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How to Install the ABM Service Desktop App on a PC

You install the ABM Service desktop app on a PC by running the ABM Service Desktop machine setup once, as an administrator. It installs the launchers for the toolbar of ABM (Advanced Business Manager), the ABM Service Desktop Start menu entry and what each user needs for their first start; the app itself then installs for each Windows user the first time they open it.

How do I install the ABM Service desktop app on a PC?​

Double-click the ABM Service Desktop machine setup, press Install, approve the Windows administrator prompt, and wait for the page that says ABM Service Desktop is installed on this computer.

  1. Double-click ABMService-Machine-Setup-production.exe. Windows may take a few seconds to check the file before the window appears; do not double-click it again.
  2. Read the window titled ABM Service Desktop Machine Setup, which says This installs the ABM Service Desktop launchers and prerequisites on this computer.
  3. Press Install. The window says Waiting for permission to install... while Windows asks for administrator rights.
  4. Approve the Windows prompt. Until the setup has run once, Windows names the publisher as unknown; that is expected.
  5. Wait while the window shows Installing the ABM Service Desktop launchers and prerequisites..., a bar, and Step 1 of 6 up to Step 6 of 6.
  6. Press Copy launcher paths on the finished page if you are about to set up ABM's toolbar buttons, then Close.

If you press No at the Windows prompt, nothing is installed and the window goes back to its Install button, saying Nothing was installed - this needs an administrator's permission. Press Install to try again. Pressing Cancel before Install closes the setup without changing anything. If you started the setup from an account that already has administrator rights (for example from an administrator command prompt), there is no Windows prompt: pressing Install starts installing straight away.

While it is installing, the setup window cannot be closed, so an installation is never left half done.

What does the ABM Service Desktop machine setup do in each step?​

The ABM Service Desktop machine setup shows each step's name under its progress bar, with Step and the number out of six. Before the steps it briefly shows Unpacking the installer..., Checking the signature... and Starting the installer....

  1. Checking prerequisites — looks for the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime and installs it from Microsoft if it is missing.
  2. Working out where to install — chooses the folder. If ABM is installed on the PC, it is an ABM Service folder inside the system folder ABM has recorded for itself on this PC; otherwise it is C:\Program Files\ABM Service. The desktop files go in its Desktop folder. A previous installation's folder is always reused, and if ABM Service Server is already installed, the desktop half joins it under the same ABM Service folder. The setup has no option, in its window or on the command line, to choose a different folder.
  3. Copying the launchers and the installer — copies the seven launchers, the first-run installer, the bundled copy of the app and the update address, and checks every copied file against the original. Just before this step, any program running from that folder at that moment (a launcher or the first-run installer) is stopped. A file that is briefly held by something else, such as an antivirus scan, is retried a few times before the setup gives up.
  4. Preparing the support folder — creates a Support folder beside the Desktop folder, which your software supplier's support team may ask you to open, and gives every Windows user of the PC permission to change the files in it. It is where each PC's ABM Service desktop app copies its screen recordings; how to switch recording off is in How to Turn Off the Desktop App's Screen Recording. If that permission cannot be given, the setup carries on and says so in Details.
  5. Creating the Start menu entry — creates ABM Service Desktop in the Start menu for all users.
  6. Removing launchers this release no longer has — deletes any ABM Service launcher left over from an earlier release that this release no longer ships.

The setup also adds the ABM Service code-signing certificate to the PC's Trusted Root Certification Authorities and Trusted Publishers stores, and registers ABM Service Desktop Machine Components in Apps & Features. The certificate's trust is what lets the setup's signed scripts run and the first-run installer check its downloads; a failed first install takes it out again, and an uninstall removes it with the last ABM Service product on the PC, as What Do the Words Used in Installing ABM Service Mean? explains under code-signing certificate.

