Managing computers in LAN

Desktop Central installs an agent in all the client computers that have to be managed using Desktop Central. The agent properties can also be customized prior to installing the agents. For details on customizations, refer to Configuring Agent settings.

Installing Agents

Installing Agents from Desktop Central Console

1. The client computers can be added from Admin tab --> SoM --> Add Computers button. This will list the domains and workgroups that have been added.
2. Click the Select Computers link pertaining to a domain/workgroup. This opens the Select Computers dialog listing all the available computers of the domain/workgroup.
3. Select the computers that have to be managed using Desktop Central and click OK. You can also manually specify the computer names instead of choosing them from the list. The selected computers gets added to the Selected Computers table in the Add Computers view.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for adding computers from multiple domains/workgroups.
5. Select the "Start Agent Installation Immediately" check box to install the Desktop Central agents in the selected computers immediately. When this option is not selected, the computers are only added. You need to install the agents later to manage them.
6. Select the Configure Agent Settings option for configuring the agent properties and post installation actions.
7. Click Done to add the selected computers. All the selected computers gets added to the Scope of Management.

The Scope of Management page will list all the computers that are being managed by Desktop Central along with the status of the agent installation and the agent version.

Agents can also be installed at a later stage, by selecting the computers from Admin --> SoM page and clicking the Install Agent button from the Desktop Central Console

If you have problems in installing the agents, refer to our online knowledge base for possible causes and solutions.

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Installing Agents Using Windows GPO

Agent installation through the console might fail due to various reasons like some security restrictions, firewall configurations, etc. There is a possibility that even after trying the resolutions provided in the online knowledge base, the installation can still fail. In such cases, you can install the agents with a startup script using Windows GPO. The agents gets installed during the next computer startup.

Refer to the online knowledge base for the steps to install the agents using Windows GPO

Installing Agents Manually

You can also install the agents manually, by downloading the agent program from:

http://<host name>:<port number>/agent/DesktopCentralAgent.msi

where,

<host name> refers to the machine running Desktop Central and

<port number> refers to the Web port to access the client, the default being 8020.

Double-click the msi file to install the agent manually.

Uninstalling Agents

To uninstall the agents from the computers, select the desktops from the list and select Uninstall Agent from the Actions box.

Removing the Computers

To remove the computers from the list, select the computers and select Remove Computer from the Actions box. The Desktop Central agents have to be uninstalled prior to removing a computer from the scope.

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