A method and apparatus for the management of the configuration settings of an electronic device (108) by a remote agent is provided. The remote agent is connected to the electronic device via a network (100). The method includes temporarily authorizing (304) the remote agent to access administrative information and assume administrative control of the electronic device via the network. Further, the method includes modifying (306) the configuration settings of the electronic device in response to commands received from the remote agent. Moreover, the method includes terminating (308) the temporary access and control rights of the remote agent after the configuration settings of the electronic device are modified.