Chrome Remote Desktop: Lock Screen with Curtain Mode

Chrome Remote Desktop lock screen

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

This part provides two ways to enable Curtain mode for Chrome Remote Desktop to make Chrome Remote Desktop lock screen during remote sessions.

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, 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

Chrome Remote Desktop alternative: Protect privacy with AnyViewer

Locking the screen during remote sessions is surely a great feature to protect privacy. But Chrome Remote Desktop lock sreen has some unavoidable defects:

• Both the host and the client machines need to be running the Pro (or higher) version of Windows to enable Curtain mode. For example, you can’t access your Windows 10 Pro computer from a Win 7 Home laptop and successfully instantiate Curtain Mode.
• Curtain mode is not available for mobile devices like smartphones or tablets. For example, when you’re using Chrome Remote Desktop on an iPad to control a computer remotely, you can’t black the screen of your host computer.

Here we would like to introduce the free yet professional remote desktop software for Windows and iOS, AnyViewer to you, which has the Privacy mode feature enabling users to black the screen of the remote device when remotely controlling it. Its following advantages have made it the best Chrome Remote Desktop alternative:

• Its Privacy mode is available on various versions of Windows, including Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 and Windows Server 2022/2019/2016/2012 R2.
• AnyViewer for iOS supports Privacy mode as well. You can black the computer screen when remotely controlling your PC from your iPhone or iPad.

Let’s get started with AnyViewer right now.

Step 1. Download, install and launch AnyViewer on both computers.

Step 2. On your host computer, go to Log in, and then click Sign up. (If you already have signed up on its official website, you can log in directly.)

Step 3. Fill in the signup information.

Step 4. Then you can see you successfully logged in to AnyViewer. Your device will automatically be assigned to the account you’ve logged in to.

Step 5. On your client computer, log in to the same AnyViewer account. Then you can see your host computer on My devices. Choose your host computer, tick Connect in privacy mode, then click Remote control to achieve unattended remote access to your host computer

Note: Privacy mode is an exclusive feature for Professional or Enterprise plan when you control PC from PC. You can also assign more devices to achieve secure unattended remote access after upgrading.

Step 6. Once connected successfully, the host computer will become a black screen, no one on that side can see what you're doing on it. Also, its mouse and keyboard will be blocked, no one can control it except you.

If you remotely control your computer from your iPhone/iPad, you can find Privacy mode in the menu.

Conclusion

How to enable Chrome Remote Desktop lock screen on Windows 10, 11? The answer is to enable Curtain mode for Chrome Remote Desktop. There are two methods to enable Curtain mode. The first is through Registry and another is through the Command Prompt. After enabling Curtain mode, you’d be able to remotely control a computer without anyone seeing what you’re doing.