Install the connector on a Windows machine

The Device Connector is a standalone component for connecting devices to Digital Lab. You can install the connector as a standalone component on a Windows machine, and configure it to connect to the Digital Lab server. Devices connected to distributed connector machines become part of the Digital Lab device lab.

For details on how to see all your connectors, see View and manage connectors.

Before you start

The standalone connector for Digital Lab can be installed as a full installation, or as an upgrade to an existing installation of the connector for Digital Lab (UFT Mobile) 3.0 or later.

Before starting, make sure that the following prerequisites are met:

Connector requirements

Check that your machine complies with the recommended system requirements and that your devices are supported. For details, see Connector requirements in the Support matrix, Connect devices to Digital Lab, and Installation and configuration best practices.
Windows 11 Build 22572 and later only

Install the WMI command-line (WMIC) utility.

  1. Open Settings by pressing the Windows + I keys together.

  2. Click Apps.

  3. Click Optional features.

  4. Click the Feature display button.

  5. Search for Wmic. Select the check box next to it and press Next.

  6. Click Install.
New installation only
  1. The server should be accessible to the connector. Navigate to: http/s://<Digital Lab server IP address>:<server port> and check that you can access Digital Lab.
  2. Make sure that a Digital Lab server is not already installed on the machine.

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Install the connector

Before installing the connector, make sure your machine meets the connector requirements.

To install the connector:

  1. Obtain an access key for the connector from the Digital Lab server.

    • Admin user: select the Access Keys tab. Click Generate New and provide a name, type (Connector), expiration date, description (optional). Then, click Generate.
    • Non-admin user: request one from your admin. Select Contact Your Admin from the Help menu (upper right).

    For more details on access keys, see Access key management.

  2. Download the connector.

    • For admins, Select Download Connector in the CONNECTORS page. Download the appropriate connector.
    • For a non-admin user, select Download Connector from the Help menu in the upper right corner of the Digital Lab console. Download the appropriate connector.

  3. Extract the contents of the connector installation file to a folder on your computer. Locate the .exe file.

  4. Double-click on the .exe file to open the Installation wizard. Read the contents and click Next.

  5. Fill in the information or answer the questions in each of the Installation wizard pages following these guidelines:

    Authentication

    Enter your credentials. For Digital Lab, enter the access key provided by your admin.

    Digital Lab SaaS: The SSL Enabled option should be selected.
    If connecting over a proxy, select Server address in the proxy section, and specify the server, port, and credentials if required.
    Connector configuration
    Provide a meaningful name for the connector, as this allows you to effectively filter devices based on connector names. Enter the Connector's IP address (if the IP is static) or FQDN, or accept the defaults.

For details on how to change the configuration after the installation, see Modify a connector.

Caution: To ensure integrity and confidentiality of the information stored with Digital Lab, we strongly recommend that you incorporate filesystem monitoring on the installation and temporary folders.

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Prepare devices

Set up your Windows machine to detect the devices you want to connect to Digital Lab by performing the following steps:

iOS devices

  1. Make sure you have iTunes installed on your computer so that devices will be visible on your Windows machine. For details, see the Apple documentation.

    Note: For iOS 15 and later, iTunes 12.11 and later is required.

  2. If you haven't already done so, follow the steps for setting up iOS devices.

Android devices

  1. Download the USB driver for your devices. See the Android developers documentation for a list of links to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) USB Drivers. Alternatively, search the Web for a USB driver for Windows, for your device.

    For Google Nexus devices, download the Google USB driver. For details, see the Android Developers documentation.

  2. Extract the contents of the downloaded driver's archive file.

  3. Connect the device(s) to your machine and install the driver per Windows version as described on the Install OEM USB Drivers in the Android Developers documentation.

    Note: When you connect the device through a USB port, a security message may ask you to allow USB debugging or trust the connected computer. Accept the warning.

  4. If you haven't already done so, follow the steps for the initial configuration of Android devices.

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Connect devices and verify the connection

  1. Connect your devices to your computer via USB cable. Accept all notification, trust, or location pop-ups that may be displayed when you connect a device.
  2. When the connector is running, the following items are automatically installed on the devices plugged into the connector machine:
    • Remote viewer services
    • The Agent application

      Wait until the Agent is running before interacting with the device. If the Agent crashes, try to unplug the device and then plug it in again. For additional troubleshooting information, see Troubleshoot the Windows connector.

