Link to Windows beta adds remote shutdown, restart and sleep controls for PCs
Microsoft's Link to Windows beta now lets Android users remotely shut down, restart or sleep their PC, and finish pending updates before powering down.
The functions are appearing in beta version 1.26101.103.0 of the app. The same update gives users a new menu for common power actions, and it allows them to finish installing pending updates before the computer is restarted or shut down, so that an update process is not interrupted by a remote command.
News of the planned controls first surfaced last month, when a report described Microsoft as preparing the remote shutdown, restart and sleep options. The beta release now makes them available to testers.
The app already offered a narrower version of this capability: users could lock their Windows computer remotely from a linked Android phone. The new menu extends that to the three most common power states, turning a single lock command into a small set of system-level controls.
Link to Windows is a Microsoft utility that connects an Android handset to a Windows PC. Through the app, users can reach certain phone functions from the desktop, including calls, messages and photos, and they can move files between the two devices. The app has generally been positioned as a way to keep a phone's notifications and content accessible while working on a computer, rather than as a remote administration tool.
Adding shutdown, restart and sleep to that set moves the app closer to remote management of the PC itself, though the controls described so far are limited to power states and update handling rather than broader system settings. The update does not, based on the beta release, add remote access to files stored on the computer or the ability to launch applications on it.
The controls are being distributed through the beta channel, which typically reaches a subset of users before a wider release. Microsoft has not said when, or whether, the same options will reach the stable version of the app, and no date for a general rollout has been given.
Android Authority reported the beta release and the new power menu. The publication also noted that the functions match those described in the earlier report.
For users who already rely on Link to Windows for calls and messages, the practical change is that leaving a desk no longer requires leaving the computer running until they return. For Microsoft, the addition keeps the app's feature set expanding at a time when cross-device links between phones and desktop operating systems are a competitive area.