ScreenAgent for Windows

ScreenAgentClosed NICE ScreenAgent is a service that runs on agent desktops that require screen recording. is available if you have CXone Recording Advanced and a screen recording license.

Install ScreenAgent on computers to record or monitor activity on an agent's screen during an interaction. ScreenAgent runs in the background and automatically records according to the recording policies (see CXone Recording). Supervisors and evaluators can also monitor an agent’s activity during an interaction (see Manage Agents).

You can install ScreenAgent on agents' computers, or in a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environment. Supported VDIs include:

  • VMware Horizon

  • Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly XenApp)

  • Citrix Virtual Desktops (formerly XenDesktop).

  • Multi-session environments

  • Non-persistent VDI environments

VMware Horizon doesn’t require any special configuration. For other VDI environments, see prerequisites.

The following environments do not support screen recording:

  • Terminal-server type VDI environments

You can Check ScreenAgent Connectivity before or after installation.

From the end of 2023, ScreenAgent versions lower than 3.0.x will no longer be supported and will not enable screen recording.

You will need to upgrade all users to ScreenAgent version 3.0.x. You can find the latest version of ScreenAgent in the downloads page.

 

Any ScreenAgent version lower than 2.1.40 no longer works and does not enable screen recording.

You must upgrade all users to ScreenAgent version 2.1.40 or higher, and then contact your CXone Account Representative to enable the new screen recording functionality. You can find the latest version of ScreenAgent in the downloads page.

Note that version 2.1.4 is an earlier unsupported version. It is not the same as version 2.1.40.

You can watch a video that gives an overview of the installation of ScreenAgent on an agent's computer. The video includes the prerequisites and installation steps.

For more information, see FAQs for ScreenAgent.

For a list of features added to previous ScreenAgent releases, see ScreenAgent: Cumulative Release Notes.

Prerequisites

Before installing ScreenAgent, make sure to:

  1. Check the Port, Domain, Voice, and IP Address Requirements. Keep in mind, ScreenAgent doesn't record if your firewall generates self-signed certificates or strips request headers from HTTPS packets.

  2. If your site uses VDIs, make sure:

    • You're using ScreenAgent V2.1 and up.

    • In a non-persistent VDI environment:

      • Use ScreenAgent version 3.0 or higher.

      • Install ScreenAgent on the base image of the VDI.

      • Take a snapshot of the base image

      • Distribute to all VDI instances.

    • For Citrix virtual apps mode:

      • Enable a Virtual IP Loopback policy. Add ScreenAgent.exe and Chrome.exe to the Virtual IP virtual loopback programs list. Keep in mind that each program must be listed on a separate line.

      • Install ScreenAgent on the Citrix Virtual Apps server.

    • For multi-session environments:

      • Use ScreenAgent version 3.0 or higher.

      • Configure ScreenAgent to work in OS Login mode.

      • Users need to log in to ScreenAgent with OS Login credentials.

    • VMware Horizon and Citrix virtual desktop mode don't require any special configuration.

    If you are working in a multi-session or non-persistent VDI environments, and you encounter issues, contact NICE support to check whether your specific environment is supported.

  3. Check the agent's computer configuration.

  4. Make sure the user who is installing ScreenAgent (for example, the admin) has Admin privileges on the agent's computer.

  5. Make sure the user who is installing ScreenAgent (for example, the admin) has these CXone permissions:

    • Can access support downloadsOn, this allows you to access the Supports - Downloads page.

    • Access KeyCreate, this is to manage access keys for your organization.

  6. Generate an access key for ScreenAgent.

    You can use the same access key for installing ScreenAgent on all agents' computers in your tenant.

    The access key receives all of the permissions of the CXone user who generates it. If this user is an administrator, then anyone with the access key would have administrator privileges. So for security reasons, first create a CXone user and role for ScreenAgent, and then generate the key with the ScreenAgent user.

