NinjaOne Desktop Companion: Getting Started

This feature is currently in beta. To enable it, contact your NinjaOne Account Manager.

Topic

This article explains how to download the NinjaOne Desktop companion application.

Environment

NinjaOne Desktop Companion

Description

The NinjaOne Desktop companion enables you to quickly view devices and initiate remote access connections from a desktop application separate from the web app.

Index

Select a category to learn more:

Configure the Desktop Companion
Filter or Search for Devices
Run Actions on Devices from the Desktop Companion
Configure Settings for the Desktop Companion
Revoke OAuth Tokens
Additional Resources

Configure the Desktop Companion

To download the NinjaOne Desktop app, perform the following steps:

Navigate to Administration → Library → Downloads to download the installer package for the Desktop Companion application. Select the appropriate download option for your device. Only system administrators may have access to this widget.

ninjaone desktop companion_download.png — **Figure 1**: Download the NinjaOne Desktop companion application

Run the installer package on your machine. If you install the NinjaOne Desktop Companion on a macOS device, you may need to approve the application in your system's Security and Privacy settings to open it.
On the NinjaRMM Desktop Companion Setup modal, select the checkbox to accept the terms in the license agreement and then click Install.
Click Finish to exit the setup wizard once complete. You can now find and open the "NinjaDesktop" app on your desktop.

find ninjadesktop.png — **Figure 2**: Search for and open the NinjaDesktop app on a Windows device

The first time you open the app, you will be prompted to sign in. Select the NinjaOne instance that you use (US, US2, EU, OC, or CA) and click Sign in. You will be redirected to your web browser to authenticate via OAuth.
Enter your NinjaOne credentials. Upon entering your credentials, you will be prompted to authorize the NinjaOne Desktop Companion to access your NinjaOne data.
To proceed, click Authorize. If you do not want to answer this prompt again in the future, select the Remember my decision checkbox.

ninja desktop_authorize.png — **Figure 3**: Authorize access

Once the authorization is complete, you will return to the NinjaOne Desktop application and should be able to view your NinjaOne organizations and devices.

Filter or Search for Devices

The All folder will be open by default, which lists all devices in your NinjaOne environment. However, you can select a particular organization from the menu, which will filter the device list to reflect only the devices in that organization.

desktop app_orgs.png — **Figure 4**: Select an organization on the NinjaOne Desktop app

Alternatively, use the search bar at the top of the device list to find a device by name.

desktop app_search by name.png — **Figure 5**: Find a device by name

Run Actions on Devices from the Desktop Companion

You can run various actions from the Desktop companion app depending on device type:

Remote Desktop: Use remote desktop to connect to the device. Refer to Remote Desktop Protocol: Frequently Asked Questions for more information.
CLI (as System) or CLI (as User): Interact with the device's operating system using the command-line interface. Refer to Scripting, Automation, CLI: Resource Catalog for information.
PowerShell (as System) or (as User): Run commands in PowerShell on the device.
Terminal as root: Open the Terminal emulator as a system administrator.
Terminal: Open the Microsoft Windows Terminal emulator in your web browser.
TeamViewer: Initiate a remote session using the TeamViewer integration, if enabled. Refer to TeamViewer: Integration Guide (Automatic) for information.
Splashtop: Initiate a remote session using the Splashtop integration, if enabled. Refer to Splashtop: Integration Guide for information.
NinjaOne Remote: Initiate a remote session using NinjaOne Remote. Refer to Getting Started with NinjaOne Remote for information.
Open in Ninja: Open the device dashboard in the NinjaOne web app.

desktop app_run actions.png — **Figure 6**: Run actions on a device (dependent on type)

Configure Settings for the Desktop Companion

To access the NinjaOne Desktop Companion settings, click the gear icon in the top-right corner of the application.

desktop app_settings.png — **Figure 7**: Configure settings for the NinjaOne Desktop companion app

Setting	Description or Purpose
Open NinjaOne Dashboard	Opens the NinjaOne web application system dashboard in your browser. If you are not logged in to the NinjaOne web application in your browser, you will be prompted to enter your credentials, and then you will be immediately directed to the appropriate page.
Open at startup	Toggle to have the application automatically open upon device startup. Minimized: When the setting is enabled, an additional option will appear to opt to reduce the window upon opening at startup.
Check for Updates now	Opens a separate window to check whether any updates are available for the application. If an update is available, you will be prompted through the installation process. The app will close at the end of the update. Upon re-launching the app, the updated version will be running.
Check for Updates at startup	Toggle to automatically trigger a check for updates at startup.
Default actions	Set a remote access method that you want to automatically open when double-clicking on a device. This will be set to "Ask me every time" by default, which will open a window to select a remote access method when a you double-click a device.
About NinjaOne Desktop	Opens a window with a link to the NinjaOne web application and the current version of the desktop application.
Sign out	Logs you out of the application. Clicking this button will invalidate your OAuth token as a security measure.
Quit NinjaOne Desktop	Exits the NinjaOne Desktop Companion application.

Revoke OAuth Tokens

Click the gear icon in the Desktop Companion app to log out. When you log out of the NinjaOne Desktop companion app, NinjaOne will automatically invalidate the OAuth token that was initiated during the Desktop session.

If there is no activity in the NinjaOne Desktop application, the OAuth token will expire after two weeks, and you will be prompted to log in again upon subsequent use.

You can also manually revoke OAuth tokens for individual sessions by performing the following steps:

Navigate to Administration → Apps → API → OAuth Tokens.
You will find a list of OAuth Tokens for each user of the Companion App. To revoke a token, move your cursor over the token in question and click Revoke.

revoke oauth token.png — **Figure 8:** Revoke access from the Desktop companion app manually

Additional Resources

Refer to the following resources to learn more about the NinjaOne Desktop companion app: