Installing the Client using the .exe setup

You can download the BigFix Client setup in EXE format directly from https://support.bigfix.com/bes/release/

The BigFix Client installer .exe is also shipped with:
  • The BigFix Installation Generator for Windows, which places it in the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Installers\Client
  • The BigFix Server installer for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, inside the .tgz archive folder ServerInstaller_10.0.0.133-rhe6.x86_64/repos
To install the BigFix Client, you also need the masthead file. You can find it on the computer where you installed the BigFix Server:
  • On Windows, it is named masthead.afxm and stored in the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Installers\Client
  • On Linux, it is named actionsite.afxm and stored in the folder /var/opt/BESInstallers/Client

If you already installed the BigFix Installation Generator (Windows-only), you can run the Installation Guide (available at Start > Programs > BigFix > BigFix Installation Guide), click Browse Install Folders and copy the Client installer folder, which contains both the Client setup and the masthead file.

Now, you are ready to perform the following steps:

  1. You might optionally include a pre-defined settings file (clientsettings.cfg) in the same directory as the setup.exe file, to create custom settings for the Windows client at installation time, for example to assign the new Client to a specific parent relay. For more information, see Windows Clients.
  2. After you have copied the Client folder to the target computer, double-click setup.exe from that folder to launch the installer.
  3. After the welcome panel, you are prompted for a location to install the software. You can accept the default or click Browse to select a different location.
  4. After the files have been moved, click Done to exit the installer. The BigFix Client application is now installed and will automatically begin working in the background. Repeat this process on every computer in your network that you want to place under BigFix administration.

Via the command line

The BigFix client installer setup.exe is an MSI-based setup created with InstallShield. The .exe file can be run silently as described in Running Installations in Silent Mode. The /v"..." part of the command line contains the options and properties that are passed to the underlying MSI engine. A list of standard command line options for the Windows Installer is available at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/command-line-options.

To perform a silent Client installation, follow these steps:

setup.exe /s /v"/L*vx! \"C:\ClientInstallLog.txt\" SETUPEXE=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable /qn"

To log some more information specific to the InstallShield .exe wrapper:

setup.exe /s /debuglog"C:\ClientInstallLogIS.txt" /v"/L*vx! \"C:\ClientInstallLog.txt\" SETUPEXE=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable /qn"

To change the default installation location, the appropriate form of the command is:

setup.exe /s /v"/L*vx! \"C:\ClientInstallLog.txt\" INSTALLDIR=\"PathToInstallationFolder\" SETUPEXE=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable /qn"

Where "PathToInstallationFolder" is the full windows path to the folder where the Client is to be installed.

If you do not want the setup to start the BES Client service at the end of the installation, add STARTAGENTSERVICE=0 in the /v"..." part of the command.

Note: The Windows user running setup.exe must have Administrative privileges on the computer, must be able to write to the folder that contains the "setup.exe" and to the chosen log location, otherwise the installation might fail and create no log.