Disable Agent Tray

What the Agent Tray Disabler does

This Automox Worklet™ disables the Automox Agent Tray on Windows endpoints by creating a disable file named 'amagent-ui-disable' in the Automox directory. The tray is the graphical interface element that appears in the Windows system tray, allowing users to interact with the Automox agent.

The Worklet first checks if the agent tray is currently installed and enabled. If the tray is already disabled or not installed, the Worklet skips remediation. When remediation is needed, it creates the disable file in the standard Automox installation directory, which causes the agent to prevent the tray from launching on next startup.

Why hide the agent tray from users

End users can be confused or alarmed by unfamiliar tray icons on their Windows systems. When users interact with agent controls without understanding their purpose, they may attempt to disable or tamper with critical management infrastructure. Disabling the agent tray helps you maintain a cleaner endpoint environment and prevents these unintended interactions.

In managed environments, you often want to run the Automox agent silently in the background without exposing tray icons or system notifications to end users.

This approach is particularly useful in locked-down environments, kiosk setups, or when you are deploying Automox as a transparent infrastructure component. The agent continues to function normally for endpoint management, but users cannot interact with it through the system tray interface.

How agent tray disabling works

1. Evaluation phase: The Worklet searches for the Automox Agent Tray executable (amagent-ui.exe) in the standard installation locations: Program Files (x86) and Program Files. If the tray is not found, or if the disable file already exists, the Worklet reports success and skips remediation.

2. Remediation phase: The Worklet creates an empty disable file named 'amagent-ui-disable' in the Automox installation directory. The presence of this file signals to the Automox agent to suppress the tray interface on the next startup.

Agent tray disabling requirements

• Windows 10, Windows 11, or Windows Server 2016 and later

• PowerShell 5.1 or higher

• Automox Agent Tray must be installed for this Worklet to take effect

• Administrator or write access to the Automox installation directory

Expected behavior after tray disabling

After the Worklet runs successfully, your endpoints will have the 'amagent-ui-disable' file in the Automox installation directory. The Automox Agent Tray will no longer appear in the Windows system tray on subsequent startups. Users will not see the tray icon or be able to interact with it through the system notification area. The Automox agent itself continues to run in the background and maintains full functionality for endpoint management and policy enforcement.

To verify the change, check the Automox installation directory for the presence of the 'amagent-ui-disable' file. You can also confirm by restarting the endpoint and observing that the agent tray does not appear in the system tray. If you need to re-enable the tray in the future, you can run the corresponding Enable Agent Tray Worklet, which removes the disable file.

How to validate disable agent tray changes

1. Run this Worklet on a pilot Windows endpoint and review evaluation output for disable agent tray.

2. Confirm Automox activity logs show successful completion and exit code 0.

3. Verify endpoint state using checks aligned to evaluation script logic, such as Test-Path, Split-Path, Join-Path.

4. Validate remediation effects from script operations such as Disable-AmagentTray, Test-Path, Join-Path, then rerun evaluation for compliance.