    1. Create a role for the ScreenAgent service:

      1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
      2. Go to SecurityRoles and Permissions.

      3. Click New Role.

      4. Give a name for the role, such as ScreenAgent access key.

      5. Remove all permissions for the role.

      6. Save & Activate the profile.

    2. Create an employee for the ScreenAgent service:

      1. Click the app selector and select Admin.
      2. Click Employees.

      3. Click New Employee.

      4. Give a name for the employee, such as ScreenAgent.

      5. From the Primary Role drop-down list, select the ScreenAgent access key role you just created.

      6. On the General tab, clear all the attributes.

      7. Create the ScreenAgent employee. You can generate access keys only after you create the account.

    3. Open the ScreenAgent employee again and go to the Security tab. Click Add access key to generate an access key.

    4. Copy both the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key and save them somewhere safe. If you don't copy the Secret Access Key or if you lose it, you'll need to create a new one. Use this access key ID and secret access key when installing ScreenAgent on all agents' computers.

    5. Activate the ScreenAgent employee account by clicking the Activate Account button in the activation email.

  7. Download the ScreenAgent MSI:

    1. Go to CXone, and log in as a user with the Can access support downloads permission.

    2. Click your Username and select Support and Downloads.

    3. Download the required MSI. Note where you download the MSI to, you'll need the file location later.

  8. ScreenAgent supports five proxy authentication methods for screen recording—Basic, Digest, Kerberos, NTLM, and Negotiate. When using the proxy authentication method:

    • Make sure to set the proxy at the operating system level in the Proxy settings.

    • For Basic and Digest authentication method, you must set credentials in Windows Credential Manager.

    • There's no change in installation. However, if you want to use proxy for ScreenAgent without changing proxy at the operating system, you can use the direct proxy in the ScreenAgent installation.

    • Keep in mind, these authentication methods are only for screen recording and not for screen monitoring.

Install ScreenAgent for Windows

You can install ScreenAgent using a deployment tool or install manually on each agent's computer.

If you're using a deployment tool, configure the installation to one of the following:

  • Run with user's rights (user mode/user context)—You don't have to restart the agent's computer.

  • Run with administrative rights—You must restart all agents' computers.

You can specify installation location:

  • By default, ScreenAgent is installed on the C drive under the \NICE-InContact\ScreenAgent folder. You can specify a different installation path in the installation command.

  • When upgrading to a later version, you can define a different installation path. The previous version is removed and the later version is installed in the specified location.

  • Reinstalling the same ScreenAgent version replaces the existing installation in the same location. To change the installation path, uninstall the existing instance and specify the required location on reinstallation.

Some ScreenAgent parameters can be changed after installation. See Change ScreenAgent Configuration. To update other installation parameters, reinstall the ScreenAgent client.

To upgrade ScreenAgent to a later version, install the ScreenAgent client. You do not need to uninstall the previous version.

When you upgrade or reinstall ScreenAgent, the installation automatically uses the existing configuration unless you specify different parameter settings. See Reinstall or upgrade with the current configuration. When you uninstall ScreenAgent, the configuration is not saved and you need to specify installation parameters when you upgrade or reinstall.

Upgrade or reinstall ScreenAgent when agents aren't being recorded. If an agent is on a call during the installation, screen recording stops for that call. After the installation completes, calls will record according to the recording policies and Studio scripts.

To install ScreenAgent:

  1. Make sure all prerequisites are in place.

  2. Open the command prompt as Administrator. In the command line, navigate to where you downloaded the MSI and enter the installation command with the relevant parameters:

  3. Verify installation success from the log file. The install.log file is in the folder you installed the MSI from, this is typically the %UserProfile%\downloads folder.

    • Verify that the installer has admin privileges.

    • If the agent's computer doesn't have Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 or higher, then install it.

  4. Make sure the agent has the attribute Can be Recorded (Screen) (in CXone, go to Admin > Employees, and then click on the agent).

