A device can be online in remFREE while remote control is unavailable.
This is because normal agent communication and remote-control media use different parts of the platform.
Start by determining which part is failing.
First: confirm the device is online
If the device itself is offline, troubleshoot agent connectivity before troubleshooting remote control.
A working heartbeat proves that the remFREE agent can communicate with the platform.
It does not prove that the endpoint has a usable graphical session.
Confirm a graphical session exists
Remote control needs a desktop to capture.
Possible problems include:
- no interactive user session exists
- the user session is changing
- the graphical environment is unavailable
- the operating system is preventing capture
- the remFREE session helper is unavailable
On Windows, the service and the interactive desktop exist in different session contexts.
The remote-control helper must operate in the appropriate interactive user session.
Windows session changes
Windows can contain several session types, including:
- physical console sessions
- Remote Desktop sessions
- locked sessions
- disconnected sessions
A session can also change while support is in progress.
If the endpoint is connected but the remote desktop cannot be established, session selection or helper availability may be involved.
Linux graphical environments
Linux remote-control behavior depends on the graphical environment.
X11 and Wayland use different security and input models.
A Linux endpoint can therefore have working remFREE agent communication while graphical capture or input remains unavailable.
Check WebRTC
Remote-session video uses WebRTC.
If normal remFREE jobs work but remote control fails, investigate whether the network or browser restricts WebRTC.
Possible causes include:
- firewall policy
- UDP restrictions
- NAT behavior
- browser security policy
- enterprise WebRTC restrictions
Browser troubleshooting
Try the following:
- reload the remFREE device page
- verify the browser is current
- test another supported browser
- confirm the browser is not blocking required page functionality
- close an abandoned remote session before starting another
Check endpoint helper state
The remote-control helper is different from the main service-level agent.
A healthy remFREE service does not automatically prove that the user-session helper is functioning.
If the platform reports a helper or session-related error, investigate that component specifically.
Video versus input
Remote video and remote input are separate flows.
This distinction helps isolate problems.
Examples:
Video works, mouse does not
Investigate endpoint input injection or session permissions.
Mouse input appears to work, video does not
Investigate screen capture and the media path.
Neither works
Investigate session establishment, helper state, and WebRTC connectivity.
Review the job and activity history
Check remFREE Jobs and relevant activity for the remote-session request.
The error message may identify whether the failure occurred during:
- session setup
- endpoint helper startup
- graphical capture
- signaling
- media establishment
Useful troubleshooting order
Use this sequence:
- Confirm device heartbeat.
- Confirm an interactive graphical session exists.
- Confirm the helper is available.
- Check the remFREE job or error result.
- Test browser behavior.
- Check WebRTC and network policy.
- Review endpoint logs.
Treat the management channel and remote-media channel as separate systems until evidence shows otherwise.