Agent Installation

How to Install Device Control Plus agents using Start Up Script?

Windows GPO is a powerful and versatile tool. Device Control Plus agents can be installed on client computers with the help of this tool, even when other installation methods fail for the following reasons:

• Access is denied
• The network path was not found
• Logon Failure: Unknown user name or password
• No Network provider accepted the given Network Path
• Not enough server storage is available to process this command

Clicking on each these reasons provides resolution to the above said problems. If problems still persist with agent installation, then follow the steps given below to use logon script and install agents:

Note: Ensure that the network has a Domain based setup and not Workgroup setup. You can map the script to the entire domain even if you have installed Device Control Plus agents in a few client computers as the script will install the agent only in the computers in which the agent is not installed.

1. Download the Zip file, extract it and follow the steps given below:
   • Navigate to Agent tab
   • Under SoM Settings, navigate to Scope of Management > Computers
     
   • Click on Download Agent
2. Click on start>Run
3. Enter gpmc.msc
4. Click OK
5. Right click the domain to select, create and link a GPO here
6. Specify a name for the GPO
7. Select the GPO
Note: These steps need to be followed if you wish to install agents in a select few devices (refer this image). Do not follow these steps if you want to install agents in all the devices.
• Click on the Scope tab
• Under Security Filtering section, click Add
• In the Select User, Computer, or Group dialog box, click Object Types
• Select specific computer object types
• Click OK
• Specify the computer names
• Click on Check Names
• Click OK
8. Right click the GPO and click on Edit.

Note: As an alternative to the execution of VBscript, you can execute PowerShell script for agent installation using GPO.

9. For executing VBScript, follow these steps (refer this image):
   • Expand Computer Configuration --> Policies --> Windows Settings --> Scripts
   • Right click Startup and click Properties
   • Click Show Files
   • Drag and drop the InstallAgent.vbs & DeviceControlPlusAgent.msi SMPAgentServerInfo.json to this location and Copy the location (\\Domain name\SysVol\Domain name\Policies\{ID}\Machine\Scripts\Startup) and close.
   • In the Startup Properties dialog box, click Add
   • Browse and navigate to the location, copy the browsed path (\\Domain name\SysVol\Domain name\Policies\{ID}\Machine\Scripts\Startup) and select InstallAgent.vbs script. Then specify the path (copied location) and the script as mentioned below:
     (\\Domain name\SysVol\Domain name\Policies\{ID}\Machine\Scripts\Startup)\InstallAgent.vbs
   • specify the script parameters as mentioned below:
     DeviceControlPlusAgent.msi SMPAgentServerInfo.json
10. For executing PowerShell script, follow these steps and refer this image):
    • Ensure if PowerShell is enabled in all the client computers before execution of this script.
    • Expand Computer Configuration --> Policies --> Windows Settings --> PowerShell scripts
    • Right click Startup and click Properties
    • Click Show Files
    • Drag and drop the PSInstallAgent.ps1  & DeviceControlPlusAgent.msi SMPAgentServerInfo.json to this location and copy the location (\\Domain name\SysVol\Domain name\Policies\{ID}\Machine\Scripts\Startup) and close.
    • In the Startup Properties dialog box, click Add
    • Browse and navigate to the location, copy the browsed path (\\Domain name\SysVol\Domain name\Policies\{ID}\Machine\Scripts\Startup) and select the PSInstallAgent.ps1 script. Then specify the path (copied location) and the script as mentioned below:

      (\\Domain name\SysVol\Domain name\Policies\{ID}\Machine\Scripts\Startup)\PSInstallAgent.ps1
    • specify the script parameters as mentioned below:
      "DeviceControlPlusAgent.msi" "SMPAgentServerInfo.json"
11. Click OK to close the Add a Script dialog box
12. Click OK to close the Startup Properties dialog box
13. Close the Group Policy Object Editor
14. Close the Group Policy Management dialog box

Note: The script can be deployed to all the computers in the domain. It is to be noted that the target shouldn't be a user group.

The script will be executed when the client computers reboot after the script is deployed to the domain. After the execution of the script, Device Control Plus agents will be installed automatically in all the client computers.

Notes

• Set the file association properties of .vbs files to Microsoft Windows (r) based script host in all the client computers. This ensures that the script is executed successfully. Do not modify the file association properties to open in a text editor as the execution of the script will fail.
• You can leave the Device Control Plus GPO object installed indefinitely to ensure that the agent is installed in future client computers.
• This will not re-install the agent that is already installed as the script is programmed to ensure that it doesn't re-install agents that are already installed. This will not cause any problems during startup.
• You also do not need to update and download the DeviceControlPlusAgent.msi file every time Device Control Plus releases a new version. The agent is programmed to check for new versions from the server and upgrade itself automatically. When an agent is installed, it updates itself automatically when new versions are released.
  
  You have now installed an agent in client computers using a GPO.