Frequently asked questions

Yes, completely free. There is no subscription, no payment at any point, and no feature locked behind a trial. The download, the relay connection, and every session are all free.

No. FlashDesk is a single .exe file — double-click it and it runs immediately. Nothing is added to Windows, no admin password is asked, and nothing stays behind after you close it. The next time you need it, open the same file again.

The recommended download is a single portable .exe — no setup wizard, no admin password required, nothing stays behind after you close it. A Windows installer (.msi) is also available on the download page for organisations whose IT policy requires installed software, but the portable .exe is what most people should use. See also: What is the difference between the .exe and an installer? in the Technical section below.

No account, no sign-in, no email address, no registration of any kind. You open the file and it gives you a 9-digit number. That number is what your helper connects to. When you close FlashDesk, the number is gone.

Windows Defender SmartScreen warns about software it has not seen many people run before. It also warns about software from publishers who have not paid for an annual verified-publisher certificate. FlashDesk is a small, one-person project that has not bought one. New and unrecognised are not the same as dangerous, but Windows cannot tell the difference from the file alone, so it warns about both.

The exact screens you will see — word for word, with instructions for getting past them safely — are on the Security warning page.

Antivirus tools use two methods to detect threats: a list of known bad programs (signature scanning) and a judgement about what a program does (heuristic analysis). FlashDesk is not on any known-bad list. What triggers heuristic warnings is that FlashDesk does exactly what malware also does: it captures the screen and sends it over the network. A remote-support tool and a remote-access trojan look identical to a heuristic scanner. The difference is consent — you chose to run FlashDesk.

If your antivirus quarantines the file, you can add an exception for it. The exact steps vary by product; most show a "restore" or "allow" option on the quarantine notification. If you are unsure, contact support@flashdesk.org and we will walk through it with you.

The session itself has real, built-in limits: nobody can connect without you pressing Accept the first time, a coloured strip stays on your screen for as long as anyone is connected and cannot be hidden by the other side, and you can end the session with one click at any moment.

The one thing no software can protect you from is being talked into pressing Accept for someone who should not have it. Read how a session actually works for the full list of what is and is not possible.

No. The first time someone connects, FlashDesk shows a dialog with the caller's 9-digit number and an Accept / Reject choice. It defaults to Reject if you leave it alone.

If a connection drops and the same caller reconnects within 90 seconds — for example because the network hiccupped — that resumes without asking again. A different caller is always asked. There is no remote way to answer that dialog for you: FlashDesk's own remote-control input is blocked from reaching it while it is open.

They can see your screen, move the mouse, type, and open programs — the same things you can do yourself. They cannot do anything you could not undo: they cannot delete files permanently without your password, cannot install software silently, and cannot stay connected after you close FlashDesk.

You can see everything they do in real time, and you can take back control at any moment by clicking your mouse or typing. You are never locked out of your own computer while a session is live.

No. FlashDesk transmits only your screen — pixels only. It has no access to your camera, microphone, or any audio device. There is no voice call or video call built in to FlashDesk itself: if you are also on a phone call or video call with your helper, that is a completely separate application you chose to use, not something FlashDesk controls.

Only if you allow them to, and only with the same Windows permission that would be asked of you directly. Installing software on Windows typically requires a UAC (User Account Control) elevation dialog — a blue-and-grey box that asks for your permission. FlashDesk cannot suppress that dialog and cannot click through it on your behalf while it is on screen: remote-control input is blocked from reaching UAC prompts by Windows itself, not by FlashDesk.

If your helper asks you to click through a UAC prompt, look carefully at what it is asking you to allow. You are the only person who can authorise that action.

No. When you close FlashDesk — or when the session ends for any reason — the connection is gone immediately and permanently. FlashDesk installs no persistent agent, no startup entry, and no background service. There is no way for a helper to reconnect after a session has ended: they would need you to open FlashDesk again and give them your new 9-digit number, which changes every time.

Click Disconnect on the amber strip that stays on your screen the whole time someone is connected. Or simply close the FlashDesk window. Either one ends the session immediately — there is no confirmation step, and nothing continues running afterwards.

Hang up. FlashDesk will never telephone you. If someone calls claiming to be us, hang up. There is no support line that calls you first, no "security team" that reaches out, and no "account alert" that requires a callback. If a call like that happens, it is not us — it is a scam. You can see the warning at the bottom of every page on this site.

No. FlashDesk only captures and sends your screen while a session is live — after someone has connected and you have pressed Accept. There is no background service, and nothing runs after you close the program. Once you close FlashDesk, your screen is yours alone.

No. FlashDesk does not record sessions. It streams your screen to your helper in real time, but it does not save that stream anywhere — not on your computer, not on the relay server, and not on any FlashDesk system. When the session ends, nothing of it remains.

Only what is strictly necessary to route the connection between your computer and your helper's. That means the two 9-digit IDs involved in a session and basic connection metadata (timing, bandwidth). No account is created, no name is stored, no browsing or screen content is retained after the session ends.

For the full detail, see the privacy page.

The relay server is hosted in the European Union. Screen data that passes through it is encrypted in transit and is never stored — it passes through memory only, from your computer to your helper's, and is gone the moment the session ends. No content ever touches disk on the relay server.

