TideDesk ALPHA

TideDesk for organisations

An administrator can set how TideDesk behaves for every user of a computer. The settings live in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\TideDesk, where only an administrator can write, so the person at the computer cannot change them. TideDesk shows each one as Set by your organisation.

How to set them

Use whatever already manages your computers: Group Policy (a registry preference), Microsoft Intune or another device management tool, or a .reg file run as an administrator. TideDesk reads the settings again every few seconds, so no restart is needed.

The settings

ValueTypeWhat it does
RendezvousDWORD0: no connection service at all, so no device-ID connections over the internet.
RendezvousServerStringUse only this connection service, for example your own.
RendezvousAllowedMulti-stringUse only one of these connection services.
LanDiscoveryDWORD0 or 1: whether the computer can be found by device ID on the local network.
TypedAddressesDWORD0 or 1: whether viewers may connect to typed addresses, not only device IDs.
AccessCodeDWORD0 or 1: whether viewers may come in with the access code.
SavedPasswordDWORD0 or 1: whether viewers may come in with the saved password.
PortMappingDWORD0 or 1: whether TideDesk may ask the router to open its port.
AllowStopSharingDWORD0 or 1: whether the person at the computer may stop sharing or quit TideDesk.
ReportsDWORD0: problem reports can be copied, not sent anywhere.
ReportServerStringProblem reports go only to your own report service (host or host:port, port 47902 by default), never to TideDesk.
ReportServerFingerprintStringThe SHA-256 of that service’s certificate, in hex. Without a valid one, reports are not sent at all.

A value that is not set leaves the choice to the person at the computer. The report settings need v0.1.0-alpha.13 or later; the others, v0.1.0-alpha.12 or later.

An example

This .reg file keeps a company’s computers on its own connection service, lets viewers in only with the saved password, leaves the router alone and sends problem reports to the company’s own service:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\TideDesk]
"RendezvousServer"="rendezvous.example.com"
"AccessCode"=dword:00000000
"SavedPassword"=dword:00000001
"PortMapping"=dword:00000000
"ReportServer"="reports.example.com"
"ReportServerFingerprint"="the certificate's SHA-256, 64 hex digits"

Problem reports

TideDesk keeps the problems it runs into on the computer, under History, Problems, and sends a report only when the person presses the button after seeing all of it. By default reports go to TideDesk. With ReportServer and its fingerprint they go only to your own report service, and with Reports set to 0 they can only be copied. Either way, TideDesk’s support email is not offered. To run your own report service, write to [email protected].

Licences

TideDesk is free for personal, non-commercial use. Use in an organisation needs a TideDesk licence. A computer managed by an organisation (joined to a domain or to Microsoft Entra ID, or in device management) says so in the app. For licences, write to [email protected].

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