Problems updating KACE agents from 7.0.763, 7.1.62, to 9.0.167
Hey Everyone!
Background... We updated our appliance a few times and didn't make sure the agents were updated in the process. We now have agents ranging from 7.0.763 to 9.0.167.
I have gone in and updated the 7.0.763 agents manually by installing the new version, but I want to make sure there isn't another step to completely remove the old agent.
I am trying to create a GPO that will uninstall all versions prior to 7.2.10 using the GPO provisioning tool, but when I select 'Remove agent software' and then point the tool to the distribution that contains all of the old versions, how will the GPO know to only uninstall the old versions? It doesn't give me an option to specify which versions to uninstall and I'd love for it to not uninstall 9.0.167 in the process.
Also needing assistance with forcing the other versions to update. We have quite a few that are on 8.0.152 and 8.1.52 that are no longer checking in and not updating via the GPO that need the new agent version. Any suggestions on a script to force them to check-in and/or update?
Thanks in advance!
Answers (2)
with 8.0 the location of the agent has been changed, so you should check your whitelists first.
c:\programdata\dell\kace to c:\programdata\quest\kace etc
If your Antivirus is blocking the 8.0 agent, it cannot check in anymore.
Also you should replace your 7.x GPO and setup a 9.x GPO.
And then do the auto update.
Comments:
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I've already setup the 9.x GPO and it is pushing as designed with new machines added to the domain.
Would I need to develop a script to look for c:\programdata\dell\kace to add to a new GPO that would remove any installs in that directory? And that would only take care of the ones that are running prior to 8.0. - CNIamy 5 years ago
Over the years most of the time I had good luck with the agent update process, but there have been several times when this did not go so smooth. Many times the reason an agent did not properly uninstall was because the older version was installed from a spot that has been removed. When the new version goes to remove the old version you do not see that it is trying to find old_agent.msi from a location that does not exist.
There are two things I have done in the past to get around this.
1. If the old agent is still functioning and connecting to the K1000 and just needs to be updated I would create a Kace script with the the old and new agents as dependencies and a batch file that would run an uninstall of the old version by using the old version of the MSI and then install the new version. For example:
MSIEXEC.exe /X ampagent-7.0.763-x86_myserver.com.msi /qnMSIEXEC.exe /X ampagent-7.1.62-x86_myserver.com.msi /qn
MSIEXEC.exe /I ampagent-9.0.167-x86_myserver.com.msi /qn
2. If the old agent was not working I would just put the old MSI files up on a common share on the server and use PSEXEC or something to run the commands to remove the old versions, then provision the new version.
