Get Started with Altivane

Install Altivane

There are 2 installers. Both install for every user of the computer; use the same one each time on a computer.

• Setup program (.exe). Asks whether to add a desktop shortcut, which is cleared by default.
• Windows Installer package (.msi). Asks nothing, so it suits deployment with Intune or Group Policy.

A few optional features need a component the installer doesn't include, such as a PowerShell module for Teams settings. They say what's missing and how to install it.

Activate it

The first time Altivane starts, its licence window opens. Enter the licence key, 20 letters and digits in 4 groups of 5, and select Activate. Capitals, spaces and hyphens don't matter.

Altivane is activated for your Windows user on this computer, and renews the licence in the background while the computer is online. Another Windows user, such as the one a scheduled task runs as, is activated separately. Unless you accepted it with your order, activating accepts the licence agreement. The collection notice says what activating sends and keeps.

To move to another computer, select Help > Licence > Deactivate this computer, which frees the seat, and activate the new computer with the same key. Uninstalling doesn't deactivate Altivane, so deactivate first.

Add your first tenant

A new installation opens on the Tenants page, with no tenants yet. Select Add a tenant, then:

1. Sign in as an administrator of the tenant. For a guest or partner account, enter the tenant's domain or ID first.
2. Check what Altivane read: the tenant's name, ID and domains, and the services its licences include. The name is also the name of the tenant's output folder.
3. Choose the access Altivane gets in the tenant.
4. Choose the certificate it signs in with: by default, a new one named for the tenant.
5. Check what will happen, select Connect, and review the results.

Connect creates or updates the app registration, uploads the certificate, grants admin consent, assigns the directory roles and adds the Reader role in Azure on the subscriptions you chose. It then tests each service and saves the tenant. New access can take a few minutes to apply, so if a service needs attention, Altivane waits and tests again, up to 3 times.

Choose the access

Each option can list its permissions and roles before anything is granted.

• Reports. Read only.
• Helpdesk. Read, plus the Users page's changes: sign-in, sessions, licences, groups, manager, new and deleted users, passwords and MFA methods.
• Manage. Read and make changes, except SharePoint site changes.
• Everything. Manage, plus SharePoint site changes. It also gives access to mail, files, chats, BitLocker keys and local administrator passwords, which no feature uses.
• Custom. The permissions and roles selected on the App registration page.

Access is only ever added. To add more later, select Change access on the Tenants page; to take some away, use the Entra admin centre.

Choose how it signs in

• Certificate. Altivane signs in as an app, through its app registration and a certificate in your personal certificate store. Nobody signs in each time, so scheduled runs use it, and it supports the most features. Add a tenant sets it up; the certificate it creates is valid for 2 years, and its private key can't be exported.
• Interactive. An administrator signs in through the browser with their own account. There's no app registration or certificate, and fewer features: the scorecard reports, most changes, and the Devices, Autopilot, Policies, Sites, Teams and Azure pages need certificate sign-in. To use it, add the tenant manually.

Start working

Choose the tenant in the Tenant box, at the top left. Every page works with that tenant, and connects to it when it needs to.

• Explore. Users, Devices, Autopilot, Policies, Mailboxes, Groups, Organisation, Sites, Teams and Azure: filter and export each list, and change the items you select.
• Reports. Ready-made reports, written to an Excel workbook for the tenant.
• Documents. Build documents writes a Word document and a workbook for each client, from a template.
• Workflows. Start from a sample, test run it, then run it.
• Change log. Every change Altivane makes in the tenant, with the values before and after where they can be read.

Settings aren't kept until you save them: select File > Save, or press Ctrl+S.

Keep it up to date

Altivane checks for a newer version only when you select Help > Check for updates. If there is one, it shows the version and what's new. Select Update to download and check the installer, then Install: Altivane closes, updates and opens again.

Questions

The FAQ answers what MSPs ask, Security says what Altivane asks for and where its files stay, and the user guide, for signed-in customers, has every step. For anything else, contact us.