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DOCS-3983: Update agent docs for windows #4352

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merged 4 commits into from
Jun 3, 2025

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npentrel
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@npentrel npentrel commented May 28, 2025

@abe-winter do you mind reviewing this? If you have any other thoughts on where windows installations differ let me know so we can document:

@npentrel npentrel requested a review from abe-winter May 28, 2025 19:36
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@viambot viambot added the safe to build This pull request is marked safe to build from a trusted zone label May 28, 2025
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looks good, left notes

{{% tab name="Windows" %}}

On Windows, the [`viam-agent` executable](https://storage.googleapis.com/packages.viam.com/apps/viam-agent/viam-agent-windows-installer.exe) installs `viam-agent` as a service.
Your machine credentials file must be at <file>/etc/viam.json</file>.
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would write this as c:\etc\viam.json, will make more sense to windows users

(but the operating system will accept /etc/viam.json)

{{% /tab %}}
{{% tab name="Windows" %}}

On Windows, the [`viam-agent` executable](https://storage.googleapis.com/packages.viam.com/apps/viam-agent/viam-agent-windows-installer.exe) installs `viam-agent` as a service.
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would call this 'viam-agent installer' rather than 'viam-agent executable'; the latter implies agent itself


Open the Windows Event Viewer (`eventvwr` from the command line).

You will find the `viam-agent` logs under `Windows Logs` > `Application`.
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optionally add that people need to switch to the 'details' tab in the bottom-center pane, but most users figure this out on their own

To uninstall `viam-agent`, run the following command:

```sh {class="command-line" data-prompt="$"}
sc delete viam-agent
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notes on this:

  1. has to happen in an administrator prompt (start -> cmd -> right click -> run as administrator), otherwise you should get access denied. this may not be necessary on a system with developer mode
  2. if agent is running, the service won't be deleted until the user stops it manually; could tell people to run sc stop viam-agent first
  3. this won't delete any files, it will just stop agent from running

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Are there files aside from the installer and the viam.json file? I suppose everything that got installed... Is there anything we can do aside from tell people to remove whichever folder they are in?

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(oops missed last week)

the user can delete the whole /opt/viam folder and the viam dotdir folder (C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\.viam)

we don't use a normal MSI because symlinking is thorny with MSI, but if we did, it would have an entry in the 'add/remove programs' control panel page, and would clean up any folders it installed. (but we don't have this)

@npentrel npentrel merged commit c0b0cec into viamrobotics:main Jun 3, 2025
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@npentrel npentrel deleted the DOCS-3983 branch June 3, 2025 14:24
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3 participants