Installing Collector on Windows

This page describes the Collector installation and deployment process for Windows devices. The process covers three scenarios:

• Small-scale or proof-of-concept setups
• Medium to large-scale deployments on physical devices
• Deployments on VMs.

Refer to Installing Collector to identify the deployment path applicable to your infrastructure before starting.

Before you begin

Ensure you have the following before starting:

• One or more Windows devices on which to install Collector.
• The URL of your Nexthink instance, including data in the path. Refer to Connectivity requirements for more information.

  • Example: <instance>.data.<region>.nexthink.cloud
• The customer key from the Customer Key.txt file received in your welcome email from Nexthink.
• The root certificate associated with your Nexthink instance.
• Administrator credentials in your Nexthink instance.
• Optional: A third-party deployment tool or Unified Endpoint Manager (UEM), for example, Microsoft Intune.
• Optional: An MSI editor, for example, Orca, when using the Windows Installer (MSI).

Ensure that no version of Nexthink Collector is running on the Windows device before starting. If Collector is already running, uninstall it before continuing.

Starting with Collector version 25.4.1, the VDI Client Extension is enabled automatically for all devices using VDI Experience. For older versions, Nexthink recommends upgrading to the most recent Collector version to ensure automatic enablement without redeployment.

Installation flow

The following diagram shows the installation and deployment paths for all Windows scenarios. All paths share the same prerequisites.

Deployment steps

Follow the procedures in these sections in order:

1. Obtaining Collector

2. For physical device deployments:

   1. Configuring Collector for endpoint devices

   2. Installing Collector on a single device

   3. Deploying Collector on Windows

3. For VM deployments: Configuring and deploying Collector for VMs