Use Ninite on Remote Machines

To run Ninite on a remote machine, click 'Show remote options' in the lower-left corner of the Ninite Pro app selection window.

Ninite has two different modes for discovering remote machines, Local Network and Active Directory.

Ninite automatically checks if the current computer is part of a Windows domain, and if so it automatically switches to Active Directory (AD) mode and sets the AD path to the current domain.

Users can switch between the two modes using the radio buttons below the network tree.

Active Directory Mode

Active Directory is also supported via the command line. Users can specify an AD path with the /remote switch using the "ad:" prefix:

NinitePro.exe /remote ad:my.domain.com

This can be used combination with the /silent switch. Ninite will then perform the requested operation on the machines specified by the AD path:

NinitePro.exe /remote ad:my.domain.com /audit /silent audit.txt

Multiple AD paths can be specified when using the /silent switch.

Note: in an Active Directory environment it is recommended to run Ninite as a domain administrator

Ninite accepts AD paths in various formats. Here are some advanced examples:

All computers of the Organizational Unit (OU) called sales:

NinitePro.exe /remote "ad:OU=sales,DC=my,DC=domain,DC=com"

All computers of the sales OU, excluding any sub-OUs:

NinitePro.exe /remote "ad:OU=sales,DC=my,DC=domain,DC=com;;onelevel"

All computers in the domain whose name begins with Office:

NinitePro.exe /remote "ad:my.domain.com;(Name=Office*)"

All computers in the sales OU sales whose name begins with Office, exluding sub-OUs:

NinitePro.exe /remote "ad:OU=sales,DC=my,DC=domain,DC=com;(Name=Office*);onelevel"

The general format of Ninite's AD paths is as follows:

NinitePro.exe /remote "ad:[path];[searchfilter];[scope]"

The search filter and scope are optional.

Search filters follow the standard LDAP syntax. An example filter is:

(Name=Office*)

More information on search filters can be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa746475(v=vs.85).aspx

The scope can be one of:

subtree (the default)
onelevel (only finds the immediate child objects of the object referred to by the path)

Local Network Mode

The local network scanning can be a bit quirky and may not find all your machines. In that case you should create a file containing a list of remote machines (by name or IP, one per line) and start Ninite like:

NinitePro.exe /remote file:machines.txt

Note that this option can also be combined with other switches like /silent:

NinitePro.exe /remote file:machines.txt /updateonly /silent report.csv

You can also list machines right on the command line, for example

NinitePro.exe /remote workstation1 workstation2 /select Flash Java /silent report.csv

You can specify different user credentials with the /remoteauth switch:

NinitePro.exe /remote 192.168.250.147 /remoteauth admin password /audit /silent report.txt

Fixing Connection Problems

If Ninite is having trouble connecting to your machines, we have more details on connection requirements. Running the EnableRemote.exe from that page on the remote machines may fix things.