What is Portnox Connect?

In this topic, you will learn what is the Portnox™ Connect software and how it works.

Portnox Connect is a single executable file that communicates with Portnox Cloud to authenticate the user, request and install the required certificates, and configure the network adapters. It is designed for personal devices (BYOD) and other unmanaged devices that users connect to company networks.

  • Zero footprint: The Portnox Connect executable does not install any software, does not create any background services, and leaves nothing to uninstall. After you run it, you can delete the executable. The only items that remain on the machine are the certificates and network adapter configurations. This makes Portnox Connect suitable for organizations that already run many agents on their endpoints and do not want to add another one.

  • Automates the self-onboarding portal flow: The self-onboarding portal requires the user to open a browser, navigate to the portal URL, authenticate, select the correct operating system, download a provisioning file, and run it. If the group uses certificate-based authentication, the user must also separately request, download, and import the certificate into Windows. Portnox Connect performs all of these steps in a single run, which requires minimal user interaction.

  • No installation requirements: Currently, Portnox Connect is available only for Windows. It has no memory, disk space, or processor requirements beyond the executable file itself.

Important:
Do not use Portnox Connect on devices that already run Portnox AgentP or are managed by and receive network configurations from a UEM solution such as Microsoft Intune. Portnox Connect and AgentP both write network adapter configurations to Windows, and running both on the same device will cause them to overwrite each other’s settings.
Important:
You cannot use contractor accounts with Portnox Connect. If you want external users to onboard their devices with Portnox Connect, create standard Portnox accounts for them instead.