AnyDesk is a renowned remote access desktop software that uses an account for key functionality, making its recovery pivotal. The application uses an ID/username and a password that represent the computer on the network and lets anyone that has them, you included, connect. Plus it offers a variety of security features like a VPN or unattended access after authentication. While we acknowledge these are sufficient for one-time or occasional, casual use, user accounts can still make a big difference and add to the convenience. We know you agree since you want to know how to recover the AnyDesk account. Thus, we’ll gladly help you.
1. Recover the AnyDesk account if you forget the password
This is the first line of defense when it comes to this software. The most common reason you’re unable to access your account is that you can’t remember and have lost your password. Luckily, you provided other information when you registered, which will be crucial in this case. With that said, follow these steps to restore your account for AnyDesk by resetting its password:
- Head over to the My AnyDesk page.
- Click the Forgot your password? link at the bottom.
- Enter the e-mail address you used to create the account.
- Solve the reCAPTCHA challenge to prove you’re not a bot.
- Click the Reset button.
- A password reset link will be sent to the e-mail address you specified. Click it and enter a new password twice to finish the AnyDesk account recovery procedure.
2. Is there a way to restore AnyDesk-ID or alias?
Yes, there are two ways to complete the restoration of AnyDesk-ID, alias, or aliases. We’ll mention the first one here and suggest a last resort solution in method 4. Since we can’t know which account-related information you can’t recall, we’ll remind or inform you about the key terms:
- ID, also mentioned as “User” on the website — IDs are automatically assigned to free AnyDesk account, usually consist of only numbers, and cannot be changed. However, paid users can assign them from the Customer Portal and add upper and lowercase letters and symbols such as underscore, dot, and minus.
- Name — Name assigned to free or paid users from a higher-up through a Customer Portal.
- Namespace — Unless paid for and designed as part of a company, typically @ad, i.e., public AnyDisk namespace all users have access to.
- Alias — Alias is a combination of your name and namespace separated by @, i.e., name@namespace. Free users can only utilize the @ad one, which, once allotted to an ID, cannot be changed. Paid users can choose a custom namespace and assign up to 3 aliases per ID.
Where can I find the file that stores AnyDesk user information?
AnyDesk stores your AnyDesk ID, username, and in some cases a namespace locally. This is so you can simply migrate that account to a new machine or create a manual backup. The configuration text file is named service.conf, and can be found in these locations on your computer:
- Windows XP, Server 2003 — %appdata%\AnyDesk\ (not installed) or %AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\AnyDesk\ (installed)
- Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 — %appdata%\AnyDesk\ (portable) or %programdata%\AnyDesk\ (installed)
- Android 7 and app version 5.3.2 or older — root/data/data/com.anydesk.anydeskandroid/files/.anydesk/
- Android 7 and app version 5.3.4 and later (including Credential Encrypted Storage or CE) — root/data/user/0/com.anydesk.anydeskandroid/files/.anydesk/
- Linux — /etc/anydesk/ (installed software) ~/.anydesk/ (portable version)
- macOS — ~/.anydesk/ (portable app) /etc/anydesk/ (installed app)
The locations above are listed under the impression you chose the standard installation. For custom installations, you may have to look inside the AnyDesk folder for, say, a folder that starts with ad_ (in case it’s a public namespace) and ends with a custom prefix. (e.g., ~\AnyDesk\ad_<prefix>\…). Also, at the time of writing, there is no official way to access the configuration files on iOS devices. As for Android, uninstalling the app wipes the file, so you must have had it backed up beforehand, unlike on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
3. Use an authenticator app or AnyDesk recovery code
Two-factor authentication is not an AnyDesk feature everyone uses. The software developer primarily recommends it to those who are setting up unattended access to their machine or mobile device. With that said, even if you have all the credentials but enabled 2FA, the software will forbid your account access. Unless you can do one of the following, that is:
- Enter a 6-digit code sent via SMS to the registered phone number or the authenticator app (Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator, FreeOTP)
- Enter your recovery key. This is a failsafe in case you can’t enter the code above. This is the code AnyDesk suggested you print or put away for safekeeping when you enabled two-factor authentication the first time around.
4. Contact AnyDesk Customer Support
As you can see, the techniques to retrieve your AnyDesk account boil down to two main ones. But what if none succeed because you can’t recall your ID, password, or e-mail address? While the chances look grim, we propose reaching out to the company if you have a way to prove your identity and ownership of the account. Here are a few key ways to recover your account by contacting the AnyDesk Customer Care:
- Write a support ticket — Sending a support ticket to AnyDesk is the main approach for getting in touch. Fill out all the relevant information and make sure to put a checkmark in front of “Yes, I tried finding a solution in the AnyDesk Help Center” before clicking Send Message.
- Use their social media — Send a message on Instagram (@anydesksoftware), Facebook (@AnyDesk), or Twitter (@anydesk).
- Reach out to Technical Support — This requires you to sign in to any other AnyDesk account. Hence, it’s useful for helping another user or requesting account restoration for an ID or alias in your namespace.
