Symantec Management Agent (SMA) immediately uninstalls after it is installed ...

Products

• Client Management Suite
• IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

When the SMA is installed, its icon appears in the Taskbar and then disappears within 10 to 15 seconds.

 

There is no evidence of the SMA being installed in the file system or in the registry.

 

The SMA install logs, AEXNSC.log files, found under C:\Program Data>Symantec> Symantec Agent > InstallLogs, showed the following activity:

 

2022-10-18 13:55:11 P:1316   T:8916    INFO Installer: + Running action: StartAClient
2022-10-18 13:55:11 P:1316   T:8916    INFO AeXUtility: StartService('aclient'): Service is not installed
2022-10-18 13:55:11 P:1316   T:8916    INFO CoreUtil: Server and web set to '<NS server>' and 'http://<NS server>/Altiris'
2022-10-18 13:55:11 P:1316   T:8916    INFO CoreUtil: Product version set to 8.5.5032.0
2022-10-18 13:55:13 P:1316   T:8916    INFO CoreUtil: Starting core agent
2022-10-18 13:55:13 P:1316   T:8916    INFO AeXUtility: StartService('AeXNSClient'): Service state: Stopped (0x00000001)
2022-10-18 13:55:15 P:1316   T:8916    INFO AeXUtility: StartService('AeXNSClient'): Service has started
2022-10-18 13:55:15 P:1316   T:8916    INFO Installer: Core Agent Installation Ended
2022-10-18 13:55:15 P:1316   T:8916    INFO Installer: =======================================
2022-10-18 13:55:15 P:10396  T:6772    INFO Installer: Setup application '"C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp\AeX_{FB54B3DF-4D17-42A2-90A2-666F844E9207}_10396.tmp\AeXInstallPrecheck.exe"  /ns=<NS server>' finished, exit code: The operation completed successfully (0x00000000)
2022-10-18 13:55:17 P:10928  T:8996    INFO Installer: ======================================
2022-10-18 13:55:17 P:10928  T:8996    INFO Installer: Core Agent uninstall started
2022-10-18 13:55:17 P:10928  T:8996    INFO Installer: Core Agent uninstall Ended
2022-10-18 13:55:17 P:10928  T:8996    INFO Installer: ====================================
2022-10-18 13:55:17 P:11864  T:11684   INFO Installer: ======================================
2022-10-18 13:55:17 P:11864  T:11684   INFO Installer: Core Agent uninstall started
2022-10-18 13:55:17 P:11864  T:11684   INFO CoreUtil: Starting uninstall
2022-10-18 13:55:22 P:11864  T:11684   INFO Installer: + Running action: StopAClient
2022-10-18 13:55:22 P:11864  T:11684   INFO Installer: StopProcess action started for process: aclntusr.exe
2022-10-18 13:55:22 P:11864  T:11684   INFO AeXUtility: StopProcess('aclntusr.exe'): Process is not running
2022-10-18 13:55:22 P:11864  T:11684   INFO Installer: StopProcess action succeeded

Environment

ITMS 8.x

Cause

An enabled Symantec Management Agent for Windows - Uninstall was targeting the affected machine(s)

Resolution

Identified the Symantec Management Agent for Windows - Uninstall policy that was causing the SMA agent(s) to uninstall and disabled it.  By default these are found in the SMP Console under:

Settings > All Settings > Settings > Agent/Plug-ins > Symantec Management Agent > Windows > Symantec Management Agent for Windows - Uninstall

NOTE: Other options if the policy is needed would be to remove any computers from the target that are not intended, or to clone the policy and have different targets and schedules for different machines as needed.