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Install the FOG client

The FOG client is an agent running on the machines you are managing with
Fog. With the FOG client you can perform various tasks such as managing
printers, change the host name and join Active Directory (for Windows
machines) and install software via 'snapins'.

All these tasks are managed centrally from the FOG Web UI. The FOG
Client 'polls' the FOG server to see if tasks need to be done and if
so, executes them.

The purpose of this guide is to show you the process of installing the
FOG client, register the host on the FOG server (if not already done
during image deployment) and let the client perform some tasks via the
FOG Web UI.

Prerequisites

We're assuming that you have a running FOG server that was installed
according to the instruction above in this manual

The machine that you're installing the FOG client on is a Windows 10
machine.

Info

Fog Client Installation

The following are the steps to install the client on a host

Download The Fog Client

  • Log in on the client machine, open a browser and browse to the Fog
    Web UI.
  • On the bottom of the Web UI, click on the link 'FOG Client' (you
    don't have to log in).
  • Select Your installer

MSI Installer

Smart Installer

Run The Installer

Info

The following steps follow the msi installer wizard. The Smart Installer wizard is similar

Note

You may get a 'Windows protected your PC' popup. In that case you have to convince windows that this installer is safe to run. Click on 'More info' and 'Run anyway'.

  • At the Welcome screen, click on 'Next'

  • Accept the terms in the License Agreement (it's the GPL license, so
    why not) and click on 'Next'

  • Fill in required fields:

    • Server Address: type in the hostname or IP address of the FOG
      Server.
    • Web Root: leave this to /fog
    • Leave the other options as they are
    • Click 'Next'
    • Leave the destination folder as it is and click 'Next'
  • Click on 'Install' and say 'Yes' at the UAC prompt.
  • Once the wizard has been installed, click on 'Finish'.

Now the FOG client has been installed. In the Task bar there should be a
new icon:

This icon tells you the version of the FOG Client and helps handle the
notifications to the end user.

The first time the FOG client service runs on a machine, it will create
a set of encryption keys and then tries to register itself at the FOG
server.

This may take some time, as the startup type of the FOG client service
is set to 'Automatic - Delayed'. You may want to force start the FOG
client directly after installation or reboot the machine.

Installer issue

When things go wrong and the setup is not able to install the fog-client
software on your computer you want to check the log file in
C:\Windows\Temp\FOGService.install.log for more details on why it
failed.

Approve the machine

  • Start a browser, go to the Fog Web UI and log in
  • Go to 'Host Management' 'List all Hosts' and click on the
    machine you have just installed the FOG client on.

If the Windows OS was not deployed with FOG, then the FOG client is not
yet registered at FOG and the client is not trusted by the FOG Server.
We need to manually approve this machine:

  • Click on 'Approve this host ?'

If the Windows OS was deployed with FOG, then the machine will already
be in FOG as we registered it during image deployment. The FOG client is
considered as 'trusted' by the FOG server and will be already
approved.

An approved host looks like this:

The FOG client can now execute tasks we're assigning to it in the FOG
Web UI.

Fog Client Silent Installation

If you would like to create a silent installation to deploy the fog
client here is an example of a powershell script that would do that for
you

Note

This script assumes that you can access your fogserver by the default name of fogserver which can be a hostname or a dns alias

#download the client installer to C:\fogtemp\fog.msi
$webclient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$webClient.downloadfile("http://fogserver/fog/client/download.php?newclient","C:\fogtemp\fog.msi")
#run the installer with msiexec and pass the command line args of /quiet /qn /norestart
Start-Process -FilePath msiexec -ArgumentList @('/i','C:\fogtemp\fog,msi','/quiet','/qn','/norestart') -NoNewWindow -Wait;

MSI Switches

Switch Values
USETRAY defaults to "1", if "0" the tray will be hidden
HTTPS defaults to "0", if "1" the client will use HTTPS (not recommended)
WEBADDRESS defaults to "fogserver", this is the ip/dns name of your server
WEBROOT defaults to "/fog"
ROOTLOG defaults to "1", if "0" the fog.log will be at %PROGRAMFILES%\FOG\fog.log, otherwise C:\fog.log

Reference:
https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/6222/msi-silent-install-without-tray-icon/2

Smart Installer Switches

Tip

All switches with --{OPTION} can also be used as /{OPTION}

Universal swtiches

Switch Description
--server Specify the server address. Default is fogserver
--webroot Specify the webroot. Default is /fog
-h or -https Use https for server communication
-r or -rootlog Put fog.log in the root of the filesystem
-s or --start Automatically start the service after installation.

Linux only switches

Switch Value
-t or --tray Enabled the FOG Tray and notifications
-u or --uninstall Uninstall the client
--upgrade Upgrade the client
-l= or --log= Specify where to put the SmartInstaller log

See also https://news.fogproject.org/fog-client-v0-11-0-released-2/

Additional info

There are 2 services and 2 log files that run on windows.

Windows Services

the FogService and the FogUserService. The user service is run in a
user's context and helps with notification popups and user level tasks.
Most operations are done by the FogService that runs as the system
account.

Logs

You can find the fog log at C:\Fog.log and the user service log at
C:\users\username\.fog_user.log

Last update: 2023-07-23