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PRTG Manual: Install a PRTG Core Server

Installing PRTG Network Monitor works like other Windows-based applications. To install PRTG, run the installation setup program from the .zip file that you downloaded.

Confirm the question of the Windows User Account Control with Yes to allow PRTG to install. The installation dialog guides you through the installation process.

Windows User Account Control Confirmation Request

Select a language for the installation and click OK. The available language options depend on both your Windows version and the setup file.

Setup Language Selection

Accept the license agreement and click Next.

Setup Dialog: License Agreement

Enter your email address to make sure you receive important system alerts and click Next.

Setup Dialog: Your Email Address

Select if you want to use the Express or the Custom installation mode and click Next. If you select the Express installation mode, you can directly proceed with step 9.

Setup Dialog: Installation Mode

This page is only visible if you use the Custom installation mode. You can change the paths to the PRTG program directory and PRTG data directory, if necessary. Click Next.

Setup Dialog: Location for Installation and Data Storage

This page is only visible if you use the Custom installation mode. Select if you want to run an auto-discovery of your network or if you want to skip the auto-discovery. Click Next.

Setup Dialog: Run or Skip Auto-Discovery

This page is only visible if you select Run auto-discovery. You can enter a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) community string. The default SNMP community string is public. Click Next.

Setup Dialog: Auto-Discovery Configuration

PRTG is installed on your system.

Setup: Installing PRTG

Click Finish to complete the setup of PRTG.

After installation, you can open the PRTG web interface in your system's default browser. Make sure that a supported browser is available on the system.

In some cases, antivirus software like Windows Defender interferes with the PRTG installer. This might cause high CPU load on the PRTG core server, which might prevent a successful installation. Temporarily disable Windows Defender and other antivirus software in these cases.

Enter License Information

PRTG validates your license information during the installation process by connecting to the activation server. If there are issues with the license information, PRTG asks you to verify your License Key and License Name on the first login.

Enter the License Key and, if prompted, the License Name exactly as received from Paessler.

Setup Dialog: Enter License Information

For more information, see section Enter a License Key.

If you think that you have correctly entered your license information but get a License Invalid message, contact [email protected].

You can find the label License Owner in some documents from the Paessler Portal. License Owner is the same as License Name. PRTG might ask you for this information during installation or when you change your license key.

When you update a commercial version with a new trial installer, PRTG ignores the new trial license key.

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