Additional Installation Information for Admins

Last modified on May 8, 2024

StrongDM users typically install the StrongDM Desktop application and/or CLI on their own machines by following the Linux, macOS, or Windows installation guides.

In some cases, however, admins may wish to install StrongDM for the users in their organization. This document provides additional information for admins installing the StrongDM client for other users.

macOS

The PKG installer for macOS requires admin privilege and installs StrongDM Desktop in the /Applications folder. The application is owned by the user who ran the installation, so that updates in place can still work even if the user is not an admin on the machine. Admins may, however, choose to designate a different user as the end user.

Application ownership is actually set to match the owner of the directory indicated by the HOME environment variable. Admins may install StrongDM for a different user on the machine by running a silent installation with the HOME environment variable set to be the home directory of that designated end user.

Install StrongDM for a user

To install StrongDM for a standard user (a user who cannot be an administrator), follow these steps.

  1. First download the PKG installer.
  2. Run the following command, where HOME is set as a user who owns the directory /Users/ and the correct PKG file name is used:
    "HOME=/Users/<USERNAME> sudo installer -pkg SDM-21.58.0.universal.pkg -target /"

When installation is complete, StrongDM Desktop is installed in the /Applications folder. Because the installer was run with admin privilege, Virtual Networking Mode is installed as well, allowing the user to access Virtual Networking Mode resources that may be available to them.

This method of installing for another user may be useful if your organization has remote management of the applications on end user machines, where the end user is not an admin on the machine they operate.

For more information about macOS installation, please see the user-specific macOS Installation Guide.

Uninstall StrongDM

To uninstall StrongDM properly, a user with the ability to be an admin must run the following:

sudo /Applications/SDM.app/Contents/Resources/sdm.darwin listen -uninstall

Then run:

sudo rm -r /Applications/SDM.app

Windows

The EXE installer for Windows installs the StrongDM Desktop application in the user’s Programs folder (C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Programs\SDM or C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Programs\@strongdmdesktop). The installer doesn’t need to be run as administrator, but if it is, Virtual Networking Mode is installed along with StrongDM Desktop. The application is typically owned by the user who ran the installation, so that updates in place can still work even if the user is not an admin on the machine. Admins may, however, choose to designate a different user on the machine as the end user of the application.

Admins may install StrongDM for a different user on a machine by running the EXE installer and using the --SDMUSER option, which designates a different user from the user running the installer.

Install StrongDM for a user

To install StrongDM for a standard user (a user who cannot be an administrator), follow these steps.

  1. First download the EXE installer.
  2. In the Command Prompt, run the EXE installer as administrator as in the following example, where the correct EXE file name is used and <USERNAME> is the desired end user.
    SDM-21.58.0.exe --SDMUSER=<USERNAME>

When the installation is complete, StrongDM Desktop (SDM.exe) is installed in the specified user’s Programs directory. Because the installer was run as administrator, Virtual Networking Mode is installed as well, allowing the user to access Virtual Networking Mode resources that may be available to them. You can check that Virtual Networking Mode has been installed by viewing the Task Manager, which shows sdmtun.exe.

The installer also creates a shortcut for running StrongDM Desktop on the desktop of the target user. The user may double-click the shortcut to launch StrongDM Desktop. After the first auto-update, a normal Windows Shortcut will be created and the user can delete the Internet Shortcut, if desired.

For more information about Windows installation, please see the user-specific Windows Installation Guide.

Uninstall StrongDM

For a clean uninstallation of StrongDM, run the Uninstall SDM program that is in the SDM installation directory.

To also uninstall Virtual Networking Mode, run Uninstall SDM as administrator.