Windows Agent Deployment via ConnectWise RMM (Formerly Continuum)

UPDATE: A new scripting method was introduced in ConnectWise RMM 2.1. If you attempted to deploy using our script and the previous version of these instructions on the new version you will receive a "Successful" response to the script, but no agents will deploy. If you are experiencing this issue, the below instructions should resolve the issue. 
If you are updating the script, please download the latest version of the script

Installing any product should be a breeze and that's especially true with Huntress. We've created a deployment script for ConnectWise RMM that will install the Huntress agent on 32 and 64-bit Windows systems (Vista/Server 2008 and above) without any user interruptions or reboots needed.

The script will also automatically gather your client's ConnectWise RMM Site ID and automatically organize the agents within Huntress' multi-tenant dashboard. 

Things to Note:

The Huntress installer needs an Organization Key which is used to affiliate an Agent with a specific Organization within the Huntress Partner’s Account (this is baked into the deployment script, you DO NOT need to enter an Organization Key). The ConnectWise RMM SITENAME value from the registry is ideal to use for the Huntress Organization Key.

For freshly installed ConnectWise RMM Agents, ConnectWise does not create the SITENAME value until ~30 minutes after installation, which means that the SITENAME value wouldn't be available for us to pull on new machines. 

As a solution, our deployment script always attempts to include the ConnectWise SITEID and SITENAME in the Huntress Organization Key (looks like SITEID-SITENAME or 12345-WibbleBank). However, this approach only uses the SITEID for the Organization Key when the SITENAME value is not present.

As a byproduct of this compromise, a single ConnectWise Site can have two Huntress Organization Keys (12345 and 12345-WibbleBank). Users of this deployment script may have to manually consolidate these Organizations from within the Huntress Web Interface (moving agents from 12345 and 12345-WibbleBank).

The actual name of the Organization will be "12345-WibbleBank," you are free to change the display name of Organization without affecting future deployments. 

This is a two-step process that involves:

1Downloading and Customizing the Huntress PowerShell Template

2Creating the Huntress Deployment Script in ConnectWise RMM

Download & Customize the Huntress PowerShell Template

1. Download the Huntress PowerShell Template for ConnectWise RMM from our GitHub repository.
2. Immediately after the copyright notice and description, update the $AccountKey variable to use your Huntress Account Secret Key replacing the __ACCOUNT_KEY__ placeholder. (The quotes around the key are required.) Be sure to use a plain text editor like Notepad or Notepad++.
3. Save the contents of this file. This PowerShell code will be used to populate your Huntress Deployment Script within the ConnectWise RMM.

Create the Huntress Deployment Script in ConnectWise RMM

NOTE: These instructions are not the final draft, but they were released to ensure our partners could update their deployment method to utilize the new ConnectWise scripting method as quickly as possible. 

1. Login to the ConnectWise RMM dashboard and select the Devices tab under Quick Access. (You may need to choose Show All or a specific client.) Hover over the "Add" button see the menu options.
2. Filter down to the devices by selecting a specific site or checking off the ones you want to install the Huntress Agent on. After selecting the devices a menu bar will appear, choose Run and then PowerShell Script.
3. Paste the PowerShell Template (with your account secret key in the appropriate spot) into the "PowerShell Script" text box. Click on "Save as Custom Task (Optional)."
4. Type in a name for the task, choose a category (we recommend Security, Custom, or similar), type in a description, and click save. This will make this task easily available for future deployments.Once complete, click "Continue to Scheduling." 
   
5. Choose an appropriate schedule for your deployment. Run now is common when deploying in stages on a per-client basis. Run on trigger is also common if you have a lot of machines that may be offline during your deployment. Selecting "System Startup" will cause the agent to deploy on the next boot in these scenarios.
   
   Click the "Run Task" button (shown below) once you have selected your preferred schedule.
   
6. Your agents should now deploy based on your chosen schedule and begin appearing in your Huntress Dashboard shortly!
7. NOTE: To deploy additional agents, repeat this procedure but on step 2 above chose the category and newly created custom task to deploy. You should then only need to choose a schedule and run the task. 

05/26/2020: Huntress has updated the ConnectWise RMM deployment script with the following enhancements:  Forcing PowerShell to use TLS 1.2 or greater; this is part of our effort to phase out support for TLS 1.0/1.1. Improved validation that the agent installed properly and registered. Enhanced logging in case we need to help troubleshoot.