This article provides instructions on how to install Refog Employee Monitor on a Windows based system. The content of this article is organized into the following sections:
- System Requirements
- Downloading Refog Employee Monitor Software
- Installing Refog Employee Monitor Software
- Generating a network installer
- Installing Via Group Policies
- Installing Without A Domain
- Viewing logs on the remote computer
- Connection to a user-defined log folder
- Connection to a Terminal Monitor log folder
- Potential Errors and Solutions
System Requirements
For information about the system requirements please refer to the Refog Employee Monitor page: www.refog.com/employee-computer-monitoring-software
Supported operating systems:
- Windows 7, 8, 10, 11
- Windows Server 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022
Downloading Refog Employee Monitor Software
Open internet browser and create your free Refog account here: login.refog.com
Enter your email and password and click Create an account.
Open download page here: login.refog.com/download
NOTE: Physical access to the device is required for installation.
Select Employee Monitor and click Download.
Installing Refog Employee Monitor Software
Unzip and run .exe file.
If ZIP archive have password protection, please use password refog or refog123 to unpack installation file.
In most cases Refog app will run automatically after installation.
But if you need to reboot your PC please use the following default Hot Key combination to launch the program after reboot: CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + K
Generating a network installer
Generate a network installer using the «File» -> «Create an installer» menu command.
Installing Via Group Policies
Installation
Create a network installation point on your service. You can use the NETLOGON folder for this purpose.
Copy the installer files: MpkNetInstall.msi, key.bin and settings.bin. It is recommended to join all destination computers into a single organization unit and create a GPO for it.
Open the group policy management window, use the right mouse button to select a group of computers or the domain itself, and click «Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here».
Enter the policy name and click «OK».
Right-click on the newly-selected policy and select «Edit…» from the menu.
Open the «Software Installation» menu, right-click on it and select the «Properties» menu item.
On the first tab, select «Default package location» and set the property to «Assign» for new network packages.
Right-click on the empty field and select a corresponding command for adding a new installation package.
Select the MpkNetInstall.msi package from the default package location folder and click «Open».
You can now close the policy management window.
Run the gpupdate /force command to update the policies.
Version update
Copy the new network installer to the distribution folder.
Open the policy management window to install a network agent. Right-click on an empty field and use a corresponding command to install a network agent. Right-click on an empty field to add a new installation package.
Select the new version of the package and click «Open»
Select the new version from the list of packages, right-click on it and select the «Properties» menu item.
Switch to the «Upgrades» tab and click the «Add…» button.
Select the previous version of the package in upgrade settings and enable the «Package can upgrade over the existing package» option, then click «OK».
Click «Apply» and then «OK» in the upgrade settings window.
Use the gpupdate /force command to update the policies.
Removal
Open the «Software Installation» menu, select the program installation package and right-click on it.
Select the «Remove…» command. This must be repeated for all packages.
Choose to remove the program for all users and click «OK».
Run the gpupdate /force command to update the policies.
Installing Without A Domain
Installation
Generate a network installer using the «File» -> «Create an installer» menu command.
Copy all installation files (MpkNetInstall.msi, key.bin and settings.bin) to a single folder on the computer and run MpkNetInstall.msi. You will need admin rights to complete the manual installation.
Wait until the installation is over – and you are done.
Connect the computer in the log viewer.
Version update
Performed identically to installation.
Removal
Generate a network installer with the «File» -> «Create an installer» command or use a previously created one.
Copy all installation files (MpkNetInstall.msi, key.bin and settings.bin) to a single folder on the computer.
Right-click on MpkNetInstall.msi and select «Uninstall».
Wait until the uninstallation is complete.
Viewing logs on the remote computer
To open a network log, click the menu «File» and select «Connect to another computer…»
Or click on «Add computer» button.
In the window that opens, specify the network name or IP address of the observed computer to which you wish to connect.
In order to connect, specify the username and password of an account with administrator privileges. For a local peer-to-peer network this will be the local administrator of the observed computer.
For a domain network it will be the domain administrator.
When the "Open" button is clicked, the program tests the connection.
If everything is in order, you will receive a message saying that the computer was successfully added to the computer tree.
Before clicking "Add computer" you can specify any name for the given computer in the program.
After this the computer will appear in the list of observed computers. This operation must be performed once for all desired computers.
Connection to a user-defined log folder
At any time you can copy the C:\ProgramData\MPK log folder to the primary computer and set up a connection to it.
Open the "Add computer" window and select "Select a log file location"
When the "Open" button is clicked, the program tests the folder.
If everything is in order, you will receive a message saying that the folder was successfully added to the computer tree.
Connection to a Terminal Monitor log folder
You can view logs from Terminal Monitor from Employee Monitor interface.
To connect to a base on a terminal server, navigate to the "Select log folder" tab and enter the direct path using the hidden C$ resource. Then click "Open"
By default, logs are saved on the C drive in the ProgramData\rtml folder.
Potential Errors and Solutions
From time to time, we get contacted by people complaining that they cannot connect to a remote computer using Refog Employee Monitor. Unfortunately, such situations do happen because of the differences in network architectures, computer settings, user permissions and other parameters. We have compiled a list of recommendations that will most probably help you solve your problem and successfully establish a connection. Here they are.
Try adding the target computer using its IP address instead of its network name.
Try navigating from the observer’s computer to C$, the hidden shared folder of the client system being monitored and make sure it is accessible under the current user without errors or issues of any sort. If it’s not, try looking for a possible reason and fixing it.
My Computer > address bar > \\IP address or name of the client computer\\C$ > Enter
If it didn’t help and didn’t solve the problem, carry on with the instruction.
You need to enable network discovery and shared access to files and printers.
Open "Control Panel > Network and sharing center > Change advanced sharing settings". You need to activate the "Turn on network discovery" and "Turn on file and printer sharing" options.
After that, go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System key, create a LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy value of REG_DWORD type equal to 1 and reboot the monitored system.
If there is no admin password set on the monitored computer, you need to do the following. Make sure that the RestrictAnonymous DWORD parameter in the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa key in the registries of all monitored computers is set to zero. This is officially recommended by Microsoft.
If you see the following error: "Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowed." try adding the name of the computer to the user name. For instance, try using "testwin\testadmin" instead of "testadmin".
You can also try closing the log viewer, then opening the command line (Start->Run->cmd) and doing the following:
1. Run the "net use" command and find the computer you cannot connect to
2. Enter the following commands:
net use {computer_name or ip_address} /delete net use {computer_name or ip_address}\c$ /delete
3. Run the program and try adding the computer again
If you still have any problems with Refog Employee Monitor, please contact our technical support service - we will try to find the reason of your problems.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.