Update Avast4.ini File on Clients

[NonMaster]

Hello,

I am a new user to Avast and was having an issue with the installed product on client machines. Although Avast was installed remotely from the server, it still said that it was not installed in ADNM. After trying several things I noticed that in the Avast.ini file, the server IP address was incorrect. I'm not sure how it got this way but by updating the Avast4.ini file (in safe mode) it now is able to communicate back to the server.

Does anyone know how I can deploy the updated Avast4.ini file to the client machines automatically?  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[scythe944]

Login to ADNM console.

Right-click computer catalog and click properties.

Click the "communication" section.

Input the correct AMS address there.  It should update all of the clients within a half hour or so.

[NonMaster]

I tried to update the communication settings but it did not update on the machines.

I think what happened is that when I was making a deploy package somehow the communication settings had changed to an invalid server name. When I deployed Avast to the machines, the avast4.ini file told the machines to communicate to a server that did not exist. I want to update the avast4.ini file on all the machines. I tried correcting the deploy package and then redeploying it to the machines but it didn't work.

I was able to update the avast4.ini file manually on a machine but I had to go to safe mode because of the 'access denied' message. Is there to redeploy avast4.ini to the machines that already have it installed? Do I need to remove Avast and reinstall???

[rkniffin]

For avast! 4, you can use the aswChAms.exe utility to change the address of the AMS server. It's in the avast4 folder.

aswChAms <amsname>   - <amsname> is the DNS name or IP address of the new AMS.

[NonMaster]

Is there anyway to deploy the change from the server if there is currently no communication from the clients to the server? I would like to make the change without having to log on to each machine.

However, if i must, I see that the aswchams.exe file opens up the enhanced user interface.  Where do I go to manually change the IP address? ...sorry if im a bit slow

[wpn]

you can make a login script

put what rkniffin posted in a batch file
put that batchfile in the NETLOGON folder on the domain controller and make that your startup script in active directory
if you already have a startup script and add that to it, example:

aswchams 192.168.1.5   or  aswchams adnm.mydomain.local      you get the idea

[NonMaster]

Hello,

Thank you for replying! I did try to make a batch file but it wasn't working for me. I did try to make a batch file with the following verbiage:

amsChams 192.168.130.242

I then put it in a file called Avast.bat. Even after restarting the computer, it didn't communicate with the server and still has the old information. Is there something I'm doing wrong or is there something else needed?

[rkniffin]

You probably need to put the path to the file in your avast.bat:

"c:\program files\alwil software\avast4\aswChams.exe" 192.168.130.242

[scythe944]

The use of wildcards can be of use as well, just make sure that the path is actually where avast is installed.

Example of paths:  C:\Program Files\ can be %PROGRAMFILES% or %PROGRAMDATA% for Win7

The reason that it didn't work is that amwChams.exe isn't in the System Path on computers, unlike executables in the Windows\System32 folder, so when you just type amwChams.exe, it has no idea where to find it.

So, you must actually tell it where to find it first, before running the program.

You can easily tell if a program will run properly or not before putting it in a script by just opening a run box and typing the command.  If it says it can't be found, then it's not in the system path, and you'll have to type the full path in the script...

[wpn]

next to that you need to spell the command correctly:   aswchams

[rkniffin]

next to that you need to spell the command correctly:   aswchams

Thanks for catching that.

[scythe944]

yep, fixed.

[NonMaster]

    

AH IT WORKS!!! I created a batch file with the entire path and ran it as a startup script from group policy. Now I see that machines are beginning to show green in the Avast management console! Thank you all so much!  You are all life savers!!!

[wpn]

thank you   ill take the credit for it   (yes i know im a c*cky bast*rd)

[scythe944]

 

well all have our moments.