Chrome Remote Desktop: Lock Screen with Curtain Mode

Chrome Remote Desktop lock screen

“I’m accessing a remote Windows computer in my office via my Chromebook from home, using Chrome Remote Desktop. Is there any way to configure the host computer that I can lock the screen of it and still be able to access it remotely? So no one in the office can see what I’m doing.”

Actually, this is possible. There’s a thing called Curtain mode for Chrome Remote Desktop. With this mode enabled, when you remotely log onto a host, the host will automatically show a lock screen, preventing someone physically present at host machines from seeing what you’re doing when remotely connected.

Two methods to enable Chrome Remote Desktop Curtain mode

In this part, we provide you with two ways to enable Curtain mode for Chrome Remote Desktop.

Method 1. Enable Curtain mode using Registry

On Windows 10, you can set the following four keys using Regedit to enable Curtain mode:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\fDenyTSConnections to 0.
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\UserAuthentication to 0.
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome\RemoteAccessHostRequireCurtain to 1.
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp\SecurityLayer to 1.

In case you don’t know how to do this, we’ll take the first key as an example, teaching you how to set it. For the next three keys, simply repeat the previous steps.

Step 1. Press WIN + R and then type in “regedit” to open the Registry Editor.

Step 2. Navigate here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > Terminal Server. On the right pane, find and double-click fDenyTSConnections.

Step 3. Set its value to 0.

Method 2. Enable Curtain mode using Command Prompt

Another way to enable Curtain mode is to use the Command Prompt.

Step 1. Press WIN + R and then type in “cmd” to open the Command Prompt.

Step 2. Copy and paste the following command into the Command Prompt and then press Enter:

reg add HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome /v RemoteAccessHostRequireCurtain /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f && reg add “HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server” /v fDenyTSConnections /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f && reg add “HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp” /v SecurityLayer /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f && reg add “HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp” /v UserAuthentication /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f && net stop chromoting && net start chromoting

Conclusion

How to lock screen on Chrome Remote Desktop on Windows 10? The answer is to enable Curtain mode for Chrome Remote Desktop. There are two methods to enable Curtain mode. The first is to through Registry and another is to through the Command Prompt. After enabling Curtain mode, you’d be able to remotely control a computer without anyone seeing what you’re doing.