Troubleshoot: Cookie Clearing with Remote Assist

Clearing the browser cookies on the Admin side of a Remote Assist session is not recommended as it can create problems closing the active session.

Known Issue

If an Admin clears their browser cookies during an active Remote Assist session, the Admin will be unable to terminate the session from their browser, rejoin the session, or provide feedback for the session. When this happens, the Admin must either wait for the session to timeout, or request the end user close the session from their end. Otherwise, the session will remain in an active but inaccessible status. 

Cause

Remote Assist APIs are protected by cookie authorization. When Remote Assist sessions are created, authorizing cookies are generated by the backend and stored in the session table, while browser cookies are stored in persistent memory on the machine. Clearing cookies before or after a Remote Assist session will not cause any problems, but clearing cookies during an active session will prevent the Admin UI from closing the active session. 

Without access to the cookie, the end session API cannot be authorized by the backend because the cookie is no longer present in the API request, leaving the Remote Assist session in a state of limbo.  

Resolution

The best practice is to wait to clear your cookies until a Remote Assist session is no longer active - either before the session begins or after the session ends. However, if you find yourself in this situation, some workarounds include:

• Request the end user to close the session from their device. This allows the session to close in the backend, and lets a new session be created to the same end user if needed. 
• Wait for the session duration timeout to expire for the backend to terminate the session.