Software Installation and Configuration Guide

The software is packaged as an MSI which you build on the Download and Deployment page. Here, you can download the MSI or copy a URL that will always link to the most recent build of your custom software.

You can customize and deploy by using one of our Custom-built-for-you Batch files or PowerShell files that you will find on your Software Download and Deployment page, or follow one of our RMM deployment guides, or you can create your own custom installation using this page as a reference.

More information on:

Customizing and Installing Without Command Line Arguments

If installing the software by starting the MSI without any Command Line options, you will get a default shortcut name: “Helpdesk Button” and the MSI will allow you to select the launch key. You can use our Tier2Scripts system to change this icon on install by using the script listed here..

Installing by Command Line

As an MSI, our software supports all the typical Command Line options. For example:

passive

The following command would install the software with minimal user interface visible to the user and no cancel button and then reboot the computer.

msiexec /i buttonInst.msi /passive

quiet and no restart

The following would install the software with no user interface and would not reboot the computer.

msiexec /i buttonInst.msi /quiet /norestart

We have some Command Line options that would allow you to customize settings specific to our software.

F1 - F11 Launch Key

If you install the software the GUI way, but just running it with no options you will see that we offer the ability to bind the software to a F-Key so that pressing that key launches the app. We also have Command Line options to allow the same. If you wanted to bind the program to F4, for example, you would use use the following Command Line param.

WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS="/launchkey=4"

Desktop Icon Name

By default, the desktop icon is named “Helpdesk Button”; however, can customize this name. For example, if you wanted to have the icon named “PC Solutions Support”, this would get you there:

WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS="/iconname=""PC Solutions Support"""

Renaming your Desktop Icon Example

If you’d like to rename your Helpdesk Button desktop icon to My Name, you can do so by running the following:

ren "C:\Users\Public\Desktop\Helpdesk Button.lnk" "My Name.lnk"

Launch key with Icon Name

Putting those things together, you would end up with a command like this:

msiexec /i "buttonInst.msi" WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS="/launchkey=4 /iconname=""PC Solutions Support"""

For more information on how to rename the shortcut after installation, visit our documentation here.

Pin to Taskbar

As of version 1.1.x.14, the installer supports automatically pinning the icon to the taskbar of every user in addition to, or in place of, a standard desktop icon. That is also broken out into the wrapped argument icons which can be a number 1, 2, or 3. Setting it to 1 would create a desktop icon but no taskbar icon, setting it to 2 would make a taskbar icon but no desktop icon, and setting it to 3 will enable both icons.

The default is /icons=3 but if you just want a desktop icon and not a taskbar icon, then you can expand the above command to:

msiexec /i "buttonInst.msi" WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS="/launchkey=4 /iconname=""PC Solutions Support"" /icons=1"

If the install is performed behind the scenes, a log out and log in may be required for the pin to take effect.

Changing an Endpoints Group

As of version 1.1.x.35, the installer supports automatically adding a group to the endpont. You can do this by adding a group argument to the Wrapped Arguments

For example:

msiexec /i "buttonInst.msi" WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS="/launchkey=4 /iconname=""PC Solutions Support"" /icons=1 /group=""Group Name Here"" "

Enabling Screenshots on macOS Endpoints

Screenshots and instant replay are now supported on macOS. macOS screenshot settings can be configured account-wide here or per machine using the MacOS Screen Capture Settings Override tool on the device management page.

Permission grants are required for screenshots to be captured. To grant .Tier2SVC.app permission to collect screenshots:

  1. Navigate to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording.
  2. Click the + icon to add an application.
  3. Click the Applications folder.
  4. Use ⌘ + Shift + G to open the Go menu.
  5. Type .Tier2SVC and press Enter to select it.
  6. Click Open.

If screen recording permissions are not granted, users will not be presented with an Include Screenshots checkbox, and tickets will have no attached screenshots.

Input Monitoring permissions are required to enable event-based monitoring similar to that found in the Windows version of the client. To grant .Tier2SVC.app Input Monitoring permission:

  1. Navigate to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring.
  2. Click the + icon to add an application.
  3. Click the Applications folder.
  4. Use ⌘ + Shift + G to open the Go menu.
  5. Type .Tier2SVC and press Enter to select it.
  6. Click Open.

If Input Monitoring permissions are not granted, Tier2Tickets will fall back to interval-based smart capture with algorithmic frame filtering to capture as much useful user action as possible in the time immediately preceding a ticket submission.

Customizing macOS Screen Recording Notifications

macOS does not allow screen captures without some form of user notification. The default configuration provides the most macOS-native experience. A purple icon indicating that .Tier2SVC is recording the screen will be present in the menu bar.

There are two alternatives that can be selected for account-wide configuration here, under the macOS Screen Capture Notification Mode setting:

  1. Capture Indicator — Displays a small purple dot in the notification area of the menu bar on every capture. This behaves differently across different architectures and macOS versions, but is generally distracting because it appears and disappears repeatedly.
  2. Quiet Mode — An experimental notification-noise suppression mode that prevents the most distracting forms of the capture indicator in all currently known cases. This behaves differently across different architectures and macOS versions, but usually results in a persistent purple dot in the notification section of the menu bar or a persistent blank space where the purple dot would appear.

If Quiet Mode is found to be incompatible with a given machine, but you wish to continue using it for other machines on your account, the device management page can be used to override the Capture Notification Mode for that machine without affecting other machines on your account.

Customization After Installation

Updating group

Via Device Management

We can try to change the group of an online Endpoint via the Device Management Page.

../../../_images/group1.png

../../../_images/group2.png

Via Command Line

You can also update the group after installing by using this group argument on guiTrigger. You will want to restart the t2tservice to see the results immediately.

net stop t2tservice
& 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Tier2Tickets\guiTrigger.exe' group="Group Name Here"
net start t2tservice

Re-Pin to Taskbar

Via Device Management

We can try to repin the icon to the taskbar on one or more online endpoints via the Device management page.

../../../_images/pin.png

../../../_images/pin2.png

Repin on reboot

The software can also be forced to initiate a re-pin if this file: %localappdata%\tier2tickets\pttb.pref is deleted. Doing this will cause the software to re-pin itself to the taskbar when the user logs in.

Manually pinning via PTTB.exe

Running pttb.exe "<shortcut name>" (Helpdesk Button is the default) as the logged-in user will also pin the icon to taskbar on demand.

../../../_images/pttb.gif

Keep in mind that your installation folder could be “Helpdesk Buttons.” The software was formally renamed in 1.1.x.10 so installs that predate this may have the older folder structure.

Note to PowerShell users:

PowerShell requires an extra single quote around the WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS value. So the PowerShell equivalent command looks like this:

msiexec /i "buttonInst.msi" WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS='"/launchkey=4 /iconname=""PC Solutions Support"""'

Make sure you are aware that this reboots the computer! Don’t push out that command en mass during business hours. A better option during business hours is as follows.

msiexec /i "buttonInst.msi" /norestart WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS="/launchkey=4 /iconname=""PC Solutions Support"""

You would still need to reboot after hours though, the software does actually need a reboot most of the time.