How to configure NetSupport Notify’s emergency response feature

With NetSupport Notify, you can send a pre-configured emergency response message from a Notify Agent device to other Notify Agent devices within your environment. You can configure the emergency response feature either using the NetSupport Notify Agent Configurator or via Group Policy.

Using the Notify Agent Configurator

1. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\NetSupport\NetSupport Notify and run the AgentConfig.exe.
2. Select the “Emergency Response” tab.
3. To allow an emergency response to be sent from the Notify Agent, click Send an emergency response.
4. In the “Emergency message” box, enter the message you would like to be sent to all Notify Agent devices (that have been configured to receive emergency response messages).
5. Under “Hot keys”, specify the key combination you would like to be pressed to send an emergency response message.
   • Click Test to check your key combination is working.
6. If you would like feedback to be displayed on the Notify Agent device that sent the emergency message, select Show feedback when message sent.
   • Please note that this will be displayed from the NetSupport Notify system tray icon.
7. If you would like to change the size of the message that appears on the Notify Agent devices, click the Notification Size drop-down menu and select either Normal, Double size or Full screen.
8. To allow a Notify Agent to receive emergency responses messages, click Allow this computer to receive emergency response messages.
9. Once you’re happy with the configuration, click OK to save and apply it.

Once configured, the configuration is stored within the Config.dat file in the Notify Agent’s install directory. If you wish to apply the same configuration to multiple devices but are unable to use Group Policy, then you can copy the Config.dat to the installation directory of your other Notify Agent devices to apply the same configuration to them.

Using Group Policy
Before you can configure the Notify Agent via Group Policy, you will need to import NetSupport Notify’s ADMX templates to your Central Policy Definitions Store. Please see our article How to apply the NetSupport Notify ADMX files for information on how to add NetSupport Notify’s ADMX templates to your Central Policy Definitions Store.

1. In the Group Policy Editor, navigate to “Computer Configuration” or “User Configuration” > “Administrative Templates” > “NetSupport Notify Agent Settings” > “Agent Configuration” > “Emergency Response”.
2. To allow a machine to send an emergency response message, open the “Send an emergency response policy”.
   • Enable the policy.
   • Under “Emergency Message”, enter the message you would like to be sent to all Notify Agent devices (that have been configured to receive emergency response messages).
   • Under “Hot keys”, specify the key combination you would like to be pressed to send an emergency response message.
   • To show feedback on the machine that sent the emergency response message, select Show feedback when message sent.
     • Please note that this will be displayed from the NetSupport Notify system tray icon.
   • Click Apply and then OK to save the changes.
3. To allow a machine to receive an emergency response message, open the “Allow this machine to receive emergency response messages” policy.
   • Enable the policy.
   • Click Apply and then OK to save the changes.
4. Close the Group Policy Editor.

Once everything has been configured, and your devices update their applied policies and restart, the Notify Agent will apply the new settings from Group Policy. If you can’t restart a Notify Agent device, then you can start the Command Prompt and run “gpupdate /force”, then you can restart the “NotificationAgent” service, so the Notify Agent restarts and applies the new configuration from Group Policy.

For further assistance setting up and configuring NetSupport Notify, please contact our Support team.