Installing the Client using the .msi setup

You can install the BigFix Client silently using either the .exe setup or the .msi setup.

To get the BigFix Client installer in MSI format, proceed as follows.

On Windows:
  1. Download the BigFix Installation Generator from https://support.bigfix.com/bes/release/
  2. Run the Installation Generator on a Windows machine
  3. Search in the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\BigFix Enterprise\BES Installers\ClientMSI
On Linux:
  1. Download the BigFix Server installer for RHEL from https://support.bigfix.com/bes/release/
  2. Extract the .tgz archive
  3. Search in the folder ServerInstaller_10.0.0.133-rhe6.x86_64/repos/ClientMSI-10.0.0.133
In that folder, you will find:
  • BESClientSetupMSI.exe, a tool to customize the .msi (optional)
  • BigFixAgent.msi, the main setup file (required)
  • 1028.mst, ..., 2052.mst, the translation files for the setup (required)

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

Via the command line

To perform a silent Client installation, follow these steps:

  1. Copy BigFixAgent.msi setup, its .mst files and the actionsite.afxm masthead file to a folder of your target computer, for instance C:\ClientMSI.
  2. Run the BigFixAgent.msi setup.

    You can run the .msi from the command line like this:

    msiexec.exe /i BigFixAgent.msi /L*vx! "PathToLogFile" INSTALLDIR="PathToInstallationFolder" TRANSFORMS=1033.mst REBOOT=ReallySuppress MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable /qn

    L*vx! "PathToLogFile" are the logging options followed by a custom file path for the log file.

    INSTALLDIR is a property to specify the installation folder. You can omit it to install the client in the default folder.

    TRANSFORMS=transform.mst is a property to specify the transform file(s) to apply to the setup. Each .mst file contains a translation for the setup. For more information on this property, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/transforms.

    The following table describes the supplied transform files, listed by language.

    Language Transform File name
    U.S. English 1033.mst
    German 1031.mst
    French 1036.mst
    Spanish 1034.mst
    Italian 1040.mst
    Brazilian Portuguese 1046.mst
    Japanese 1041.mst
    Korean 1042.mst
    Simplified Chinese 2052.mst
    Traditional Chinese 1028.mst

    REBOOT=ReallySuppress and MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable are properties set to avoid rebooting the system after the installation.

    /qn is an option performs a silent installation. You can omit it to run the installation interactively.

    This example shows how to silently install the BigFix client in the default folder in the English language:

    msiexec.exe /i "BigFixAgent.msi" TRANSFORMS="1033.mst" REBOOT=ReallySuppress MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable /qn

    For more information on the command line options for the MSI engine, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/command-line-options.

If you do not want the setup to start the BES Client service at the end of the installation, add STARTAGENTSERVICE=0 to your command.

Using Group Policies

You can, using Active Directory Group Policy Objects (GPO), define a policy requiring that the Client is installed on every machine in a particular group (Organizational Unit, Domain, and so on).

This policy is applied every time a user logs in to the specified domain, making it a very effective way to deploy the client if GPO is enabled. For more details consult your Active Directory administrator.

For more details about Group Policy Objects (GPO), see Using GPO to deploy the BigFix Client.