What is on the finished page of the ABM Service Desktop machine setup?​

When the ABM Service Desktop machine setup succeeds, it shows a tick, ABM Service Desktop is installed on this computer., and the hint The ABM toolbar can now point at the installed launchers - Copy launcher paths puts all seven on the clipboard.

  • Copy launcher paths — puts the full path of each of the seven launchers on the clipboard, one per line, ready to paste into ABM's toolbar set-up or a note. The button then says Copied, or Could not copy if another program was holding the clipboard.
  • Details — opens everything the installation reported, including the folder it used, the files it verified and the Start menu entry it created, with the log file's location underneath (Installer log:). Hide details closes it again.
  • Close — closes the setup.

If the setup fails, the page shows a cross, ABM Service Desktop Machine Setup could not finish. and one sentence saying what went wrong. Details then shows the full error and Copy for support copies it, so you can send it to your software supplier. The log is normally C:\ProgramData\ABM Service\Desktop\install.log. If the part that needs administrator rights never started, the log named under Installer log: is instead a file called setup.log in the ABM Service\Desktop folder of your own local application data folder (%LocalAppData%), so always check the path shown in Details.

How do I install the ABM Service desktop app silently with a deployment tool?​

Run the ABM Service Desktop machine setup with /quiet. It then installs exactly as the window would, with no window and no questions, and returns exit code 0 on success and 1 on failure.

  • Run ABMService-Machine-Setup-production.exe /quiet from an account with administrator rights, for example the local system account that most deployment tools use.
  • Check the exit code, and read C:\ProgramData\ABM Service\Desktop\install.log if it is not 0.

If you start /quiet from an account that is not already elevated, Windows shows its permission prompt; if that prompt is declined, the setup exits with code 1 and installs nothing. A silent run also waits up to two minutes for any other ABM Service setup or uninstaller on the computer to finish, and exits with code 1 if it is still busy.

/quiet is the only option that changes what the ABM Service Desktop machine setup does. /downgrade, which matters to the ABM Service Server setup, changes nothing here, because the desktop machine setup always lays its own files down whatever version is installed. The folder, the channel and the buttons on ABM's toolbar are not chosen at setup time: the setup works out the folder for itself (an ABM Service folder inside ABM's system folder, or C:\Program Files\ABM Service), the channel is fixed by the setup file, and the toolbar buttons are set up in ABM afterwards.

The machine setup installs only the machine half. Each user's copy of the app still installs itself on that user's first start, so there is nothing to push per user.

How do I update the machine half of the ABM Service desktop app?​

Run the newer ABM Service Desktop machine setup over the old one, the same way as a first install. It replaces the launchers, the first-run installer, the bundled copy and the update address in the same folder; you never need to uninstall first.

  • Running the same version again is safe, and simply lays the same files down again.
  • An older setup over a newer one is not asked about, with or without /quiet: it lays down its own files. Users' own copies of the app are not moved back, because they update themselves from the update address.
  • Running the machine setup does not update users' copies of the app, and it does not close their windows.
  • Because the setup stops any launcher or first-run installer running from its folder, run it when nobody on that PC is in the middle of their first start.

You only need to do this occasionally: when a release adds or changes a launcher, or when you want new users' first start to begin from a more recent bundled copy. The ABM Service desktop app that people actually use updates itself without the machine setup, as How Does the ABM Service Desktop App Update Itself? explains.

What if the ABM Service Desktop machine setup is already running?​

Double-clicking the ABM Service Desktop machine setup a second time brings the window that is already open to the front, rather than starting a second installation. If Windows will not bring it forward, you see ABM Service Desktop Machine Setup is already running on this computer. with Look for its window on the taskbar, or close it and start this one again.

Only one ABM Service setup or uninstaller may work on a computer at a time, of either product. If another is running, the window says Another ABM Service setup (of either product or channel) is running on this computer. Waiting for it to finish... and carries on when it is free. After two minutes it gives up with Another ABM Service setup (of either product or channel) is already running on this computer. Wait for it to finish, then run this one again.