Deployment via Imaging 

This guide explains how to properly image a computer that already has the Zoho Assist Unattended Agent installed. Each Unattended Agent is assigned a unique ID that identifies the computer along with its name and system details.

After imaging a source computer that already has the agent installed, the multiple agents on the newly created machines will share the same ID. In such cases, the details/information in the Zoho Assist console will be overwritten, resulting in only one computer being listed even if several machines are installed with the agent.

When all cloned machines have the same unique ID, a technician attempting to start a remote session may end up connecting to a different machine each time. To prevent this, you must prepare the computer before imaging by running a pre-cloning script. After deployment, complete the setup by running a post-imaging script to generate a unique ID.

Note: Deployment via Imaging is compatible only for windows OS.

Pre requisites

• A source computer with the Zoho Assist Unattended Agent installed
• PowerShell with administrator privileges
• Pre-imaging script and Post-imaging script (also downloadable from Zoho Assist)

Steps

1. Install the Unattended Agent on the computer you plan to use as the source for imaging.
2. Download and extract the pre-imaging script and save it on the source computer.
3. Locate the script file in the extracted folder and rename its extension from .txt to .ps1.
4. Open PowerShell as Administrator.
5. Navigate to the folder where the script is saved.
6. Run the script using the command:

1. Once the script has been executed, the source computer is ready to be imaged with the agent.
2. After deployment, the agent on newly imaged computers will contact the product server only if the imaged computers are renamed.
3. To complete the setup, download this post-imaging script  extract and run it as Administrator on the source computer where the image was created.

This ensures that the agent on the new machines generates a unique ID and successfully registers with the product server.