Setting Watchman Monitoring Preferences from the Command Line is an efficient method when using deployment scripts and RMM platforms.
Notes on Editing Preferences from the Command Line
All commands must be commands must be run in an elevated command prompt.
To open an elevated command prompt, locate Command Prompt, right-click and select Run as administrator.

Client Operations
Reporting
It is preferable to change settings through the Monitoring Client Control Panel. If you need to force a report through the command line then you can use the following commands.
Force the Monitoring Client to report now:
For a 64 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\MonitoringClient /v ForceRun /t REG_SZ /f /d "1"
For a 32 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\MonitoringClient /v ForceRun /t REG_SZ /f /d "1"
Updating
Updates are handled by the RunClient.exe
executable. Watchman Monitoring provides three flags for updating from the command line:
-
--update
opens an update interface to check for an available update. -
--update --quiet
automatically forces an available update. -
--update --updatepath="[path-to-Wys-file]"
opens an update interface to update from a local folder containing update files.
RunClient.exe
must be run as an administrator. You will not be prompted to elevate the access level.

To open the Control Panel from the command line, and check for an update, execute
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Monitoring Client\RunClient.exe" --update
Force the Monitoring Client to check for software updates:
To manually update from the command line regardless of the AutoUpdate setting, execute
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Monitoring Client\RunClient.exe" --update --quiet
Force the Monitoring Client to update from local files:
To manually update from the command line regardless of the AutoUpdate setting from local update files, execute
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Monitoring Client\RunClient.exe" --update --updatepath="[path-to-Wys-file]"
The provided .wys
and .wyu
files must be located in the same folder.
Force the Monitoring Client to check for software updates [deprecated]:
update.exe
is deprecated as of Version 1.5.1.1. Please use RunClient.exe --update
as detailed above.
To manually update from the command line, execute
"c:\Program Files (x86)\Monitoring Client\update.exe" /fromservice
The update.exe
command, must be run as an administrator. You will not be prompted to elevate the access level.

Calling update.exe
directly, does not update the registry’s last update check value. Therefor the control panel timestamp will be off.
Disable Auto-Update:
For a 64 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\MonitoringClient /v AutoUpdateEnabled /t REG_SZ /f /d "0"
For a 32 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\MonitoringClient /v AutoUpdateEnabled /t REG_SZ /f /d "0"
Adjust Reporting Interval
Adjust the time interval between one (1) and six (6) hours that the client reports its status.
Replace the 60 below with a number less than or equal to 360.
For a 64 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\MonitoringClient /v ReportInterval /t REG_SZ /f /d "60"
For a 32 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\MonitoringClient /v ReportInterval /t REG_SZ /f /d "60"
Removal
Remove the Monitoring Client from the computer:
The following command will remove the client
C:\Program Files (x86)\Monitoring Client\Uninstall.exe" /remote
To prevent an email reporting the removal of the client use the following command
C:\Program Files (x86)\Monitoring Client\Uninstall.exe" /skipLastReport /remote
Group Setting
Change the Group:
For a 64 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\MonitoringClient /v ClientGroup /t REG_SZ /f /d "GROUP_NAME"
For a 32 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\MonitoringClient /v ClientGroup /t REG_SZ /f /d "GROUP_NAME"
Replace GROUP_NAME with the desired Group name.
Disable a Plugin:
Coming Soon…
Enable a Plugin:
Coming Soon…
Plugin Settings
Reboot Notifications
Enable reboot notifications:
For a 64 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\MonitoringClient\Plugins\RebootNotice /v Enabled /t REG_SZ /f /d 1
For a 32 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\MonitoringClient\Plugins\RebootNotice /v Enabled /t REG_SZ /f /d 1
Disable reboot notifications:
For a 64 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\MonitoringClient\Plugins\RebootNotice /v Enabled /t REG_SZ /f /d 0
For a 32 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\MonitoringClient\Plugins\RebootNotice /v Enabled /t REG_SZ /f /d 0
Process Monitoring
Replace Process1
and Process2
with process names, excluding path.
For a 64 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\MonitoringClient\Plugins\processes /t REG_SZ /f /d "[{\"Name\":\"Process1\",\"Monitor\":true,\"Critical\":true,\"Reported\":false},{\"Name\":\"Process2\",\"Monitor\":true,\"Critical\":true,\"Reported\":false}]"
For a 32 bit OS
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\MonitoringClient\Plugins\processes /t REG_SZ /f /d "[{\"Name\":\"Process1\",\"Monitor\":true,\"Critical\":true,\"Reported\":false},{\"Name\":\"Process2\",\"Monitor\":true,\"Critical\":true,\"Reported\":false}]"
To monitor a single process, remove the second ,{\"Name\":\"Process2\",\"Monitor\":true,\"Critical\":true,\"Reported\":false}
from the command. Add the above before the ]
to add an additional process to monitor.
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