Yes. FlashDesk collects only the minimum data necessary to make a session work — the two 9-digit session IDs and connection metadata — processes that data under a legitimate-interest basis (providing the service you requested), retains nothing after the session ends, and hosts the relay within the EU. There is no marketing, no profiling, and no third-party data sharing.

For the full legal basis and data-subject rights, see the privacy page.

Screen content is never stored at all — it passes through the relay server's memory only and is gone the moment the session ends. Connection metadata (session IDs, connection timing, bandwidth) is kept for 30 days for the sole purpose of diagnosing technical problems, then deleted automatically. No content, no names, no identifiers beyond the 9-digit session number.

Because FlashDesk stores almost nothing, a breach of the relay server would expose connection metadata — session IDs and timestamps — but not screen content (never stored), not passwords (never collected), and not names or email addresses (never asked for). A breach of the 30-day connection log would be disclosed publicly on this site and by email to anyone who has voluntarily provided a contact address.

No. FlashDesk only transmits your screen during an active, accepted session. Outside of a live session — which requires FlashDesk to be open and a connection to be accepted — no screen data is sent anywhere. There is no passive monitoring, no background capture, and no way for a helper to observe you without your knowledge and active participation.

Windows 10 and Windows 11. Both 32-bit and 64-bit editions are supported. No additional software, runtime, or framework needs to be installed first.

Yes. FlashDesk routes connections through a relay server, so your helper does not need to know your IP address, and you do not need to open any ports or change your router settings. If you can browse the web, FlashDesk can connect.

Not yet. FlashDesk currently runs only on Windows 10 and 11. The person helping you can use any operating system — they connect via a browser-based viewer — but the computer being helped must be running Windows. Mac and Linux support is on the roadmap; see the changelog for the current status.

An installer — sometimes called a setup.exe or an .msi file — is a program whose job is to put another program onto your computer. It writes files to Program Files, adds entries to the Windows registry, and typically requires administrator permission. Afterwards, the software lives on your computer until you uninstall it.

FlashDesk is not an installer. It is the program. Double-clicking it runs it directly, writes nothing to your hard drive beyond its own temporary working files, and leaves nothing behind when you close it. There is nothing to uninstall because nothing was installed.

FlashDesk detects the dropped connection within a few seconds and shows a "Connection lost" notice on both sides. It then attempts to reconnect automatically. If the same helper reconnects within 90 seconds, the session resumes without asking for Accept again — the assumption is that a network hiccup interrupted a legitimate session. If 90 seconds pass, or if a different helper connects, the full Accept dialog appears again.

Usually yes. FlashDesk connects outbound over port 443 (the same port used for HTTPS web browsing). Most corporate firewalls allow outbound port 443 traffic. If your network uses a web proxy, FlashDesk will attempt to detect and use it automatically.

A small number of very restrictive corporate environments — those that use deep packet inspection or application-layer firewalls that block non-browser traffic on port 443 — may prevent FlashDesk from connecting. If you get a connection error on a corporate machine, ask your IT department whether outbound WebSocket connections on port 443 are permitted.

No. Only one helper can be connected to a FlashDesk session at a time. A second person connecting with the same or a different 9-digit ID would need to wait until the current session ends, or would see a "session in use" message. This is by design: multiple simultaneous viewers of one screen create ambiguity about who is in control and who can see what.

There is no fixed time limit imposed by FlashDesk. A session runs for as long as both sides are connected and FlashDesk is open. The relay server will time out an idle connection after 30 minutes of no screen activity — defined as no frame changes and no input events — as a resource-conservation measure, but an active session can run indefinitely.

The session ends immediately. Closing the FlashDesk window — by clicking the X, using Alt+F4, or ending the process in Task Manager — terminates the connection at once. The helper's viewer goes blank and shows a "Session ended" message. Nothing continues in the background, no reconnection is attempted, and the 9-digit number that was in use is gone. The next time you open FlashDesk, you get a new number.

Outbound port 443 (WebSocket over TLS) is the only port FlashDesk uses. No inbound ports are opened, no firewall rules are written, and no router configuration is required. The relay server handles the rendezvous, so both sides initiate outbound connections only.

Not yet. The source code is not currently public, which means you are relying on this explanation and on the behaviour of the program itself rather than on independent code review. That is a fair point to raise and an honest limitation. Open-sourcing the project is something I intend to do; the constraints are time and the work of preparing the codebase for public scrutiny. The current status is on the changelog.

FlashDesk will show a connection error and be unable to start or maintain sessions for as long as the relay is unavailable. The relay server is monitored continuously; unplanned outages are rare and are typically resolved within minutes. Because FlashDesk routes all connections through the relay — rather than directly peer-to-peer — it does have this single point of dependency. Current uptime and any active incidents are reported on the changelog.

No. As the helper, you connect through a browser. The person you are helping gives you their 9-digit number and you enter it at flashdesk.org. No download, no install, no browser extension. Any modern browser on any operating system — Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS — works.

No. The person being helped does not have an account and neither do you. There is no registration. You enter the 9-digit number you were given, click Connect, and wait for the other person to press Accept on their end. When the session ends, the number expires and nothing of the connection is stored on your side.

You see the other person's screen in your browser window, updated in real time. A simple toolbar at the top of the viewer gives you a disconnect button and basic information about the session (connection quality, time elapsed). You can move your mouse over the viewer to move their cursor, click to click for them, and type to type on their keyboard. An amber strip along the top of their screen (on their side) shows them the session is active; you cannot remove or hide it.