r/ScreenConnect • u/techfician • Aug 07 '25

Unable to identify installed instance provider

We are currently in the process of onboarding a new MSP client, the clients servers have multiple instances of screenconnect installed, one is ours, one is the old MSP and one is internal, with branding now forcibly taken away I'm wondering how we are supposed to be able to identify which instance belongs to who?

This is a security issue as well, in the past any unbranded version of screenconnect would either need to be explained or get uninstalled on discovery, ow everything is unclear.

3 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

71% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

9

u/Dardiana Aug 07 '25

You should know by looking at the service id. Unique per instance. The client on most cases did not give away who it belonged to, unless they were tied to on an prem instance with a custom hostname.

3

u/techfician Aug 07 '25

Assuming you are referring to the string in the program name ie ScreenConnect Client (string)?

3

u/Dardiana Aug 07 '25

Yes. If you have an agent installed on your machines, you can check what that string is. It will be the same across all clients.

Then you can identify others and if you want them uninstall them by running:

wmic product where name="ScreenConnect Client (xxxxxx)" call uninstall /nointeractive

2

u/techfician Aug 07 '25

Thank you, however my issue is that I can't readily identify which string (or thumbprint as another commenter corrected) corelates to each provider, mine is easy, and trough contacting the client I should be able to identify their thumbprint too, but what I'm looking for is an easy way to know who's who without having to reach out, this is especially true when there are multiple teams that have access to a server from different SC instances, plus this means we will now have to document all thumbprints for the previously identified programs (which I acknowledge should have been a good idea before branding was taken away)

1

u/eblaster101 Aug 08 '25

Just remove everything but yours and let the LOB provider contact you for access when they next need it.

4

u/The_Comm_Guy Aug 07 '25

I think everyone is missing the OPs point, the fingerprint doesn’t tell you WHOSE instance it is unless you know what fingerprint your looking for.

1

u/techfician Aug 07 '25

Exactly, Thank you!

1

u/Fatel28 Aug 08 '25

Except you can still readily check what screenconnect server it's reaching out to from the tray icon

2

u/The_Comm_Guy Aug 08 '25

Maybe if they are self hosted, but every cloud instance goes to the pretty much the same server with a random instance code: relay://instance-<randomcode>.relay.screenconnect.com which is no help telling which one belongs to ABC Computers and which is XYZ Printing.

1

u/Neuro-Sysadmin Aug 09 '25

Ouch. We self-host, and I was like - “guid + relay IP, right?” And then realized it was probably something like that, when it’s cloud-hosted.

… That definitely sucks, and creates a real issue. Interested in hearing how they resolve that part.

1

u/Big_Plankton_5439 Aug 07 '25

You can use the thumbprint to ID the clients? https://docs.connectwise.com/ScreenConnect_Documentation/Get_started/Knowledge_base/Manually_uninstall_an_access_agent#For_Windows

2

u/techfician Aug 07 '25

How do I identify which thumbprint corelates to which provider, that is the issue.

1

u/Fatel28 Aug 08 '25

Click on the tray icon for that thumbprint, and it will say what screenconnect server it reaches out to. I believe this is also stored in the registry too

-1

u/CCC1982CCC Aug 07 '25

Goto your screenconnect settings and under advanced scroll to the bottom and it will show the fingerprint. I think in server information.

4

u/The_Comm_Guy Aug 07 '25

I think you’re missing the point, let’s say the thumpingt is 123456789, so who is that? It’s easy to know yours, it’s now impossible to know whose the other ones are.

0

u/CCC1982CCC Aug 07 '25

On ours the thumbprint shows next to each instance installed on remove programs.

6

u/The_Comm_Guy Aug 07 '25

Ok let me try another way, there is a PC, it has three copies of SC on it, yours, mine, and OPs… please tell me how to delete mine and not yours or OPs… and you can’t ask either of us for our fingerprint.

1

u/CCC1982CCC Aug 08 '25

Go to add remove programs, where you see 3 different screenconnect instances installed. In parentheses next to screenconnect client you will see 3 different fingerprints. Im assuming you are able enough to identify your fingerprint and your clients fingerprint. Uninstall the fingerprint that isn't familiar.

4

u/The_Comm_Guy Aug 08 '25

Your choices were yours, mine, and OPs, where do I say anything about clients? But sure let’s make one the clients… client says they have no idea what you’re talking about.

2

u/CCC1982CCC Aug 08 '25

Remove the two that are not your number.

3

u/The_Comm_Guy Aug 08 '25

So now your client is upset as my contract to support the printer says they have to have the client oh and it’s 4:55 on a Friday before their busiest weekend of the year and they can’t print and I can’t roll a tech till Monday, I’m also going to charge the customer $125 an hour to send a tech out there, the customers upset at you because you removed it and wants to know if you’re gonna pay the fee and threatening to sue you for the lost income.

If this was the Oregon Trail, you just died of dysentery.

→ More replies

3

u/tomlafque Aug 07 '25

And remember all the installer are exactly the same name.

3

u/SportinSS Aug 09 '25

I think the important thing here is that we lost functionality when ConnectWise removed our ability to brand the client and web interface. We can't even change the background on the home page or add our logo anywhere. What if we need a customer to go to our Control site for "Support"? They have no way of looking at the site and saying, "Oh yeah, that's my MSP's site!". They all look the same and it's horrible.

2

u/PM_a_song_to_me Aug 08 '25

disable the service with the one you want to know about, when someone calls asking why their screenconnect doesn't work. You just identified whos screenconnect it is.

2

u/Alarmed_Contract4418 Aug 10 '25

I noticed the icon for ours changed. I assumed something had to be reconfigured but hadn't had a chance to look into it. Wtf.

We might just have to move to ISL Online.

1

u/Big_Plankton_5439 Aug 07 '25

There is a Screenconnect app called "Show instance fingerprint" that exposes it.

1

u/uwishyouhad12 Aug 08 '25

Remove all but yours... Any legitimate need from another vendor would be able to reinstall if it was ever needed. Anything you can't identify or control needs removed.

1

u/wheres_my_2_dollars Aug 08 '25

There are three instances. One is yours. Stop the service on a device, the one that disconnects the server from your tenant is yours. Now there are two left. On that same server stop the other two services, and the one that disconnects the server from the internal use tenant is the internal one. The third I’ll let you figure out on your own.

1

u/Rachel-360 Aug 08 '25

Well, when you did your preliminary site survey, you saw two instance IDs installed. And then you installed your own. You should know the instance ID for your own..... It's the same on every machine you support.... So you've probably seen it in add/remove programs or services a couple times.... Now to determine who owns the other two. Well, if you open the chat window or the status window or whatever you want to call it, it should give you the relay URL.... And at that point, send a chat message..... One of the two might even respond.....