Desktop MSI installer and group policy installation guides (beta)

This guide provides steps to install the MSI and use Group Policies in Windows Professional or Enterprise. The MSI installer package can be downloaded here.

Note

The Mattermost MSI installer and Group Policy (GPO) definitions are in Beta. 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.

Contents

• Desktop MSI installer and group policy installation guides (beta)

  • Installation guide

    • Download group policy and MSI installer files

    • Installing group policy files locally

    • Configure Mattermost using group policy settings

    • Verify group policy settings have been applied

    • Install the Mattermost Desktop App using the MSI installer:

    • Verify group policy settings in the installed Desktop App

  • Silent installation guide

Installation guide

Download group policy and MSI installer files

1. 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).

   

2. Navigate to the Mattermost Desktop repo on Github.com.

   

3. Navigate to the release page for version v5.1.0 and download the appropriate installer for your version of Windows (32-bit vs. 64-bit).

4. Download the source.zip file as well to extract group policy files.

   

Installing group policy files locally

1. Browse to the folder the above files were downloaded to and unzip the desktop-5.1.0.zip file in place.

   

2. Navigate to the unzipped desktop-5.1.0\resources\windows\gpo folder and copy the contents.

   

3. Navigate to the C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions folder and paste the files copied in the last step.

   

4. Verify the mattermost.admx file is in the C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions folder.

   

5. Verify the mattermost.adml file is in the C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\en-US folder.

   

Configure Mattermost using group policy settings

1. Run the Edit group policy application by selecting Start, typing gpedit into the search field, then selecting the resulting Edit group policy search option.

   

2. In the Edit group policy window, navigate to Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Mattermost. In this example, double-click on DefaultServerList to set one or more default servers that will appear on app launch.

   

3. In the resulting window for DefaultServerList, select Enabled to turn the feature on, then select the Show… button in the Options: section of the window to add default servers.

   

4. 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).

5. Select OK twice, then close the Edit group policy app.

   

Verify group policy settings have been applied

1. Open up the Registry Editor by selecting Start, typing Registry Editor in the search field, then selecting the Registry Editor option in the search results.

   

2. In the Registry Editor window, navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mattermost\DefaultServerList and verify the servers you added using the Edit group policy app are listed.

3. Once verified, close the Registry Editor.

   

Install the Mattermost Desktop App using the MSI installer:

1. Within the folder the MSI installer was downloaded to, double-click on the MSI installer to begin the Mattermost Desktop installation process.

   

2. Installation of the MSI requires admin permission, so accept the resulting request to allow the installer to make changes to your device.

   

3. Select Finish when the installation is complete.

   

Verify group policy settings in the installed Desktop App

1. Launch the newly installed Mattermost app from the Start menu.

2. Verify the app loads the first server you defined in the Edit group policy app.

   

Silent installation guide

Perform a silent installation of MSI by running the following command:

msiexec /i mattermost-desktop-v5.1.0-x64.msi /qn

Note

Current version is 5.1.0. In the future, you may need to change this command accordingly.