  5. Record a call and check the ScreenAgent log file. The ScreenAgent.log file is in the %appdata%\Roaming\ScreenAgent folder.

    Your ScreenAgent logs are also automatically uploaded to the cloud where the NICE CXone support team can access them, if needed.

    If there are any errors, see Troubleshoot Recordings.

You can watch a video that gives an overview of how to improve agent interactions with real-time screen monitoring using ScreenAgent.

Set up Screen Recording in Agent Application Administration

After installation, if required, you can set up screen recording in the CXone Agent application on the following platforms:

Change ScreenAgent Configuration

After installation, you can change some ScreenAgent configurations:

  1. Open the configFile.ini file in the ScreenAgent install folder, typically under C:\Program Files\NICE-InContact\ScreenAgent.

  2. Edit parameter values:

    • Change the framePerSecond value under the [recordingParameters] section. By default, this value is 5.

      Allowed values are 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. A higher number creates a higher quality recording but uses more CPU and memory (RAM).

    • Change the resolutionLevel value under the [recordingParameters] section. By default this value is null.

      Allowed values are null, low, medium, or high (case insensitive).

      • Null is the current screen resolution.

      • Low reduces the recorded resolution the most, by a factor of 4. This setting is recommended only for 4K screens.

      • Medium reduces the recorded resolution by a factor of 2.

      • High reduces the recorded resolution the least, by a factor of 1.5.

      For example, if the current screen resolution is 1920 x 1080:

      • Null keeps the recorded resolution at 1920 x 1080.

      • Low reduces the recorded resolution to 480 x 270.

      • Medium reduces the recorded resolution to 960 x 540.

      • High reduces the recorded resolution to 1280 x 720.

      To reset to the screen's resolution, change the resolutionLevel value to null.

    • Change the loadCertificates value under the [others] section. By default, this value is true.

      Allowed values are true or false.

  3. Save the configFile.ini file.

  4. To apply changes, restart the ScreenAgent application:

    1. In the Windows Task Manager, end the current ScreenAgentWatchDog.exe task and then end the ScreenAgent.exe processes.

    2. From the ScreenAgent install folder, run ScreenAgentWatchdog.exe.

Check ScreenAgent Connectivity

You can test network access before or after installation to ensure that ScreenAgent will work correctly. It is recommended to use this tool when an agent’s network configuration has changed or is different from the regular configuration. You do not need to run the tool for every agent.

  1. Download the Connectivity Tool EXE file:

    1. Go to CXone, and log in as a user with the Can access support downloads permission.

    2. Click your Username and select Support and Downloads.

    3. Download the required EXE file. Note where you download the EXE file to, you'll need the file location later.

  2. Run the Connectivity Tool.

    1. Run the command prompt as Administrator.

    2. Copy and paste the command into the Command Prompt, and edit the parameters listed in the table.

      <path to exe file> ACCESS_KEY_ID=<access key ID> ACCESS_KEY_SECRET=<secret access key> REGION_TYPE=<subdomain (first 3 characters) of the CXone URL> WEB_PROXY=<optional: URL of proxy server>

    Example command:

    C:%UserProfile%\downloads ACCESS_KEY_ID=ABCDEF12345==== ACCESS_KEY_SECRET=12345ABCDEF REGION_TYPE=na1 WEB_PROXY=https://proxyserver:8088
  3. The connectivity tool starts to run the tests. After each test runs, a success or fail notification is displayed. If a test fails, the reason for failure is displayed. At the end of the run a summary displays whether each test passed, failed, or did not need to run (N/A). For example, if ScreenAgent was not running in the background when the connectivity tool started, the tests to close ScreenAgent and restart it do not need to run.

    After completing the tests, the connectivity tool creates a log file (SA_Connectivity_tool_log_<runUniqueUUID>) in the same folder as the connectivity tool installation file. The log file includes all the information that was displayed at the command prompt.