Last modified on February 10, 2025
To install StrongDM with the installer version (PKG), follow these steps.
- Double-click the downloaded PKG file (SDM-<VERSION_NUMBER>.universal.pkg). A dialog opens with guided prompts.
- On the introduction screen, read the information given and click Continue.
- Click Install.
- After installation is complete, view the success message and click Close.
To install StrongDM as an admin, use the built-in command-line program called installer
. Use sudo
and enter the PKG file as an argument (using the correct PKG file name), as in the following example:
sudo installer -pkg SDM-21.58.0.universal.pkg -target /
As a last installation step, you need to set the SDM_DOMAIN
environment variable to tell your desktop app where to find your StrongDM service. This can be done automatically each time your computer is started via a shell script. Save the following script as a shell script and run it from a terminal to create the ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.strongdm.setenv.plist
file and load it on startup.
#!/bin/bash
# Installs launch agent that sets SDM_DOMAIN={APP_DOMAIN} for the current user.
# After installation, launch SDM.app and you should see {APP_DOMAIN} in the output
# of "ps xeww | grep sdm.darwin | grep {APP_DOMAIN}"
# Define the plist file path
PLIST_FILE="$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/com.strongdm.setenv.plist"
# Create the plist file with the required content
tee $PLIST_FILE <<EOF
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.strongdm.setenv</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/bin/bash</string>
<string>-c</string>
<string>launchctl setenv SDM_DOMAIN {APP_DOMAIN}; killall -9 SDM sdm.darwin</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>
EOF
# Set the correct ownership and permissions
chmod 644 $PLIST_FILE
# Load the plist file with launchctl
launchctl load $PLIST_FILE
echo "LaunchAgent installed and loaded successfully."
That’s it! You’ve installed StrongDM. Go ahead and try a connection!