5-Minute Quick Setup Guide for Technicians

Step-by-step guide to installing and activating your first Sentinel test machine in under five minutes.

Sentinel Operations Team

5 min read

Updated August 28, 2026

v3.2

This quick start guide will walk you through deploying Sentinel on a single test computer and verifying that live telemetry appears in your web console.

Download the Sentinel Installer Package

Log into your Sentinel Management Console and navigate to "Downloads" or "Deployments". Download the "sentinel-agent.msi" (or 1-click Setup EXE) and your organization configuration file.

UI Action: Click "Deploy New Endpoint" in the top right of the Sentinel console.

Run the Installer on Your Test Endpoint

Double-click "sentinel-agent-setup.exe" or run the MSI installer. The wizard will automatically copy the agent service to C:\Program Files\Sentinel\, register the "SentinelAgent" Windows Service, and start it automatically.

powershell

1# Or run silently via PowerShell (Administrator):
2msiexec /i sentinel-agent.msi /qn /norestart

Verify the Windows Service is Running

Open the Windows Services console (services.msc) or run PowerShell to confirm the "SentinelAgent" service status is "Running" with Startup type "Automatic".

powershell

1Get-Service SentinelAgent

Check the Sentinel Web Console

Return to your web browser. Within 15 seconds, your test machine will appear in the "Live Device Inventory" with a Green status badge and system specifications.

Sentinel Management Console — Live Device Inventory

Console v3.2

Managed Endpoints

412 Online / 428 Total

Sync: 12s ago

Status	Hostname	Logged-In User	OS Build	Agent
Active	LAPTOP-FIN-019	corp\m.vasquez	Win 11 (23H2)	v3.2.4
Active	WS-ENG-8821	corp\d.kim	Ubuntu 22.04	v3.2.4
High CPU	MACBOOK-MKT-04	corp\a.wright	macOS 14.5	v3.2.0 (Update)

Pin #1:Device Status Indicator

Green indicates active real-time heartbeat (< 60s). Amber indicates high resource usage, and grey represents offline endpoints.

Pin #2:Agent Version & Build

Shows installed agent version. Outdated agents display an upgrade arrow for 1-click remote update.

Pin #3:Quick Remote Actions Menu

Click to trigger immediate policy sync, service restart, diagnostic bundle collection, or emergency isolation.

1Device Status Indicator

2Agent Version & Build

3Quick Remote Actions Menu

Figure 1.1: Live Device Inventory showing online/offline status, OS version, agent health, and quick actions.

Tip

Ready for Mass Rollout?

Once you verify the test endpoint, check out our Active Directory GPO Rollout guide or Microsoft Intune deployment guide to deploy across hundreds of computers simultaneously.

Tags:#Quick Start#Installation#Windows

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