The SoftwareCentral client

1 What the client is

SoftwareCentralClient.exe is a single small program. It is not installed as a service and nothing of it keeps running: the browser starts it for a moment when it is needed, and it closes again.

It comes with SoftwareCentral, in the Tools\CmRcViewer folder, and usually runs from a network share — or from a local folder on devices that are not always on your network. Every device has to know how to start it; Installing the client describes how.

2 Why the shop needs it

A browser does not tell a web page which computer it runs on. So the shop has to find out another way. It tries, in this order:

Source	When it is used
The SoftwareCentral client	When the client has just reported the device.
The device chosen before	The shop remembers the device of each shopper. A device the shopper picked from their own devices is reused anywhere; a device found through the network or the client only from the same network address.
The shopper's primary devices	When the shop is set to use them: one device is picked automatically, several are offered as a choice.
A network lookup	The shop takes the address the request comes from and asks that computer, or DNS, for its name.

The network lookup works on an ordinary office network, and fails wherever the address is not the device's own:

Situation	What goes wrong
VPN, NAT, proxies, load balancers	The shop sees the address of the VPN gateway or proxy, not of the device.
Out-of-date DNS	The address belonged to another computer earlier; the shop gets that name and would install on the wrong device.
Devices outside your network	Internet-based and Intune-only devices cannot be reached for the lookup at all.
Terminal servers and Citrix	All sessions share one address, so every user gets the server's name.
Macs	The lookup only works for Windows computers.

A wrong name is worse than none When the lookup finds no name, the shop can ask. When it finds the wrong name, software is installed on someone else's device. Where any of the situations above apply, let the shop use only the client — see Turn it on for the shop.

3 How it finds the device name

Shop needs a name→ Browser starts the client→ Client reads the name→ Shop opens with it

When the shop cannot tell which device the shopper uses, it opens a short Please wait page.
That page opens a SoftwareCentral: link. Every device where the client is set up knows that such links are opened by the SoftwareCentral client, just as mailto: links are opened by the mail program.
The client reads the name of the computer it runs on — the name Windows has for itself, whatever the network looks like.
It opens the shop again in the browser, with the name added in encrypted form.
The shop reads the name and shows the catalogue for that device. It remembers the device, so the client is only needed again when the shopper comes from another network address.

Nothing is installed or changed on the device, and the client does not stay running.

4 What shoppers see

A short Please wait page, and then the shop in a new browser window. The first window closes itself or says You may close this window.
The browser may ask whether to open SoftwareCentral. A policy can remove that question — see Removing the browser question.
If the Please wait page stays, the client is not set up on that device.

Shoppers can always check the device under their name in the shop, and choose another of their own devices; see Your device.

5 Other uses

The same client starts the Remote Control Tool and your own custom tools from SoftwareCentral: the SoftwareCentral: link then tells it which program to start on the administrator's computer.

6 Best practice

Register the link on every device before you turn on Only use SoftwareCentral Client. With that setting the shop never looks the device up on the network, so a device without the link cannot be identified.
Keep Shop for primary devices on. The shop uses the primary devices first, and the client is only needed for shoppers who have none.
On Macs, use Disable computer name lookup for Mac devices. Macs with primary devices are then sent to the device chooser instead of the network lookup.

7 Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	What to do
“Please wait...” stays and no shop opens.	The browser cannot start the client. The client must be registered for the `SoftwareCentral:` link on the device, and the path to it in the link must exist.	Check the registration on the device, as described in Installing the client, and check the path.
The first window says “You may close this window”.	The page tries to close itself and then shows this text. It does this whether or not the shop has opened.	Close the window. If no shop opened, follow the row above.
The shop shows another computer's name.	Only use SoftwareCentral Client is off, so the shop used the network lookup. The lookup takes the name for the address the request comes from, which is not the device when there is a VPN, proxy or NAT in between.	Turn on Only use SoftwareCentral Client under Settings › SoftwareCentral › Shop.
The shop shows Unknown as the device name.	No device name was found from the client, the primary devices or the network lookup.	Check the client on the device, or the primary devices of the shopper.
“Please select your current device:”	The shopper has more than one primary device.	The shopper chooses the device.