Deploying Collector on Windows
This page describes the available methods for deploying the Collector in a Windows environment. Choose the deployment method that best fits your organization's software distribution and operating system deployment processes.
The following deployment methods are covered:
Deploying Collector using Active Directory Group Policy
This process assumes you are a system administrator with a good understanding of the Windows operating system and enterprise software deployment.
Create a distribution point
Log in to the server as an administrator user.
Create a shared network folder.
Set permissions on this folder to allow access to the distribution package.
Copy the Collector MSI to the shared folder.
Generate transform files (MST) to control the options passed to the MSI for installation. For example, use the Microsoft Orca utility to generate the MST.
Copy the generated MST to the shared folder.
Create a Group Policy Object:
Select Start > All Programs.
Select Administrative Tools.
Select Active Directory Users and Computers.
Right-click your domain name in the console tree, select New and click Organizational Unit.
In the New Object dialog box, type a descriptive name for the new organizational unit (OU), and then click OK.
In the right panel, select Computers and click on the computer you want to add to your organizational unit.
Drag and drop these computers in the name of the organizational unit created. In the right panel, select Nexthink_Collector_Deploy, you will see all the computers tied to your organizational unit.
Select the Start button, go to All Programs.
Select Administrative Tools.
Select Group Policy Management.
Right-click your domain name in the console tree and select Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here...
In the New GPO dialog box, type a descriptive name for the new policy, and then click OK.
Assign an MSI package
Select Start > All Programs.
Select Administrative Tools.
Select Group Policy Management.
Right-click your GPO name and select Edit...
On this Group Management Editor, expand Computer Policies, Software Settings and Software Installation, select New and then click Package...
In the Open dialog box, browse to the distribution point you created for Nexthink Collector during the distribution point.
Select the MSI file containing the Collector installer you want to deploy, and then click Open.
In the Deploy Software dialog box, select Advanced, and then click OK.
In the Properties dialog box for the package you created.
Select the Deployment tab, and then select Uninstall this application when it falls out of the scope of management.
Select Advanced on the Deployment tab, choose Ignore language when deploying this package, uncheck the option Make this 32-bit X86 application available to Win64 machines, and then click OK.
On the Modifications tab, specify any modification transforms you want to apply when the package is installed by selecting Add and then opening each transform from its network location.
On the Security tab, verify the names of the computers to which you are assigning software.
Select OK to close the Properties dialog box.
In the Group Policy dialog box, expand Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, and Windows Components.
In the Windows Components folder, select Windows Installer.
Select Always install with elevated privileges.
Select Properties.
In the Always install with elevated privileges Properties dialog box, select the Setting tab, select Enabled.
Select OK.
In the Windows Installer panel of the Group Policy dialog box, right-click Logging, and then select Properties.
In the Logging Properties dialog box, on the Setting tab, select Enabled.
Then, in the Logging text box, type
iweaprcv.Select OK to close the Logging Properties dialog box.
In the Group Policy dialog box, select File, and then select Exit.
Test your results
Go to a target PC that is a member of the OU you tied the policy to.
Select Start > Run, and run the following command:
When the logoff or restart message appears, press Y, then Enter.
During restart, the system displays the Installing Nexthink Collector... message for about a minute, depending on the speed of your network and PC.
Select Start > Run, and run the following command to show the event viewer message:
In the left pane, select Application. Certain source events are shown as logged by MsiInstaller as a Success Audit event.
In case of errors, open the C:Windows/Temp/Msi.log and see the error log generated.
To redeploy a package, for example, when doing an upgrade:
Select Start > Programs.
Select Administrative Tools.
Select Group Policy Management.
Right-click your domain name in the console tree and select the Properties context menu.
Go to the Group Policy tab.
Select the object you used to deploy the package and select Edit.
Expand the Software Settings element (per user or per machine) which contains the deployed package.
Expand the Software Installation element which contains the deployed package.
Right-click the package in the right pane of the Group Policy window.
Select the All Tasks menu.
Select Redeploy application.
Select Yes to reinstall the application wherever it is installed.
Close the Group Policy Management Editor.
Select OK and exit the Group Policy Management.
Optional: Remove a package
Select Start > Programs.
Select Administrative Tools.
Select Group Policy Management.
Right-click your domain name in the console tree and select the Properties context menu.
Go to the Group Policy tab.
Select the object you used to deploy the package and select Edit.
Expand the Software Settings element (per user or per machine) which contains the deployed package.
Expand the Software Installation element which contains the deployed package.
Right-click the package in the right pane of the Group Policy window.
Select the All Tasks menu.
Select from the following options:
Immediately uninstall the software from users and computers.
Allow users to continue to use the software but prevent new installations.
Select OK to continue.
Close the Group Policy Management Editor.
Select OK and exit the Group Policy Management.
Deploying Collector through Microsoft Configuration Manager
This section explains how to deploy Collector over groups of end-user devices using Microsoft Configuration Manager 2012. For other versions of the configuration manager, the procedure may be different. Refer to the manual deployment of software packages in the user manual of your specific version.
