Deploying To Personal Computers
The typical deployment scenario for ZeeDrive is on personal computers. A personal computer may be a work desktop PC, a laptop, Windows tablet (like a Surface Pro) or a home office PC.
To deploy ZeeDrive on a personal computer it must be activated using the ZeeDrive wizard. Activation requires an 8 digit activation code. Activation codes are user specific; each user has their own activation code.
Activation codes are generated when a user is set up on a ZeeDrive subscription and assigned a Personal Computer User licence.
See Pricing for the cost of a Personal Computer User licence. A user assigned a Personal Computer User licence can activate ZeeDrive on up to 3 computers.
Preparing For Deployment
Before a personal computer can be activated, you will need to first set up the user on your ZeeDrive subscription (assuming the user is not yet set up). An activation code will be generated for the user which you should take note of as the user will require the activation code during the activation process. An activation code can be reset if you mislay it.
Activation of a personal computer is a self-service process; that is, the ZeeDrive wizard will guide the user through the activation process when they run ZeeDrive.
To activate, the user will need their ZeeDrive username (which is their Microsoft 365 username) and their ZeeDrive activation code. Provide the user with their username and activation code, and a link to the activation steps from the user guide: Activate Your Computer. For example, you can email the information to the user. The activation guide has a link for the user to download the latest version of ZeeDrive.
During the activation process, ZeeDrive will install itself to the C:\Program Files folder and install a driver. These operations require local administrator access. The user will be prompted for elevated permissions during the activation process so that ZeeDrive can complete the installation.
For users that don't have local administrator rights, you may either need to assist the user with the activation process, or, pre-install ZeeDrive via the command line install option. See Install Zee Drive for more information on command line installation.
After the user completes the activation process, ZeeDrive will start-up automatically and map the network drives you have configured.
Validating Activation
Activation of personal computers can be tracked via the administration console. This can help you identify which users have or have not yet, activated their computers.
From the administration console, click the action button then click "Check which computers are running ZeeDrive"
After a brief delay, a summary count of activated computers will show. Click on the blue link to drill down to the details
A list of all activated computers will now show. The list can be exported to a CSV file via the Save to CSV button
Mass Deployment Options
Where you have many users and personal computers to activate en-masse, you may want to find ways to optimise and automate the process. Here are some options to consider.
Bulk User Creation
If you have many users to set up, the administration console supports importing users via a CSV file rather than setting up users one-by-one. Choose the option "Set up multiple users on your subscription from CSV file" from the administration console user management. When creating users via CSV file, the user activation codes will be written to an output CSV file.
Pre-Install ZeeDrive
Unless ZeeDrive is already installed, in order to activate ZeeDrive, the users will require local administrator privileges so that ZeeDrive can complete the installation during activation.
In environments where users do not have local administrator privileges, you can pre-install ZeeDrive via the command line. See Install Zee Drive.
Combining the command line with a software deployment tool such as Intune, means you can fully automate the pre-installation of Zee Drive. Refer to the Intune Guide Deploy With Intune.
Configure Desktop Link To ZeeDrive
Following on from pre-installing ZeeDrive, it would be more convenient for your users to have a link to ZeeDrive on their desktop. All they need do, after signing in to Windows, is double click the ZeeDrive link on their desktop to launch the ZeeDrive wizard.
For example, if you have installed ZeeDrive v68.14, the ZeeDrive executable will be installed to:
C:\Program Files\Thinkscape Zee Drive\68.14.0.0\ZeeDrive.exe
Instead of the user navigating to the ZeeDrive executable in that folder, or downloading ZeeDrive, you can create a link to the ZeeDrive executable on the user's desktop via software deployment tools like Intune and a PowerShell script. See Activating Zee Drive as a Personal Computer – An Approach for more information.
Fully Automate Deployment
If you prefer to fully automate the deployment process including activation, consider activating computers as Hot Desk Computers instead.
Activating More Than 3 Computers
A Personal Computer User licence permits the user assigned the licence to activate ZeeDrive on up to 3 computers.
If the user has 3 computers activated and then attempts to activate a 4th, they will see a screen similar to this:
To activate the 4th computer, the user will first need to choose a computer to deactivate. The user should click the blue link "Click here to choose a computer to deactivate". A list of the activated computers is then presented to the user. Select a computer and deactivate it:
After deactivating one of the 3 computers, the user can then proceed with activating the new computer.
If the user requires more than 3 computers activated, then additional computers can be activated as a Hot Desk Computer instead.
Refer to Deploying To Hot Desk Computers for more information about Hot Desk Computers.
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