MeshCentral: Agent doesn't connect to server

Describe the bug MeshCentral agent doesn’t connect to MeshCentral server.

To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:

Install MeshCentral server on server.
Install MeshCentral client on remote device.
Remote device never shows up on MeshCentral server.

Expected behavior The remote device shows up on MeshCentral server.

Screenshots MeshCentral

Server Software (where the MeshCentral server was installed):

OS: Windows Server 2016
Virtualization: none
Network: LAN
Version: 1.1.1.1
Node: 14.17.1

Client Device (where the MeshCentral server web interface is being accessed):

Device: Desktop
OS: Windows 11 Pro
Network: Remote over WAN (VPN)
Browser: Google Chrome
MeshCentralRouter Version: N/A

Remote Device (where the MeshCentral agent was installed):

Device: Desktop
OS: Windows 10 22H2
Network: Local to Meshcentral
Current Core Version (if known): ?

Additional context None.

Your config.json file

{
   "settings": {
      "lanonly": true, 
      "_minify": true, 
      "selfupdate": true, 
      "clickonce": true, 
      "webrtc": true
   }, 
   "domains": {
      "": {
         "newaccounts": false
      }
   }
}

About this issue

Original URL
State: open
Created 10 months ago
Comments: 48 (1 by maintainers)

Most upvoted comments

@si458 I agree the bug report is confusing (that’s why I defined client and remote device) and should be changed. I’m using a desktop, but that’s otherwise correct.

Yes, I have multiple machines already connected to MeshCentral. No, they didn’t connect straight away. No, it isn’t always a certain machine that won’t connect to MeshCentral or takes forever to show up. Multiple machines won’t connect to MeshCentral and the ones that do take “forever” to show up. I set up the MeshCentral server with the installer executable. I disabled the firewall, restarted MeshCentral, uninstalled the agent(s) (there were 2 entries in the Control Panel (“Mesh Agent” and “MeshCentral Agent - Remote Control Software”) but the latter became invalid after uninstalling the former), then reinstalled the agent - it immediately connected. I then re-enabled the firewall, restarted MeshCentral, uninstalled the agent(s) from another machine, then reinstalled the agent - it didn’t show up. I then accessed the web panel from inside our network from a machine - it still didn’t show up. I then re-disabled the firewall and restarted MeshCentral - it immediately connected. I then installed the agent on another machine via PsExec without uninstalling anything - it immediately connected. I then unsuccessfully tried reproducing this on another machine. I noticed the installer didn’t detect previous installations of “Mesh Agent” despite there being one, so I re-installed it - it detected and updated it and connected.

So there are apparently 2 issues: the server setup missing firewall rule(s) and the client installation missing previous installations. The latter is easily circumvented, the former isn’t.

What rules(s) is/are missing? I unsuccessfully created one for C:\Program Files\Open Source\MeshCentral\winservice\daemon\meshcentral.exe. Please advise. Thank you.

FilGov on Sep 15, 2023