The following instructions assume that you are:
A systems administrator with a basic understanding of the Windows operating system and deploying enterprise software
Familiar with Microsoft Configuration Manager
This procedure requires you to provide an executable file that is responsible for the actual installation of Collector on your devices. To generate this executable, use the Nexthink Collector installer.
Deployment procedure
Create a collection of devices:
Select Start > Microsoft System Center 2012 program group.
Run the Configuration Manager console.
In the Assets and Compliance workspace on the left-hand side of the main panel, right-click Device Collections.
Select Create Device Collection.
On the General page of the Create Device Collection Wizard, specify the following fields:
Name
A unique name for the collection.
Comment
Optional field
Comment describing the intent of the collection.
Limiting collection
Optional field
Click Browse to select a collection that puts a limit on the members of the current collection or select All systems in order to not limit the current collection.
Create a boundary and add it to a boundary group:
In the Configuration Manager console, go to the Administration workspace.
Right-click Boundaries and select Create Boundary.
Define the boundary by setting additional restrictions on the target devices in which to push the software installation, for example, by IP address range.
Right-click Boundary Groups and select Create Boundary Group.
Type in a name for the group.
Add the previously created boundary to this group.
Optional: Verify that you added the correct number of devices to the group by looking at the value in the column Member Count.
Create the application to install:
In the Configuration Manager console, go to the Software Library workspace.
Right-click Applications and select Create Application.
Choose the option Manually specify the application information.
Specify the location and name of the application; in this case, Nexthink_Collector_Installer_Silent.exe. The new application is added to the list of available applications.
Now the new application should appear in the list. When you click it, there is a Deployments tab at the bottom of the window. Later this tab will show a list of deployments of this application to different device groups.
Distribute and deploy the application:
In the list of Applications, right-click the previously created Collector application and select Distribute Content. The distribution wizard opens.
Confirm the correct executable file of the installer, which is
Nexthink_Collector_Installer_Silent.exe.As Content Destination, select Distribution Point.
Specify the shared folder that holds the installer.
Optional: Survey the distribution process from the Configuration Manager console.
In the main panel, navigate to Monitoring > Distribution Status > Content Status.
Select the application that you have just distributed. If you see Success and a green-colored graph below, you can now deploy the application.
Back in the Software Library workspace, navigate to Applications.
Right-click the Collector application and select Deploy.
Select the collection of devices that you created earlier.
If you cannot see your collection in the list, switch from User Collections to Device Collections.
Check that the distribution point is correct and click Next.
Set Action to Install and Purpose to Required and click Next.
Set the Schedule to an appropriate moment to start the deployment, for example As soon as possible, and click Next.
Tick Software installation and click Next.
Accept the default options for the rest of the wizard.
Optional: Check the status of your deployment in the Deployments tab at the bottom of the window.
To verify the deployment on a client device, log in to the client device and wait for the pop-up notification about the installation of new software.
To speed up this process, manually force the software deployment evaluation cycle in the Microsoft Configuration Manager client:
Open the Control Panel.
Navigate to Configuration Manager and click the Actions tab:
Choose Machine Policy Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle and click Run Now.
Choose Application Deployment Evaluation Cycle and click Run Now.
To debug the deployment process and see its log files, check the following:
On the server machine, open Microsoft Configuration Manager to view log files
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\tools\cmtrace.exeThe server logs are stored in
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\Logs\On the client machine, the logs are stored in one of these three paths:
C:\Windows\CCM\C:\Windows\ccmsetup\C:\Windows\ccmcache\
If your deployment is not successful, check the following troubleshooting points:
In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to Administration > Site Configuration > Servers and Site System Roles and choose your server. In the table below, right-click Distribution point and select Properties. In the Boundary Groups tab, verify that the boundary group that you previously created is listed in the Boundary Groups list. If not, add it to the list.
In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to Software Library > Applications. Right-click the Collector application and select Properties. Verify the following points:
In the Distribution Settings tab, ensure that the option Distribute the content for this package to preferred distribution points is ticked.
In the Content Locations tab, make sure that your distribution point (the path to your shared folder) is in the table. If not, add it, and click Redistribute.
If the remote installation fails with error code
0x87d00324(displayed in Software Center on the client machine), the installation itself was in fact successful and Collector should be running. It is the mechanism for detecting the installation of the application which has failed. In this case, check the detection criteria:In Software Library, right-click the deployed Collector application and select Properties.
In the tab Deployment Types, double-click the installer script in the list Detection Method.
Check if the detection method is configured correctly. Since you are using the Collector installer executable, the detection should be done by a registry key.
Deploying Collector within a Windows reference image
When including Collector in a Windows reference image, remove the UID that Collector may have generated to identify the device.
To ensure the removal of the device UID:
Log in to the Windows device with Collector as an administrator.
Open the Command Prompt as administrator.
Stop Collector:
Remove the device UID:
When prompted, type yes to confirm.
Remove the license UID:
When prompted, type yes to confirm.
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