      Tip: If you unplug a device, wait 5 seconds before reconnecting it to allow the system to stabilize.

  1. If the Agent app does not start up after you connect the devices, check if the devices are recognized:

    Navigate to the <Windows Connector folder>\android-sdk-windows\platform-tools folder and run adb at a command prompt.

    adb devices

    All your connected devices should be listed.

    • If your device is listed as unauthorized, check the device and accept any security pop-ups.

    • If your device is not listed, or if there are no devices listed, check for the following:

      • A hardware problem. The USB port may not be working.

      • Improper Installation of Windows driver. Select the driver inf file in the File Explorer and select Install from the right-click menu.
      • Incorrect drivers for Android devices. Check the OEM USB drivers list in the Android Developers documentation to see that you have the most recent version of the driver.

    1. Open a command prompt window
    2. Navigate to the <Windows Connector folder>\libimobiledevice\win folder
    3. Run the idevice_id command:

    idevice_id –l

    The result of this command should be a list of devices IDs (UDID).

    If there are no devices listed when a device is connected to the USB port, check for the following:

    • A hardware problem. The USB port may not be working.

    • Incorrect version of iTunes. Check that you are using the most up-to-date version of iTunes.
    • UI Automation is not enabled. For iOS 8.x and above with a Developer signed Agent app, enable UI Automation in Settings > Developer > Enable UI Automation. Disconnect the device, wait 5 seconds, and then reconnect it.

Additional considerations for iOS devices

Users who install apps signed with an Enterprise certificate (that do not use a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution) are prompted to trust the Enterprise developer the first time the app is installed. To trust the profile, go to Settings > General > Device Management, select the Enterprise developer profile, and trust it. These actions can be performed remotely on the device.

All users who install your enterprise-signed app for the first time also need an internet connection. Once an Enterprise developer profile has been trusted on a device, additional apps with the same profile do not need to be trusted again, provided that the devices on which they are opened are connected to the internet. If the Enterprise developer profile of the application under test is not trusted, the Agent is not able to open the app and issues a 20444 Error ".

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Start, stop, and restart the connector

When the installation is complete, the setup program prompts you to start the connector service.

If you chose not to start the connector service after installing it, you can perform a manual Start, Stop, and Restart from the Services console, or directly from the machine's Start menu:

  • Start > Digital Lab Connector > Start Digital Lab service
  • Start > Digital Lab Connector > Stop Digital Lab service
  • Start > Digital Lab Connector > Restart Digital Lab service

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Modify a connector

If you need to modify your connector details, for example to change the server or connector port, you can modify them using the Modify configuration tool.

To access the tool, select Start > Digital Lab Connector > Modify configuration. The configuration wizard opens.

When running, the wizard stops the Connector service. The wizard's final page prompts you to start the service again.

When working with servers that use SSL, and you change the server details, you do not need to reinstall the connector. Use the modify configuration tool to update the connector details. Testing tool users also need to reconfigure their SSL access to Digital Lab. For details, see SSL and certificates.

Note: The Modify configuration utility is not supported for connectors using a CA certificate, connecting to a Digital Lab server with SSL. If you want to modify the connection to the server after importing the CA certificate to the connector, remove the existing connector and then reinstall it.

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Enable localization

To display system apps (apps that are used to run the device itself) in a supported language other than English, after installing the connector, navigate to <path to your Windows connector folder>\conf\connector.properties and uncomment the following line in the file:
ENABLE_LOCALIZATION=true

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Troubleshoot the Windows connector

This section provides some tips and guidelines for getting your connector to work.

If the Windows connector started successfully, but you don't see devices in the Digital Lab console:

  • Verify that your machine can detect your device.
  • Check the connector.log file located in <Windows connector folder>\connector\log folder and make sure that there are no "connection refused" messages or other errors.

