Your IT administrators can automate installation of the Files.com Desktop App across large numbers of users with SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) or MDM (Mobile Device Management) tools such as Microsoft Intune, Microsoft GPO, Munki, jamf, and others.

Deploying the Desktop App through these endpoint management tools removes the need for an IT administrator to log in as an administrator on each user's machine, reduces user errors and support calls, and keeps installations consistent across systems. After installation, users still log in to the Files.com Desktop App to transfer files or to access and manage files on their locally mounted volume.

Check whether any of your users still have Desktop App v4. The installer removes v4 where it can, and on a centrally managed machine that usually falls to you, so plan to remove v4 with the same tooling you use to roll out the current app.

Silent Installations for Unattended Windows Deployments

For large scale or unattended deployments across multiple Windows devices, use the EXE installer provided by Files.com. The EXE binary supports silent installation and works with deployment and device management tools such as SCCM, Group Policy (GPO), PDQ Deploy, and ManageEngine Endpoint Central. This supports automated, scripted installations in environments where manual installation is impractical or where IT teams need centralized control over application delivery.

The installer and installed Desktop App work under any PowerShell execution policy, including Restricted or AllSigned enforced by Group Policy. They invoke powershell.exe without loading PowerShell script files, so installation, updates, and app operation do not require script execution to be enabled.

You do not need to relax the execution policy or add an exception for the Files.com program folder, and the installer leaves the policy unchanged. PowerShell itself must still be available to run; blocking powershell.exe through AppLocker or Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) is separate from setting an execution policy.

The EXE installer supports standard silent installation switches such as /S, /quiet, /passive, /s /v/qn /norestart.

The following command performs a fully silent installation without a restart:

"Files.com Desktop v6.exe" /s /norestart /v/qn

The quoted file name is required because it contains spaces. The /s option runs the EXE installer silently, /v/qn suppresses the installer user interface in the embedded MSI, and /norestart prevents the system from rebooting after the installation.

For Microsoft Intune, we provide a separate pre-packaged .intunewin binary file and instructions specifically designed for the Windows app (Win32) deployment model.

Silent Installations for Unattended macOS Deployments

For large scale or unattended deployments across multiple devices, use the PKG installer provided by Files.com. PKG files work with deployment and device management tools including Munki, Jamf, SimpleMDM, Mosyle, Addigy, and Microsoft Intune. This format supports automated, scripted installations in environments where manual installation is impractical or where IT teams need to centrally manage application delivery.

Refer to Apple's documentation for guidance on deploying PKG files using your organization's management platform.

Linux Package Deployment

Linux installations use the standard .deb or .rpm package for the workstation's distribution and architecture. After the first installation, apt or dnf supplies updates through the Files.com repository. Administrators can disable that repository when their deployment process controls version approval.

Package upgrades and removals quit the app first, so schedule them around active file work.

Configuration Parameters for Large Scale Deployments

For large scale deployments, configuration parameters (also called a configuration profile or setup configuration) can be distributed so that every system is configured the same way.

These configuration parameters live in the file named desktopv6.ini, located at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Files.com\desktopv6.ini on Windows, /Users/<username>/.config/Files.com/desktopv6.ini on macOS, and ~/.config/Files.com/desktopv6.ini on Linux. The parameters below are the ones you can update in the desktopv6.ini file.

Parameter	Details
`disable_updates`	Windows and macOS only. When set to "true", the Desktop App does not automatically check for updates and the Check for Updates option is removed from the menu bar. This gives IT teams full control over which version of the Desktop App runs across the organization. Administrators decide when to deploy approved updates through their endpoint management tools. This is either "true" or "false". Default is "false".
`startup_launch_on_login`	Determines if the application is launched on login. This is either "true" or "false". Default is "true".
`default_mount_drive_letter`	[Windows only] Specifies the default drive letter used when the first Files.com site is mounted. Must include a colon and be within the range `D:` to `Z:`. For example: `default_mount_drive_letter=F:`. See Desktop Configuration Profiles for additional options.
`logging_level`	The Logging Levels value to use. This can be "INFO", "DEBUG", "TRACE", "ERROR", or "WARNING". Default is "INFO".
`logging_show`	Determines whether the logging text output is shown in the main window. This is either "true" or "false". Default is "true".
`automatic_retry_option`	Determines whether to retry on a transfer failure. This is either "On" or "Off". Default is "true". This does not apply to transfers made through a mounted drive or folder in the operating system's file manager.
`upload_overwrite_action`	The action to always take during an upload when a file already exists in the remote. This is either "Ask for action" or "Overwrite file". Default is "Ask for action". This does not apply to transfers made through a mounted drive or folder in the operating system's file manager.
`download_overwrite_action`	The action to always take during a download when a file already exists in the local path. This is either "Ask for action" or "Overwrite file". Default is "Ask for action". This does not apply to transfers made through a mounted drive or folder in the operating system's file manager.
`SAVED_LOCAL_PATH`	The folder to open in the local pane on application launch. This applies to the Application UI only.
`connection_native_browser`	Determines whether the system's default browser or the app's embedded browser is used for authentication. This can be required when using a hardware key for two-factor authentication (2FA) or in environments where compliance or IT policies mandate the use of a specific system browser. This is either "true" or "false". The default is "false".

On Windows, connection settings (including the API key) are securely stored in the Windows Credential Manager. On macOS, they are securely stored in the macOS Keychain.

