Overview

The Agent deployment on the client computer may fail with 'Computer not online,' 'Access is denied, 'or other errors due to various environmental and configuration reasons.

This article guides you on how to diagnose the issues and solve GFI LanGuard Agents installation failures.

Solution

1. If the agent deployment status is stuck at Pending, refer to the Resolving the Issues with GFI LanGuard Agent Install or Remediation Job Status Stuck at Pending article.
2. If you are not using the latest LanGuard version, it is recommended to Upgrade LanGuard first and verify whether the error is gone.

3. LanGuard Agents can be deployed only on machines running Microsoft Windows operating systems that meet a minimum set of system requirements, ensure these for the target machine.

4. GFI LanGuard relies on various environmental settings to be in place to install and manage the agents. Check these settings thoroughly - all of them are equally important; without them, operations will fail. Just one disabled service or firewalled port may lead to a failed or stuck installation.

   To verify the required open ports, connectivity, and security permissions, refer to the Verifying Required Network Connectivity and Security Permissions for the GFI LanGuard Operations article.

5. Next, verify that you can scan and remediate the target machine successfully without the Agent installed.
6. In rare cases, a custom entry in the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file overwriting the default Windows hostname for the IP can cause LanGuard to consistently display 'Computer not online.' This kind of message is typically reserved for when LanGuard cannot ping the target. However, even with the ping working with the Windows hostname, LanGuard can still find the custom hostname defined in the hosts file and fail to recognize the machine correctly. Ensure that you have tried removing all custom entries in the hosts file and flushed the DNS cache on the target and LanGuard server both. Then, try the agent deployment again.
7. Finally, verify that the agent installation LanGuard12Agent.msi file exists in the C:\Program Files (x86)\GFI\LanGuard 12\Agent folder on the LanGuard server. If the file is missing, this should be resolved following the corresponding steps from this article.

Try the agent deployment again to check whether the issue is fixed. If you are still encountering installation problems, they should be addressed case by case.

The LanGuard Agent deployment works in the same way as normal patch deployment operation; Patch Deployment Process in the GFI LanGuard article explains the workflow in more detail. Below is a list of the most common errors encountered while attempting to install the GFI LanGuard Agent on a remote computer. The errors are usually displayed in the GFI LanGuard console Dashboard:

1. Access is denied. The agent management component does not have enough privileges on the target computer to query the remote registry or copy files. Refer to the Best Practices for Setting up Account Permissions with Alternative Credentials for more information.
   • Solution 1: Set the GFI LanGuard Attendant service to run under a user account having administrative privileges on computers in the network (e.g., a domain administrator account). The procedure is described in the Resolving the Issues with GFI LanGuard Agent Install or Remediation Job Status Stuck at Pending article.
   • Solution 2: Specify alternative credentials for individual computers or groups of computers.

    

2. Computer not online. The IP address of the target computer could not be resolved, or the target computer does not respond to echo requests (ping).
   • Solution: Ensure that the IP address of the computer can be resolved (by NetBIOS or DNS lookup), both Forward or Reverse DNS lookup works and that the target computer firewall allows incoming echo requests. Execute ping hostname in command prompt; if this command succeeds, then the GFI LanGuard agent manager should be able to find the computer as well.
     • Note: If more than 5 minutes pass without a computer being discovered, then it is skipped for the next 30 minutes.

    

3. Failed to install the agent. The agent installer was executed on the target computer, but the installation failed.
   • Solution: An investigation of the log file generated by the agent installer should indicate the problem encountered. The agent installer generates a log file named LANSS_v12_AgentInstallKitLog.log in the %systemroot%\Temp directory on the computer where it was executed.

   Sample error from a failed install log: Product: GFI LanGuard 12 Agent -- Error 1500. Another installation is in progress. You must complete that installation before continuing this one.
   Searching the log file for text like Product: GFI LanGuard 12 Agent -- Error helps to identify the error encountered by the agent installer.

Testing

Once the root cause is identified and fixed, repeat the Agent deployment. If the issue persists, contact GFI LanGuard Support.

Related Articles

• Installing GFI LanGuard Agent Manually via Command Prompt