  • If the connector.log does not show any errors, check the service.log file on the Digital Lab server machine. The file is located here: 

    • Windows server: <Path to Digital Lab server installation folder>\server\log
    • Linux server:<Path to the Digital Lab server installation folder>/server/log

If, during installation, Windows issues the warning “Windows Firewall has blocked some features of this app”, click Allow access or contact your system administrator. When this message is issued, the current Connector installation is aborted.

If you cannot view a remote device in the Digital Lab device lab, this may be a result of the anti virus software installed on the machine. For example, McAfee Host Intrusion Prevention blocks access. Workaround: Disable the anti virus while running the test.

The Windows connector started successfully and the device is displayed in the Digital Lab device lab, but either remote access or recording are not working. Sometimes Digital Lab issues a message with the problematic IP address and port. In other instances, you may receive a "connection refused" message, indicating an IP address problem:

  • Check the service.log file on the Digital Lab server machine and look for possible "connection refused" errors:

    • Windows server: <Path to Digital Lab server installation folder>\server\log
    • Linux server:<Path to the Digital Lab server installation folder>/server/log

  • Check that the IP address (shown in the error message) that Digital Lab is trying to reach, is the correct one for your connector machine. To show the IP address of your machine, open a command line window and type ipconfig.

    If, for example, you were connected to a different network or IP when you installed the connector, you need to run the Modify configuration utility under Start > Digital Lab Connector and enter the new IP of the connector machine.

  • Check that the port shown in the error message, is open for incoming traffic on the connector machine.
  • If you indicate SSL during connector setup, proxy machines that require credentials are not supported.
  • If you have a device connected when you install the connector for an SSL environment using a proxy server, the devices do not appear in Digital Lab. Workaround: Connect the devices after you install the connector software.
  • While trying to connect to a secure SSL Digital Lab server: If you receive a message "Could not reach Digital Lab server", this may be due to a modified CA certificate on the server machine.
    Solution: Reconfigure or modify the connector and retrieve the new certificate.

When trying to run the installation, if the setup program issues a "connection refused" or "connection timed out" warning, it could mean that:

  • The server is down. Check that you can ping the server.
  • The IP address of the Digital Lab server is wrong.
  • The port for the Digital Lab connector is wrong.
  • The version of the connector that you are using is not compatible with the version of the Digital Lab server. Check Digital Lab on ADM Marketplace to see that you are using the most up-to-date version of the connector.

If the server details (IP address or port) have changed since you last installed the connector, modify the connector and specify the new information.

If an existing service running on your machine is claiming the port on which the connector runs, there is a conflict, and the connector does not start up.

To change the port, run the Modify configuration utility under the Start > Digital Lab Connector menu.

If you installed the Android SDK for a specific user (not the SYSTEM user), the Windows connector setup program may be unable to install the Agent, because the manually installed SDK is not accessible from the SYSTEM user.
Workaround: Reinstall the Android SDK as a SYSTEM user, and delete the ANDROID_HOME environment variable.

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Uninstall a connector

You can uninstall the connector in one of the following ways:

  • Double click the shortcut on the desktop and select Uninstall Digital Lab Server.
  • Alternatively, uninstall from the Apps page in Settings, or from the Programs and Features control panel.

If certain applications were open during the uninstall process, some old connector files remain. This may affect a future installation. It is therefore recommended that you check that all connector files were removed. Otherwise, remove all files and folders manually, located by default at C:\Program Files\UFT Digital Lab Connector\connector.

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Patch installation

To benefit from the latest enhancements and fixes, install the latest patch for your current version of Digital Lab. Server and connector patches can be downloaded from Software Licenses and Downloads. The latest patch includes the content of any previous patches. There is no need to install previous patches.

Important: If you use the remote iOS signing service, this should be upgraded before you upgrade the server.

When upgrading the server to the latest patch, the following should also be upgraded:

  • All connectors

  • Manual signing tools (if applicable)

    • iOS Enabler for manual signing of iOS apps. After installing the server patch, the iOS  enabler is available in the Agent folder. Patches are available on the ADM Marketplace.

    • Android Enabler for manual signing of Android apps. After installing the server patch, the updated Android enabler is available in the server folder.

Follow the patch installation instructions included in the patch release.

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See also: