Bulk install Bot Agent on devices

Installing Bot Agent across multiple devices such as on-premises machines, virtual machines (VM), and non-persistent virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is called Bulk install (or silent install). You must edit the Bot Agent MSI file for bulk installation.

Prerequisites

To perform the task, you must have a Control Room administrator account with the required rights and permissions.

Ensure that you have downloaded the MSI file from the Control Room and the parameters required to install devices are available in the Bot Agent MSI file.
Note: If you are trying to download the MSI file for the first time, you must click Settings > Bot agent bulk install > Edit > Save changes to generate a registration key and view the Download installer for the MSI file. .
Ensure that the Windows 10 Software Development Kit including Orca is installed on the device.
You can install Orca from C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.18362.0\x86\Orca-x86_en-us.msi.

Note: You can find a sample autoregistration.properties file at the end of the page for your reference.

Procedure

Use the latest AutomationAnywhereBotAgent.msi file from the following locations:
- Download the file from the Control Room (Administrator > Settings > Bot agent bulk install).
  The download option is available for On-Premises and Cloud deployments.
- Select the file from the <application filepath>\crui\asset folder. For example C:\Program Files\Automation Anywhere\crui\asset
  This option is available only for On-Premises deployments.
Edit the AutomationAnywhereBotAgent.msi file using the Orca tool.
Click the Property option.

Enter appropriate values for the following parameters:


Parameter	Description
AA_CRURL	Enter the Control Room instance to which the Bot Agent will to be connected. Note: Ensure you do not add a backslash (/) at the end of the Control Room URL. For example, `mycr.mydomain.com/`.
AA_CRTOKEN	Enter the corresponding registration key value for each Control Room. The registration key is provided by the Control Room admin. You can configure up to 20 Control Room URLs. Ensure that: You provide the corresponding registration tokens under AA_CRTOKEN, AA_CRTOKEN2 through AA_CRTOKEN20 for each configured Control Room URL. There is a one-to-one match between CR_URL and CR_TOKEN. There is no skipping between CR_URL and CR_TOKEN, and this is filled consecutively. For example, to configure three Control Room URLs, it must be populated in the following order: AA_CRURL, AA_CRURL2, AA_CRURL3. See Generate registration key to install Bot Agent in bulk.
AA_DELAY_REGISTRATION_UNTIL_LOGIN	Enter `True` to delay the Bot Agent registration to a Control Room until a user logs in to that Control Room. If a user logs in to any of the Control Room instances configured from the device where the Bot Agent is installed, the Bot Agent on that device will be automatically registered with that associated Control Room. If the logged-in Control Room URL is not configured, then Bot Agent is not registered with that Control Room.
AA_DEVICE_TYPE	Enter one of the following values for the device type: `SINGLE_USER` `MULTIPLE_USERS` Note: Ensure that you enter the values in uppercase.
AA_LIFESPAN	Enter one of the following values for a non-persistent or persistent device: `TEMPORARY` `PERSISTENT` Note: Ensure that you enter the values in uppercase when you install the Bot Agent.
AA_CONCURRENT_SESSIONS	Enter the concurrent sessions allowed, from 1 through 99. The default value is `1`. Note: The concurrent sessions are only applicable for multi-user devices (AA_DEVICE_TYPE = Multiuser)
AA_INSTALL_ONLY	Choose whether you want to install the Bot Agent without registering with the Control Room. Enter `True` to only install and not register the Bot Agent. Note: The autoregistration.properties file is created when AA_INSTALL_ONLY is set to `True`. You can set AA_INSTALL_ONLY to `True` only for system-level installation. Enter `False` to install and register the Bot Agent.
AA_DEVICE_POOL_NAME	Specify the device pool name. The default value is `0`. Note: Ensure that you use an existing device pool.

Save the changes.
Copy the AutomationAnywhereBotAgent.msi file to the VM instance (golden image) on which you want to install the Bot Agent.

Note: Ensure that you do not restart the VM instance (golden image).
Run the AutomationAnywhereBotAgent.msi file.
Validate that the Bot Agent is installed on the VM instance and Bot Agent service is not running in the Task Manager Services tab.

Note: An autoregistration.properties file will be generated at C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\AutomationAnywhere.

To deploy the Bot Agent on temporary or non-persistent devices, you must configure the SysPrep settings and create machine images on the VM instance.

Shut down the VM instance without SysPrep after you enable temporary or non-persistent computer name settings for the VM.
For an example of how to use SysPrep on AWS EC2 instance, see Use Sysprep to create and install custom reusable Windows AMIs.
Create machine images on the VM instance as required.
For an example of how to create Amazon Machine Images (AMI) from an AWS EC2 instance, see Create an AMI from an Amazon EC2 Instance.

If a Bot Agent is registered in the VM instance by mistake, perform these steps to restore the machine image:

Uninstall the Bot Agent from the Windows Control Panel of the VM instance.
Delete all files from C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\AutomationAnywhere.
Enter True for the AA_INSTALL_ONLY parameter in the AutomationAnywhereBotAgent.msi file that you previously used to install the Bot Agent.
Run the AutomationAnywhereBotAgent.msi file again.

Sample autoregistration.properties file

url=http://ec2-myexampleCR.com
url2=URL2
url3=URL3
url4=URL4
token=eyJhbGciOiJSUzUxMiJ9.eyJjbGllbnRUeXBlIjoiQk9UX0FHRU5UX0FVVE9fUkVHSVNUUkFUSU9OIiwidGVuYW50VXVpZCI6ImI4ZjVmNDE0LWMzZDMtNGRhNy04NDljLWMxOGUwOGNiM2Q5ZCIsImlhdCI6MTY1NTg3NTgyMiwiZXhwIjoxOTcxMjM1ODIyLCJpc3MiOiJBdXRvbWF0aW9uQW55d2hlcmUiLCJuYW5vVGltZSI6NzMxMDYzMzkwNzQ5NX0.BA2bPiIECl9PE34BC1mj2iePLuTlSd8y8Fe1LtIkOKYrD8mR-KVOnMeupDQF4IQ3oZbjpyk73vrLI2k0UeTVpvKuURbZhz8bPIBYer4zlzRjEB-9nOID8MtNRcpzlXgkQ27GEN2pOn4Xs_k198rPJEYHcTwaHRbQ8Mv5UF0eGd8_Q9sLgZB6jt1BhnzMNS3qwZBl1aG1xbOc7orlfyBfTGSvAxnlsRa3_fF7QeFKiw7EdfJDGsIVmIZ58-IMzer-R8sxMnr7hSfi_aYDx8emyoH2XtFAQAYuXiw6vOXWa1o-TYDtPknIJsga6aAiFJ9-w6ndJAov0JvTClmeyLQgBA
token2=t2
token3=t3
token4=t4
device_type=MULTIPLE_USERS
concurrent_sessions=4
lifespan=TEMPORARY
delay_registration_until_login=true

Next steps

Validate that the devices are added on the Control Room Devices page.

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