Desktop MSI Installer and Group Policy Installation Guides (Beta)¶
This guide provides steps to install the MSI and use Group Policies in Windows Pro or Enterprise. The MSI installer package can be downloaded here.
Note
The Mattermost MSI installer and Group Policy (GPO) definitions are in Beta. Before installing this Beta, please ensure you have reviewed the following known issues:
- Clicking a desktop notification does not bring the app into focus
- Clicking a desktop notification does not switch to the channel the notification came from
If you are using this installer or GPOs and have feedback, particularly if you are an organization executing remote deployments, please contact us in the MSI Installer channel on our Community server or on our community forum. We hope to promote this installer out of Beta when the known issues are addressed and we are confident that the various deployment scenarios expected in production environments are tested sufficiently with the help of organizations using this Beta. Feedback is highly appreciated.
Installation Guide¶
Download Group Policy and MSI Installer files¶
Using a newly created Windows VM or dedicated Windows computer – make sure to use a Windows version that supports
Edit group policy
out of the box (i.e. Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise).Navigate to the Mattermost Desktop repo on Github.com.
Navigate to the release page for version v4.3.0 and download the appropriate installer for your version of Windows (32bit vs. 64bit).
Download the source.zip file as well to extract group policy files.
Installing Group Policy files locally¶
Browse to the folder the above files were downloaded to and unzip the
desktop-4.3.0.zip
file in place.Navigate to the unzipped
desktop-4.3.0-rc0\resources\windows\gpo
folder and copy the contents.Navigate to the
C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions
folder and paste the files copied in the last step.Verify the
mattermost.admx
file is in theC:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions
folder.Verify the
mattermost.adml
file is in theC:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\en-US
folder.
Notes:
\\FQDNDomain\sysvol\FQDNDomain\Policies\PolicyDefinitions
can be used instead ofC:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions
if available.\\FQDNDomain\sysvol\FQDNDomain\Policies\PolicyDefinitions\en-US
can be used instead ofC:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\en-US
if available.
Configure Mattermost using Group Policy settings¶
Run the
Edit group policy
application by clickingStart
, typinggpedit
into the search field and clicking on the resultingEdit group policy
search option.In the
Edit group policy
window, navigate toLocal Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Mattermost
. A list of the available policies can be found here. In this example, double click onDefaultServerList
to set one or more default servers that will appear on app launch.In the resulting window for
DefaultServerList
, click onEnabled
to turn the feature on and then click on theShow…
button in theOptions:
section of the window to add default servers.In the resulting window, add desired Mattermost servers using a memorable name (i.e. Community) and the web url of the Mattermost server (i.e. https://community.mattermost.com).
Click the
OK
button twice and close theEdit group policy
application.
Verify Group Policy settings have been applied¶
To verify the settings applied correctly, open up the
Registry Editor
by clicking on theStart
button, typingRegistry Editor
in the search field and selecting theRegistry Editor
option in the search results.In the
Registry Editor
window, navigate toComputer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mattermost\DefaultServerList
and verify the servers you added using theEdit group policy
app are listed.Close the
Registry Editor
once verified.
Install Mattermost Desktop using the MSI installer¶
Back in the folder the MSI installer was downloaded to, double click on the MSI installer to begin the Mattermost Desktop installation process.
Installation of the MSI requires admin permission, so accept the resulting request to allow the installer to make changes to your device.
Click the
Finish
button when the installation is complete.
Verify Group Policy settings in the installed Desktop app¶
Launch the newly installed Mattermost app from the
Start
menu.Verify the app loads the first server defined in the
Edit group policy
app.