If you wish to create a Windows Golden image, that has the Atera agent installed, some modifications will have to be done to the Atera agent Registry keys.

Configure the agent for golden image

When the Atera agent is installed, a unique registry entry called AgentId found in Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ATERA Networks\AlphaAgent is created.

Thus, installing the agent through a cloned image will result in duplicated devices reporting back to the console.

However, if you need to create an image where the AteraAgent is already installed, as a workaround, the image needs to be created with all the agent's registry keys deleted - except for the IntegratorLogin key. This way, after the device is set up and connects to the web, the keys will recreate automatically.

These registry keys can either be deleted manually:

Or by running the below commands in an elevated instance of CMD:

REG DELETE "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ATERA Networks\AlphaAgent" /f /v AgentId
REG DELETE "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ATERA Networks\AlphaAgent" /f /v AccountId
REG DELETE "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ATERA Networks\AlphaAgent" /f /v CompanyId
REG DELETE "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ATERA Networks\AlphaAgent" /f /v DisableRemote
REG DELETE "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ATERA Networks\AlphaAgent" /f /v ServerName

Once the keys are deleted and you created the cloned image, you can restart the AteraAgent service either manually from services.msc or by running the following command in an elevated instance of CMD: 

sc stop AteraAgent && sc start AteraAgent

Note: It is very important to create a golden image before restarting the services for AteraAgent. 

Deleting the agent's registry keys prior to creating the image, will prevent duplicated devices to be created in the Atera console. 

Troubleshoot cloned devices

In cases you have issues with devices that report under the same agent, you can fix this directly from Atera.

Simply run the following command on the Agent from Atera, by going to the Device>Manage>Command Prompt. Then simply add the following script and press enter.

REG DELETE "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ATERA Networks\AlphaAgent" /f /v AgentId

Once done, restart the AteraAgent service from the Device>Manage>Service Manager, on the Service Manager window, find the AteraAgent service, and restart it.

After the AgentID key has been deleted, and the service for the AteraAgent has been restarted, your devices will appear in the dashboard. Please keep in mind that the devices can take up to 5 minutes to appear in your dashboard.