Installing the Desktop Connector using the MSI

If you are managing the desktop environment for a large organization where regular users do not have rights to install programs on their desktops you can push the desktop connector to all users using the msi file provided by ThoughtFarmer.

Install using the MSI

1. The msi file can be downloaded from the Install the Desktop Connector using MSI page on the ThoughtFarmer Community site.
2. Push the msi file to all your users.

How it works

1. The msi file installs an application on the machine that will install the Desktop Connector for each user the next time they log in.
2. When a user logs in, this machine-wide installer installs the program into the folder C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\ThoughtFarmerDesktopConnector​​​
3. When a user opens a file for editing from the intranet using Desktop Connector, ​​​the browser sends a request using the protocol tfarmerdc:
4. The application inserts a registry key to connect this protocol to the desktop connector app.
   
   
   
   
5. If a user uninstalls the program, the directory C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\ThoughtFarmerDesktopConnector​​​ will contain a file called .dead. The program will not be installed on login if the installer sees this file. This is the mechanism we use to prevent installation of our software if a user has explicitly uninstalled it. 
6. To retrigger this installation upon login if the program has previously been uninstalled, delete the folder C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\ThoughtFarmerDesktopConnector​​​.

Troubleshooting tip

If after being installed, the open for editing button does not seem to be working, try manually starting the ThoughtFarmer Desktop application.