Client Management Suite

Hello, I am hoping someone can help with a Altiris 6 agent issue in my new 7.1 environment.  I am in the process of upgrading and moving 5800 computers over from Altiris 6 to Altiris 7.1 environment.  I performing the upgrade through DS and running two diffrent jobs on all computers.  The first one is which is the Altiris 6 uninstall through a scirpt of "AeXAgentutil.exe /clean".  The second task is to run the setup for the new Altiris 7.1 agent.  I have almost 3000 machines moved over and I am noticing a handful of computers reporting back old 6 agents still installed on them.  Does anyone have a good way of removing old leftover 6 agents one the computer is in the 7.1 environment already?  Can I create a job/task in 7.1 to remove the old agents?  Thanks in advance!!

To keep the DS inventory and filters up to date add a "Get Inventory" task after each script.

Make sure your uninstall task says:

 start /wait "" aexagentutil /clean

as the uninstall can take a minute or two.

And maybe prefix your 7.1 install with an "if exist...exit 13" (or any other exit code of your choosing).

It's my favourite way to upgrade from 6.

I run the following in a batch file to ensure clean removal of the old agent(s):

C:

"C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\aexagentutil.exe" /DeleteDevices

"C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\aexagentuti.exe" /UninstallAgents

"C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\aexagentutil.exe" /Clean

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Altiris\Altiris Agent\aexagentutil.exe" /DeleteDevices

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Altiris\Altiris Agent\aexagentutil.exe" /UninstallAgents

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Altiris\Altiris Agent\aexagentutil.exe" /Clean

I use both the 32bit and 64bit paths.  Even if it errors, the batch file will continue and locate the appropriate path to aexagentutil.exe

My batch file also deletes (not shown) the Altiris folder via 'RD' commands before installing the new agent.  This is optional, but for our environment, this ensured that no remenants of old inventories, or other conflicting files were present.  (Just make sure you don't delete the Altiris folder on any Altiris infrastructure servers!)

I still ran into some stubborn ones that didn't uninstall properly, but for the vast majority of my clients (3000+) this was effective.

and I only use the /CLEAN switch, I've found that this is very good.

IF EXIST will enable you to detect if it's in the (x86) variant, I use it to detect servers with the agent on the E: drive too.

You do need START /WAIT really too. If you run AeXAgentUtil manually from a command line it returns the prompt far sooner than the agent directory is fully cleared.

/CLEAN switch pretty much does a complete removal.Once it is done,the Altiris Agent folder should just have the aexagentutil.exe file.

Thanks everyone for your input.  I updated my uninstall script from all of your responses and included a start/wait command and also added a If Exist to the install of my 7.1 agent.  This will hopefully rid anymore 6 agents from coming into my 7.1 environment.

Still contimplating on what to do with the computers in my 7.1 agent that have left over 6 agents on them.  Right now my thought is to rerun the uninstall and reinstall command on them. 

Thank you for the long discussions, it is a good update.

You should be able to use Filters in the DS console to easily find computers with old sub agents.

Thanks everyone for your help in this matter.  Marking this one as resolved!

I'm unclear as to the reason behind the START /WAIT command.  Also I'm getting a installation complete message at the end of the 7.1 agent install that prompts for an OK when installing to a Windows XP 32 bit OS but not a Windows 7 64 bit. How do I prevent the prompting?

here's my command line to install:

"AeXNSC.exe" /install /ns=CMS7-DEV

Thanks Guys.

In my experience I've found that although the 6 agent uninstalls if the agent was configured to show in Add/Remove Programs sometimes an entry gets left behind and then scooped up by inventory.  If you go to one of these machines and try to uninstall then you'll get an error telling you that the software no longer exists and asks if you want to remove it from the ARP list.

You can just add a reg del command at the end of your batch removal script if you run into the same thing.

Here is my install script below.  Looking at yours you probably need to add a /s for silent or they will get a completion notice at the end of the install.

"AeXNSC.exe" /install /ns=ldcapp027 /nsweb=http://ldcapp027/altiris /diags /s

I did not see that switch option with the /? command.

Thanks.