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What Happens the First Time Each User Opens the Desktop App?

After the ABM Service Desktop machine setup has run on a PC, each Windows user gets their own copy of the ABM Service desktop app the first time they press an ABM Service button in ABM (Advanced Business Manager) or open ABM Service Desktop from the Start menu. Nobody needs administrator rights for this, and the click that started it still opens what was asked for.

What does a user see the first time they open the ABM Service desktop app?​

The first time a Windows user opens the ABM Service desktop app on a PC, a small window titled ABM Service appears, headed Setting up ABM Service, with This happens once on this computer. It then shows the download and the installation, and closes by itself when the app opens.

The lines it shows, in order:

  1. Contacting the update server... while it asks for the current version.
  2. Downloading ABM Service with how many megabytes have arrived out of the total, and a bar that fills.
  3. Installing... while it installs the app into that user's profile.

Then the screen the user asked for opens: the ABM Service screen for the toolbar button they pressed, or the sign-in window if they opened ABM Service Desktop from the Start menu.

If the user presses the button again while this is happening, nothing extra is downloaded: the second press waits for the first to finish and then opens its own screen too. The same is true if the same user is signed in to Windows twice, for example at the console and over Remote Desktop.

From then on, that user's presses open ABM Service almost at once, and the app keeps itself up to date.

Can I install the ABM Service desktop app for every user in advance?​

No. The ABM Service desktop app installs for each Windows user only at that user's own first start, when they press an ABM Service button in ABM or open ABM Service Desktop from the Start menu. The ABM Service Desktop machine setup, with or without /quiet, installs only the machine half: the launchers, the Start menu entry, the first-run installer, a bundled copy of the app and the files that go with them. It never installs or updates a user's own copy, and there is no option or deployment package that does.

The copy lives in each user's profile on purpose, so that it can update itself without an administrator. What you can do instead:

  • Run the machine setup on every PC before people need it, for example with your deployment tool and /quiet. Each user's first start is then a short download with a Setting up ABM Service window, and needs no administrator.
  • On a terminal server, allow for many users doing their first start on the same morning, each downloading the app once.
  • On a PC with poor internet access, run the newest machine setup, so the bundled copy that a first start falls back on is recent.

What if the PC cannot reach the internet on a user's first start?​

If the update address cannot be reached on a user's first start, or the download from it fails part-way, the ABM Service first-run installer installs the copy of the app that was bundled inside the ABM Service Desktop machine setup instead. The window says The update server is not reachable - installing the bundled version... and carries on.

That copy is the version that was current when that machine setup was built, so it may be a release or two behind. As soon as the PC can reach the update address, the app downloads the current version for that user in the background and offers it.

To make new users start on a more recent version on a PC with poor internet access, run the newest ABM Service Desktop machine setup on it: that refreshes the bundled copy.

Where is the ABM Service desktop app installed for each user?​

Each Windows user's copy of the ABM Service desktop app is installed in their own profile, under their local application data folder, in a folder called AbmService (type %LocalAppData%\AbmService in File Explorer's address bar to open it for the signed-in user). It appears in that user's Apps & Features as ABM Service Desktop.

The app's own files for that user, including its logs, are in a separate folder, %LocalAppData%\DP Systems\ABM Service:

  • desktop.log — what the desktop app did each time it started, signed in, opened windows and checked for updates.
  • install.log — what the first-run installer did, including why a first start failed.

These folders are per Windows user and are not copied between PCs, so a person who signs in to a different PC gets a fresh first start there.

How does the ABM Service first-run installer protect the download?​

Before it runs the installer it has downloaded, or the bundled copy, the ABM Service first-run installer checks that the file carries a valid digital signature from the ABM Service certificate that the machine setup installed on the PC. If the signature is missing or is from anybody else, it refuses to run the file.

The messages for this are The downloaded installer's digital signature is missing or invalid, so it was not run. and The downloaded installer is signed by an unexpected publisher, so it was not run. Either means the file that arrived is not the genuine ABM Service release. On a site with a web filter, proxy or security product that inspects downloads, that is almost always the cause: it handed back its own page or an altered file instead of the installer. The fix is on your side:

  1. Allow HTTPS from the PCs to the update address, updates.abm-portal.com, through the web filter or proxy, and exclude it from download scanning or rewriting so the file arrives unaltered.
  2. Press the ABM Service button again. The first-run installer downloads the file afresh and runs it.

A filter that blocks the update address outright, rather than altering what it sends, does not cause these messages: the first-run installer then installs the bundled copy instead, and that copy updates itself once the address is allowed. If the messages continue after the update address is allowed through unaltered, send the user's install.log to your software supplier.

The installation itself always runs silently, with no questions, so a user is never faced with an installer's own dialogs.

What if the first start of the ABM Service desktop app fails?​

When the first start fails, the Setting up ABM Service window changes to ABM Service could not be set up, gives the reason, and ends with Check the internet connection and try again, or contact your administrator. and a Close button. The reason is also written to that user's install.log.

The reasons you may see (the last three appear in a Windows message box titled ABM Service instead):

  • No release feed is configured and no bundled installer was found. — the machine folder is missing its update address and its bundled copy. Run the ABM Service Desktop machine setup again.
  • The download ended early — the connection dropped during the download and there was no bundled copy to fall back on. Run the ABM Service Desktop machine setup again so the bundled copy is there, then try again.
  • The downloaded installer's digital signature is missing or invalid, so it was not run. or The downloaded installer is signed by an unexpected publisher, so it was not run. — the file is not a genuine ABM Service release, usually because a web filter, proxy or security product changed or replaced the download. Let updates.abm-portal.com through it unaltered, then press the button again.
  • The installer did not finish within ten minutes. or The installer failed with an exit code — the installation into the profile did not complete. Try again; if it repeats, send the user's install.log to your software supplier.
  • The installation finished but ABM Service was not found afterwards. — send the install.log to your software supplier.
  • ABM Service is still being set up by another window. Try again in a moment. — another first start for the same user has been running for over fifteen minutes. Close its window and try again.
  • ABM Service was installed but could not be started — the app installed but did not start. The start-up messages and what to check for each are in Why Won't the ABM Service Desktop App Install, Start or Update?
  • ABM Service could not be set up on this computer: followed by a reason — something went wrong before the setting-up window could show its own message. Try again; if it repeats, send the user's install.log to your software supplier.