Desktop Configuration Profiles (Windows Only)

Desktop Configuration Profiles let Site Administrators and Workspace Administrators centrally define which drive letters map to which Files.com folders. Each profile can map multiple drive letters. For example, W: to /Shared/Corporate, P: to /Projects/ActiveBuilds, Z: to /Archive/Completed. The Desktop App mounts all configured drives automatically and prevents users from changing them.

Site Administrators and Workspace Administrators can assign a profile to an individual user or to every member of a Group, or make it the default for a Workspace's users or for users outside Workspaces.

This feature is Windows only because drive letter mapping is a Windows-specific concept and does not apply to macOS or Linux.

When to Use Desktop Configuration Profiles

Organizations migrating from on-premises Windows file servers to Files.com often have thousands of users whose Office documents, macros, and VBA scripts rely on hard-coded drive letter paths. If those letters change or vary between users, documents break and workflows stop.

Allowing individual users to configure their own drive letters at this scale creates misconfiguration risk, help desk tickets, and broken automations. Profiles eliminate this by making drive letter assignments centrally managed, consistent, and enforced.

Profiles also guarantee that every user on every machine gets the same drive letter assignments from Files.com. New employees get the correct drive mappings from day one without IT intervention or training, and IT teams can update assignments across the entire organization from one place instead of touching hundreds of machines individually.

Multi-division organizations benefit as well. Different Workspaces often need different mappings. For example, a Site Administrator might create a default profile that maps W: to /Shared/Corporate for users outside Workspaces, while a Workspace Administrator for the Mortgage division creates the default profile for their Workspace users, mapping P: to /Mortgage/Projects along with every other drive letter those users need, and a Workspace Administrator for Insurance maps P: to /Insurance/Projects for theirs. Each Workspace Administrator manages the mappings for their own users without needing site-level access.

Enterprise organizations that already arrange their users into Groups benefit from Group-level assignment. Rather than editing each user record individually, a Site Administrator or Workspace Administrator attaches a profile to a Group once, and every current and future member of that Group receives the correct drive mappings automatically during the pairing process. This keeps drive letter policies aligned with organizational structure and scales cleanly across thousands of users without per-user record maintenance.

How to Set Up and What to Expect

Site Administrators create profiles under the Client Apps section in the left navigation, and Workspace Administrators can do the same for their own Workspaces. Enabling the Use for all users option makes a profile the default for a Workspace's users, or for users outside Workspaces. Once at least one profile exists, administrators can also assign it to individual users.

Site Administrators and Workspace Administrators can assign a profile to a Group, and all Group members automatically inherit that profile during the pairing process.

When a profile is active, the Desktop App hides the drive letter controls in the Manage Connections window and shows Drive letters are managed by your administrator. Users cannot override the mappings.

If a configured drive letter is already in use by another application or device on a machine, that drive fails to mount with an error, while the remaining drives continue to mount normally. If the profile defines multiple drives and one fails due to a missing folder or network issue, the others continue to mount. The Desktop App returns an error only if all configured drives fail.

If an administrator later removes the profile, the lock clears after the app restarts and the next mount, and the user regains manual control.

How Assignments Resolve When a User Qualifies for Multiple Profiles

A user can qualify for more than one profile, but exactly one applies. The Desktop App never combines drive letters from several profiles. Files.com chooses the first profile that applies, in this order:

A profile assigned directly to the user.
A profile assigned to one of the user's Groups, checking the user's Primary Group first and then the user's other Groups in the order they were created.
A default profile with Use for all users enabled: the user's Workspace default for a Workspace user, or the site default for a user outside Workspaces whose file system layout is Site Root.

Group and default profiles apply to a Workspace user only when that user's file system layout is Workspace Root; otherwise only a profile assigned directly to the user applies. A Workspace user never receives the site default. Only Groups in the user's own Workspace count.

Because only one profile applies, put every drive letter a user needs into the profile that user receives. A single profile can map several drive letters, so a Workspace default or Group profile can include shared drives as well as the Workspace's own.

Multiple Concurrent Users (Windows Only)

This applies to Windows Server hosts running Remote Desktop Services, Windows 10/11 machines with Fast User Switching, and shared kiosk machines. Multi-user sessions work after a fresh install or upgrade to version 6.0.2535 or later without any additional configuration.

By default, mounting a drive also registers a UNC network share path (\\Files\<name>) alongside the drive letter. You set the name in the Name field of the connection's settings. It defaults to the Files.com username and site, so the path looks like \\Files\user@example.com @ mysite.files.com.

Access to that path belongs to the Windows user who mounted the drive. Only that user can list the path or open and write the files in it. Files.com permissions still apply. The drive letter appears only in that user's session. Other users on the same machine can see that a mounted drive exists and the name it was given.

The registry value below disables that registration. Leaving the default has no effect on whether multi-user sessions work.

Registry Value

Setting	Value
Key	`HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Files.com\Files.com Desktop v6`
Value name	`DisableMountVolumePrefix`
Type	DWORD
Data	`0` (default): the drive also appears as a network share path. `1`: the drive appears as a drive letter only.

This is a HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key because it is a machine-wide setting. The per-user configuration parameter file lives in each user's AppData profile and cannot set machine-wide policy.

Setting the Registry Value

The Disable UNC mount volume prefix checkbox in the Windows EXE installer's Options screen sets this value at install time (fresh installs only). See Windows Installer Options.

The registry value is created automatically during install or upgrade with a default of 0. To disable UNC registration, change it to 1 using PowerShell, Group Policy Preferences, Microsoft Intune, or Configuration Manager (SCCM).