Install MonBuddy Core on your own Windows server or computer. Without a licence key it requests a 7-day demo by itself: up to 3 computers, every feature, no payment details. With a purchased key it runs with a paid licence.
Always the current release. Check each file’s SHA-256 before you run it.
The central service, its database and the Console in one Setup. Install it on the Windows server or computer that will receive and store the data.
Download the Core SetupGet-FileHash .\MonBuddy-Core-Setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256Installs the agent on many computers at once with Group Policy or Intune. For a few computers you do not need it: they install the agent from your own Core (step 5).
Download the MSI packageGet-FileHash .\MonBuddy-Agent.msi -Algorithm SHA256Open Windows PowerShell in the folder of the downloaded file and run the command shown under the file. The Hash value it prints must match the SHA-256 shown here or in the checksum file; upper and lower case do not matter. If it does not match, do not run the file: delete it together with any earlier copies (a browser saves a repeated download under a new name, such as “MonBuddy-Core-Setup (1).exe”), reload this page and download the file again.
The Setup and the MSI package are not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unknown publisher when you start the Setup. Check the SHA-256 first: if it matches, the file is exactly the one published here.
What the server, the monitored computers and the administrator need.
The Setup creates the Windows Firewall rules itself, for the Domain and Private profiles. The database and the internal services are reachable only on the Core computer itself.
| Connection | Port | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Monitored computers → Core | TCP 8443 (HTTPS) | Data, settings and agent updates; the agent accepts only your Core’s certificate. |
| Monitored computers → local network | UDP 47470 | Finding the Core automatically (broadcast) |
| Browsers on the local network → Core | TCP 80 (HTTP) | The agent download page (/agent), for local addresses only |
| Administrator’s browser → Core | TCP 8766 (HTTPS) | The Console, from the local subnet only |
| Core → license.monbuddy.io | TCP 443 (HTTPS) | Licence check, demo licence and signed updates; also the Console’s e-mails when they go through MonBuddy’s mail relay |
If you set them up, the Console also connects to your own mail server (SMTP) and to the addresses of your alert webhooks.
From the download to the first monitored computer.
Start MonBuddy-Core-Setup.exe on the server and approve the administrator prompt. The Setup is available in English, Hungarian, German, French, Italian and Spanish. It shows the licence agreement (currently in Hungarian), which you accept there. Then choose the installation folder (by default C:\ProgramData\MonBuddy), how long screenshots and activity are kept, and the e-mail address and password of the first administrator.
When the Setup has finished, it opens the Console in the browser at https://<Core computer name>:8766. Sign in with the administrator account you created. On the Core computer the browser trusts the Console at once; on other computers it warns until you install the Core’s own certificate authority once. The Console’s sign-in page has a link for this, with the steps.
Without a key, the Core requests the 7-day demo licence by itself when it starts; it usually arrives within a few minutes. If you have purchased a licence, paste its key on the Console’s Licence page. If the Core has no licence yet, this page opens after the first sign-in; otherwise you find it under “System → Licence”.
Next, the Console has you download the recovery packet (.mbrecovery), save it on a separate drive and select the saved file to verify it. There is no skip button: if the disk or Windows of the Core computer is lost, the encrypted backups can be decrypted only with this packet.
On a few computers, open http://<Core computer name>/agent in a browser on each one, download the installer and run it as administrator. It finds the Core on the local network and registers the computer. The page offers the installer once the demo or the licence is active.
On many computers, deploy the MSI package with Group Policy or Intune. In the Console, the package icon in the header shows the ready command with this Core’s address. With TOKEN= and the content of the registration token file, whose location the Console’s Settings page shows, the computers are added at once:
msiexec /i MonBuddy-Agent.msi /qn TOKEN=<token>Without a token, each new computer waits for your approval in the Console. Until you approve it, it uses no licence seat and nothing it sends is kept. The 7-day demo covers 3 computers.
The Core updates itself, the Console and the agent package from license.monbuddy.io; every package is signed and checked before it is installed. A new release is installed at a random time 10 to 180 minutes after the Core finds it; the “Install now” button in the Console’s Settings starts it at once. The agents update themselves from your Core.
A Core without a key requests a demo licence by itself: 7 days, up to 3 computers, every feature, always with the EU profile. Only one demo is available per server computer. The demo needs the licence server: 24 hours after the last successful licence check, collection stops until the next one.
At the end of the 7th day, data collection stops. Existing data stays readable and exportable, and updates keep coming. To continue, order a licence and give the licence number and the key ending shown on the Licence page: after payment and approval, the Core switches to the paid licence by itself, with the same key.
You find the licence key in the customer portal (customer.monbuddy.io) with “Reveal key”, which asks for your portal password. Paste it on the Console’s Licence page, which you later find in the System menu. The Core checks the key with the licence server before saving it, so a wrong key never replaces a working licence. The licence is bound to the TPM of the Core computer: to move the Core to new hardware, use “Request transfer” in the customer portal.
Every night at 02:00 the Core writes an encrypted backup into the Backups folder of the installation folder (by default C:\ProgramData\MonBuddy\Backups); in the Console you find them under “System → Backups”. Each backup is a full copy of the database and of every screenshot, and old backups are not deleted automatically. Copy the backups off the Core computer regularly, for example to a NAS, and delete the ones you no longer need from the Backups folder; otherwise they fill the drive, and the Core has to delete live screenshots and activity data early. Keep the recovery packet apart from the backups. Uninstalling MonBuddy Core keeps the data and the backups unless you choose to delete them.
Tell us how many computers you want to connect and how your network is set up. We will help you plan the installation.