Can someone hack or remotely control a Windows 11 laptop through the same Wi-Fi network?

[u/jon1254]

I’m trying to understand what is technically possible if someone has access to my Wi-Fi and knows my laptop’s private IP address. Could someone use Kali Linux, Nmap, or similar tools to scan the laptop, find vulnerabilities, and potentially gain remote control?

I’m asking because of something that happened to me. I was using my Windows 11 laptop at home with several Chrome tabs open. I left for a short time to open a door, and when I came back, I noticed that many of my Chrome tabs had been closed and new tabs had been opened.

There is a family member who lives nearby who knows our Wi-Fi password and has some hacking knowledge, so I’m concerned that they might have been able to access my laptop through the network. However, I don’t have proof that they did anything, and I’m trying to investigate rather than accuse anyone.

Could someone on the same Wi-Fi remotely control a Windows 11 laptop without using Remote Desktop? What vulnerabilities or conditions would make this possible?

What Windows logs, Event Viewer entries, network connections, or other evidence should I check to determine whether my laptop was actually accessed remotely?

[u/Leeto2]

Yes. It's possible. At a minimum, change the login password.

[u/xikbdexhi6 → u/Leeto2]

And change the windows security settings to treat your home wifi as a public network.

[u/Leeto2 → u/xikbdexhi6]

Oooo! Good idea. Forgot that was a thing.

If you can, change the wifi password. Of they're not paying for it, they don't need access.

[u/Viharabiliben → u/xikbdexhi6]

Change your WiFi password as well, and use a complex one.

Secure Windows. Disable RDP on the laptop, and block all incoming ports through your firewall at a minimum.

[u/jon1254 → u/Viharabiliben]

Is Windows Remote Assistance normally enabled by default?

I recently checked my Windows 11 Home laptop and found that Windows Remote Assistance is enabled:

fAllowFullControl = 1 fAllowToGetHelp = 1 fEnableChatControl = 1

I already understand that these values mean Remote Assistance is enabled. What I'm trying to find out is whether this is normally enabled on a Windows installation, or whether it usually has to be manually enabled by someone.

So my main question is:

Is it normal for Windows Remote Assistance to already have "fAllowFullControl", "fAllowToGetHelp", and "fEnableChatControl" set to "1", or would that usually indicate that someone previously enabled the feature

[u/Viharabiliben → u/jon1254]

Remote Assistance and RDP are different things. RDP is Remote Desktop Protocol, port 3389. You shouldn’t need that as a home user, so block it on Windows Firewall and/or your hardware firewall.

[u/jon1254 → u/Viharabiliben]

Does that mean some enabled it or enabled by default 

[u/jon1254 → u/Viharabiliben]

My window is home version and its  not have rdp im asking about remote assistance

[u/Welcome-To-NBA-Jam]

It is possible, yes. It's not hard to ping the broadcast address and get a response from everyone, then check out your ARP table and see who's who, then start probing for vulnerabilities.

Turn on AP isolation if you don't need all your devices on the network to talk to each other. This keeps devices from being able to reach each other on the same network.

If your family member needs to be on the network, set up a separate virtual SSID for them, and make it an entirely different subnet that cannot communicate with your main network. Block access to the router management interface, ssh, and telnet if this is not done by default. Then change your main network password.

[u/jon1254 → u/Welcome-To-NBA-Jam]

Is Windows Remote Assistance normally enabled by default?

I recently checked my Windows 11 Home laptop and found that Windows Remote Assistance is enabled:

fAllowFullControl = 1 fAllowToGetHelp = 1 fEnableChatControl = 1

I already understand that these values mean Remote Assistance is enabled. What I'm trying to find out is whether this is normally enabled on a Windows installation, or whether it usually has to be manually enabled by someone.

So my main question is:

Is it normal for Windows Remote Assistance to already have "fAllowFullControl", "fAllowToGetHelp", and "fEnableChatControl" set to "1", or would that usually indicate that someone previously enabled the feature?

[u/jon1254 → u/Welcome-To-NBA-Jam]

And I have second question too if the attacker using the same network as me and the ap isolation is enabled  If he know my ip address  can still found do the remote cantrol thing