Illustration of a context menu for collecting logs, restarting services and running diagnostics

BigFix administrators often find themselves toggling between multiple windows and wizards just to perform routine endpoint tasks.

What if you could streamline common operations like restarting the BigFix Client service, open a remote management console or launching custom scripts directly from the console’s right-click menu? With a few simple tweaks, you can transform the BigFix Console into a true “one-click” command center.

BigFix Console context menu with default options outlined in red and additional options in blue

The picture on the right showcases the context menu divided into two parts, the default items wrapped in red and the optional ones in blue.

The possibilities are endless...

To start using the Right Click Options, first a task needs to be downloaded, imported and deployed on the endpoints where the BigFix Console is installed.

The task can be downloaded from here.

Once the task has been executed successfully, you should be able see the default items in the context menu.

Note that some options might not work due to limitations or restrictions such as 'Copy IP Address' in case there are multiple IP Addresses on the selected computer.

Another example is the ''Browse Computer' option that might also fail due lacking access permissions or a FW rule blocking SMB protocol between you and the selected computer.

Same goes with every other option that requires access / permission that you don't have.

Here is the error message you will encounter

BigFix error stating that not all selected computers could run the selected action

The menu items are user specific, meaning you can have different options for different users on the same computer.

The settings are modified from the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive.

Windows Registry Editor displaying per-user BigFix Console context-menu settings

Another cool yet dangerous (You have been warned!), is a registry hack that bypasses the Lock constraint when taking an action on a locked target.

If you don't know / used the Lock option, here's a link with a short description.

Once the 'hack' is in place, an action taken on a locked target with bypass the lock constraint and the action will be taken.

You can enable this little hack, set the following registry value:

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\BigFix\Enterprise Console\Settings
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Name: SkipLockedConstraint
Value Data: 1 (Enable ) or 0 (Disable)

Deleting the value will obviously disable the option

This is how it should look on your end:

Windows Registry Editor showing the BigFix Console SkipLockedConstraint value

This type of flexibility is priceless, specifically with platforms such as BigFix where ease of use and rich capabilities are crucial.

Feel free to contact me for more cool stuff or just a technical advise.

Enjoy! :)