of a Remote Help session, Microsoft keeps only metadata. Remote Control records the session by default, and an administrator can still download the recording 90 days later, or as long as you set.
The ticket and the time fixed to the session. The banner shows the user who is looking, for which ticket and until when. The session ends by itself at the end of its time box, and start, end, consent and taking over are in an audit trail in which each line holds a check value of the one before.
The user stays in charge. They can end a session from the banner at any moment, also under the setting Unattended, and turn a session with control back to view only.
Everything in one console. Viewing, starting a repair, fetching the support package and sending a file happen on the same screen, under the same ticket.
With your own organization. Picture and recordings go through your organization’s environment in Azure, over the one outbound connection on port 443 the device already has.

Where Remote Help is stronger

Remote Help can operate UAC prompts when the helper has the Elevation permission, and with unattended access help a device where nobody is signed in. Remote Control does not do that yet.
Remote Help has a chat.
With Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 you get Remote Help included, once Microsoft has rolled it out for your tenant.

When to use which?

Do you need to operate a UAC prompt or take over a device without a signed-in user? Remote Help.
Do you want to wipe or restart a device, or put diagnostics in Intune? The device actions.
Do you want to repair a known Intune problem remotely, and look along with a recording, the ticket and a time box attached? Toolbelt Connect with Remote Control.

Toolbelt Connect reads the device’s data from Intune and, for Remote Help, opens the device in the admin center. It is not a Microsoft product.