Install the self-updating ClickOnce build

ClickOnce is Windows' own deployment mechanism for user-profile applications. Its one advantage over the ordinary installer is that it keeps itself current: every launch checks the deployment and pulls down what changed.

Install it

  1. Download filemote-<version>-win-x64-clickonce.zip and extract it.
  2. Run Filemote.application — not Filemote.exe. The .application file is the deployment manifest; opening it is what performs the install.
  3. It installs into your user profile and adds a Start-menu shortcut.

No administrator rights are needed for the application itself. Windows may warn before it starts, because the manifests are not signed — the same missing certificate that triggers the SmartScreen warning elsewhere.

How it gets .NET 8

The entry point is a small launcher that doubles as the .NET bootstrapper. On startup it asks Windows which .NET runtimes are installed, and if the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime is not among them it downloads the official installer from Microsoft and runs it — which raises one administrator prompt — before starting the application.

So the first run needs an internet connection even though you already downloaded the package. Later runs do not.

How updates work

ClickOnce checks its deployment at each launch and updates the files that changed. This is the only Windows build where the configurator updates itself without you downloading anything. Agent updates are a separate mechanism, described in keeping Filemote up to date.

If the configurator cannot find the agent

ClickOnce packages up to and including version 1.11.0 shipped without the agent: the configurator installs and opens, but reports that FilemoteAgent.exe was not found and cannot serve any files. If you hit that, use the installer or the portable build instead — later packages carry the agent, the terminal configurator and the AI service.

When not to use it

  • The machine has no internet access on first run.
  • You want a copy you can carry between machines — use the portable build.
  • You want the AI environment provisioned for you, Python included — use the installer.

Once it is installed, the device still has to be linked to your account: link a device to your account.

Updated 2026-07-31

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