SoftwareCentral · Client

Using the client for the shop

By default the shop only uses the client when it cannot find the device name any other way. Where the network can give a wrong name — VPN, out-of-date DNS, Citrix, devices outside your network — let the shop use only the client.

Set it up Turn it on Troubleshoot

1 What to set up first

  1. Put the client on a share, or in a local folder on the devices — Installing the client.
  2. Register the SoftwareCentral: link on every device. For the shop this is always done by you: the shop never registers the client — Manual registration.
  3. Remove the browser question — Removing the browser question.

2 Turn it on for the shop

The device rows on the Shop settings tab: Only use SoftwareCentral Client, Shop for primary devices, Hide mobile phones from primary devices, and Disable computer name lookup for Mac devices
Settings › SoftwareCentral › Shop, the rows that decide how the device is found.
SettingUse it when
Only use SoftwareCentral ClientDevices connect through VPN, from outside your network or through Citrix, or DNS is not reliable. The shop then never looks the device up on the network; it always asks the client.
Shop for primary devicesYour users have primary devices in Configuration Manager or Intune. The shop uses them first: with several, the shopper chooses. It only needs the client for shoppers who have no primary device at all.
Hide mobile phones, Mac OS devicesFine-tune the primary-device choice.
Intune devices Devices that are managed by Intune, and may be anywhere, need Only use SoftwareCentral Client, the client in a local folder, and SoftwareCentral reachable from where the users are.

3 What the shop remembers

The shop remembers the device the client reported, for that shopper and network address. The client is only needed again when the shopper comes from another address, for example at home. A device the shopper chose from their own devices is remembered everywhere. See Your device for what shoppers see.

4 Troubleshooting

What the shopper seesCheck
Please wait stays, nothing opensThe SoftwareCentral: link is not registered on the device, or the path in it does not exist. Type SoftwareCentral: in the Windows Run box: when the link is registered, the client starts and says that no arguments were passed to it.
The browser asks every timeThe allow list is missing for that browser.
The shop opens in another browser, still waitingThe client opened the default browser, which is not the one the shopper started in. Ask them to use their default browser for the shop.
The shop shows the wrong deviceTurn on Only use SoftwareCentral Client. Meanwhile the shopper can pick the right device under their name.
We were unable to resolve your computernameNo source gave a name. Check the registration on that device, or use primary devices.

A debug report from the shop's settings panel shows how the shop identified the device; see Shop Debug Reports.

5 Best practice

DoWhy
Register the SoftwareCentral: link on every device before turning on Only use SoftwareCentral ClientWith that setting the shop never looks the device up on the network, so a device without the link cannot be identified.
Use the same client path on every deviceThe registered link contains the path; a path that does not exist gives Please wait forever.
Remove the browser question firstOtherwise every shopper is asked each time; see Removing the browser question.
Try it on a few devices, from outside the network, before the roll-outThe shop remembers the device per shopper and address, so the first visit from a new address is the real test.
Keep Shop for primary devices for users who have primary devicesThen the client is only needed for shoppers with none.