This section describes how to install M5 components on a Windows-based PC. The requirements for a Windows installation are a 64-bit processor (also referred to as x64) running Windows 10 or 11, at least 4 GB of memory and at least 2 GB of free disk space. The target machine must also have a connection to the internet to support uploading data files to PTAGIS and periodically refreshing transceiver specifications. Each M5 component has a separate installer that is required to be downloaded and installed on the target machine. A user account with sufficient privileges is required to install, upgrade and uninstall this software on a computer.

 

Installing M5 Control Panel

Download the installer for M5 Control Panel from the PTAGIS website to the target Windows 10 or 11 PC. The installer file can be copied to a thumb drive or other media to install onto other machines. Double-click to execute the file and the installer will guide the user through the completion of the installation process. An application shortcut labeled M5 Control Panel will be available on the desktop and within the PTAGIS startup folder. Double-clicking this shortcut will launch M5 Control Panel application and will prompt for a M5 Monitor Service instance to connect to (Figure 3). The M5 Control Panel topic provides instructions for customizing a shortcut to always open a specific instance of M5 Monitor Service.

Figure 3. Prompt to connect M5 Control Panel to an M5 Monitor Service instance.

The software can be upgraded in place by downloading and running a new version of the installer from the PTAGIS website. A user account with sufficient privileges is required. It is not necessary to uninstall a previous version of M5 Control Panel before upgrading. Data and configuration will not be modified or removed during the upgrade process.

Installing M5 Monitor Service

Download the installer for M5 Monitor Service from the PTAGIS website to the target Windows 10 or 11 PC. The installer file can be copied to a thumb drive or other media to install onto other machines. The M5 Monitor Service runs as a Microsoft Windows service (formally known as NT service) and requires elevated user privileges to install and execute from within the Local System Account. The Local System account has sufficient access to local computer resources permitting M5 Monitor Service to restart on system reboot; connect to peripheral devices (transceivers); collect data into files and manage those files. The installer, when executed by a user with elevated privileges, will take all of the necessary steps to ensure the M5 Monitor Service is registered as a Windows service on the target computer. Once the installation is completed, the installer starts the M5 Monitor Service running as a background service. Use the M5 Control Panel application to connect to the installed M5 Monitor Service to configure it for data collection.

NOTE: once the M5 Monitor Service is installed on a target machine, a user account with elevated privileges is no longer required to operate the long-running service. The separate M5 Control Panel application used to interact with M5 Monitor Service does not require a user account with elevated privileges to operate.

The installer creates five folders under C:\ProgramData\PTAGIS\M5 (Figure 4) with read and write privileges to anyone logged into the computer. Refer to the previous topic for a description of these folders.

Figure 4. Folders created after a Windows installation.

 

Upgrading M5 Monitor Service

The software can be upgraded in place by downloading and running a new version of the installer from the PTAGIS website. A user account with sufficient privileges is required. It is not necessary to uninstall a previous version of M5 Monitor Service before upgrading. The upgrade process will not remove or modify any data or configuration. The installer may prompt (Figure 5) to close the M5 Monitor Service before it can continue the installation during an upgrade. Selecting ‘Automatically close applications and attempt to restart them after setup is complete’ option and pressing OK will perform a clean shutdown of this service (stopping data collection) so it can be upgraded to a new version.

Figure 5. Prompt to stop M5 Monitor Service when installing upgrade.

Uninstall

The M5 Monitor Service and M5 Control Panel software can be uninstalled from the Add or remove programs feature from the computer’s System Settings. A user account with sufficient privileges is required.