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See Who Is Logged Into a Remote Computer: 6 Best Ways
Windows 11

See Who Is Logged Into a Remote Computer: 6 Best Ways

November 23, 2023

see who is logged into a remote computer

Would you like to see who is logged into a remote computer?

Sometimes, we’re not near a computer and others might use those systems. As an employer managing a company or the supervisor of a computer lab, you’ll need to know from a remote location who logged in. I’ll cover all the methods below, so read on!

How To See Who Is Logged Into a Remote Computer?

Here’s how to keep track of remote logins:

Solution 01: Use the Command Prompt or PowerShell

The most common method to see the user of a remote computer is to use Command Prompt or PowerShell.

For Command Prompt

  1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run box.
  2. Type cmd and press the Enter key.
  3. The Command Prompt tool will open on the screen.
  4. Paste any of the following commands and hit Enter. You need to type the name of your remote computer in place of RemoteComputerName.quser /server:RemoteComputerNamequery user /server:RemoteComputerNameFor Command Prompt
  5. Now, you’ll be able to see the name of the remote computer user.

For PowerShell

  1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run box.
  2. Type PowerShell in the box and press the Enter key.
  3. Paste any of the following commands and hit Enter. You must feed the name of your remote computer in place of RemoteComputerName.quser /server:RemoteComputerNamequery user /server:RemoteComputerNameFor PowerShell
  4. The PowerShell terminal will display the name of the user using the remote computer in question.

Solution 02: Use Task Manager

Another way to identify the user of a remote computer is to use the Task Manager utility.

  1. First, you need to open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete or Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
  2. You can also open it by clicking on the Task Manager option from the Taskbar menu or Start menu.
  3. Select the Users tab. The tab might be represented by the icon of two people in some Windows versions.Use Task Manager
  4. There, you’ll be able to see all the users of your local and remote computers.

Solution 03: Use Event Viewer

Event Viewer is a Microsoft tool that comes with Windows OS. It displays the log of system and application messages.  You can also use it to check the users of a remote computer with the following steps:

  1. Type Event Viewer in the Search field of the Windows computer.
  2. Click on the best match result to open this tool.
  3. Now, click on the Action tab and select Connect to Another Computer…
  4. When connected, double-click on the Windows Logs from the left panel to expand it.
  5. Select Security to open the list of logon events.
  6. Select any logon event (Audit Success with Event ID 4798) according to the date and time to see who logged in at that time.Use Event Viewer

This method allows you to check who used the system at any particular time.

Solution 04: Use PowerShell Remoting

PowerShell Remoting is a method that lets you run Windows PowerShell commands on remote computers. If you have it enabled on your remote computer, you can easily implement the following steps to find out who logged in.

  1. Open PowerShell on your local computer by typing PowerShell in the Search field.
  2. You have to establish a remote session with your remote system using the following command. Replace RemoteComputerName with the name of the remote computer.Enter-PSSession -ComputerName RemoteComputerNameUse PowerShell Remoting
  3. After entering the remote session, use the following PowerShell command to know about the logged-in users.Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem | Select-Object -ExpandProperty UserName
  4. Alternatively, you can use quser or query user commands to find the users of the remote system.

Solution 05: Use Remote Desktop Services Manager

Remote Desktop Services offer secure remote computer access. You can also use it to find out about the remote computer users with the following steps:

  1. Open Remote Desktop Services Manager.
  2. Navigate to Remote Desktop Services.
  3. Now, click on Collections and then Session Host.
  4. Choose the appropriate collection.
  5. Navigate to the User Sessions tab. This will display the active user sessions.Remote Desktop Services Manager

Solution 06: Use Sysinternals Suite

Sysinternals Suite is a collection of troubleshooting utilities or tools. If you have this suite installed on your computer, you can use the PsLoggedOn command on PowerShell or Command Prompt. Here’s how:

  1. Press the Windows + R keys on your Windows computer to open the Run box.
  2. Type cmd to open Command prompt or PowerShell to open PowerShell.
  3. Hit the Enter key.
  4. When the screen appears, paste the following command. In place of RemoteComputerName, you need to type the original name of the remote system.PsLoggedOn \RemoteComputerNameUse Sysinternals Suite
  5. Now, the names of the logged-in users of the remote system will appear.

Conclusion

Knowing about remote users is an essential way to ensure your system’s security when you’re away from it. From now on, whenever you want to see who is logged into a remote computer that you own, just implement any of the approaches mentioned above.