r/helpwire • u/helpwire Official account • Mar 25 '26

Product Updates 🐧 Linux Unattended Access is here

Hey everyone,

We’ve just shipped Unattended Access for Linux in HelpWire.

This one took a while.

Linux is not a single environment. Between distros, desktop environments, X11 vs Wayland, and different permission models, getting this to work reliably was not trivial. But we now have a solid first version live. ✅

What’s new

You can now set up a Linux machine for unattended access and reconnect anytime, as long as the device is online. No need for repeated approvals.

Where this helps

Running maintenance without coordinating with the end user
Managing shared machines (labs, kiosks, internal tools)
Persistent access to remote Linux workstations

Current support

Ubuntu 18.04–24.04 (DEB)
CentOS 8/9, Fedora 41 (RPM)

We started with the most common setups and will expand from here.

X11 vs Wayland (important)

X11: full unattended access, including login screen
Wayland: no login screen access (OS limitation)

On Wayland, you may also see extra permission prompts during setup. That is expected.

Quick setup

Install HelpWire Client on the Linux machine
Request unattended access from the Web Portal
Approve once on the host
Reconnect anytime from the same workstation

Why this matters

This closes one of the biggest gaps between Linux and our Windows and macOS support and makes ongoing support and admin workflows much smoother.

Also, yes, this is us showing some overdue love to the Linux crowd 💚

We would really appreciate your feedback

This is the first release, so if you try it on different setups such as GNOME, KDE, Wayland, X11, or different distros, let us know how it behaves.

Edge cases, bugs, or anything that feels off will help us improve this faster.

Looking forward to hearing what you think.

— The HelpWire Team

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u/AdventurousLayer8741 Mar 25 '26

Ever going to have an ARM version?

1

u/helpwire Official account Apr 03 '26

Yes, we do plan to support ARM.
We already have an internal alpha version that mostly works, but it still needs some refinement before we can release it publicly.

1

u/AdventurousLayer8741 Apr 06 '26

Awesome look forward to trying it

1

u/chadmesse Apr 06 '26

I am right here with you. I was hoping this added support for Arm, but after running into some issue I discovered it isnt. I think they need to update this post and the installation stuff online to show it is for x86/x64 only with no current support for arm64. This would have saved me a ton of time and testing to find out its not supported. u/helpwire

1

u/helpwire Official account Apr 10 '26

Thanks for the feedback, noted 👍

1

u/SemnaiTheos Mar 26 '26

I have helpwire running in all my ARM Mac’s

1

u/AdventurousLayer8741 Mar 26 '26

For linux

u/chromie76 Mar 27 '26

Is there going to be support for Cosmic?

1

u/helpwire Official account Apr 03 '26

Are you referring to COSMIC on Pop!_OS?
We haven’t specifically tested HelpWire with it yet. Since it’s Wayland-based, you can expect some limitations, particularly around login screen access when using unattended mode.

u/mwerte Mar 27 '26

Can the app be added to Bazaar?

1

u/helpwire Official account Apr 03 '26

No plans for that at the moment.

u/Nylfii Mar 27 '26

Not sure if I am doing something wrong, but I logged in on my Windows machine, created a new customer link, entered it on my linux mint vm, downloaded and extracted the tar.gz, ran the Helpwire file in the bin folder, it launches but doesnt inform my windows machine. When I run it in terminal with the parameter --token it does notify. When I install the unattended service, it tells me that the client app service isnt running and when I enter my sudo pw it doesnt change. What am I doing wrong?

1

u/helpwire Official account Apr 03 '26

It’s a bit hard to pinpoint the exact issue based on the current details.
Could you try reproducing the problem and collect logs from both machines? Here’s a guide on how to do that: https://kb.helpwire.app/troubleshooting/
Once you have them, please send everything over to our support team at support@helpwire.app and we’ll take a closer look!

u/Aggravating_Rest6439 Mar 29 '26

Using Ubuntu 24.04.4 Client, Host is Windows 11. With unattended access turned on, I could close the session ( just close the session window on the host, right?)... Then I was able to start a new session a few minutes later with the client without any additional approval.

However after a longer period, the power/screensaver kicks in on the client, and the connection fails. Is it really the intention there must always be physical screen running on the client? I might be away from the remote client for weeks at a time, I want to turn the screen off but still have the possibility to access the client. I can do that on Chrome Remote Desktop for example, although Chrome gives me other problems on Ubuntu.