Remove Multiple Computers

Hi,

Is there someway to "bulk remove" serveral computers from the Team Viewer Management Console? it's tedious to remove many computers by hand as for now...

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Accepted answers

Scotty

Hi All!

This is currently in as a feature request. (Bulk select for actions)

However, unfortunately placing the items in a group and then deleting is not currently doable as groups that contain items cannot be deleted.

I know this is not ideal, but this is the best work around I have:

Create a new account
Create a group owned by the new account and share this group with full control to the account with devices to be deleted.
Bulk move all the items to the shared group (This requires full control of the group you are copying from)
Delete the new account (this must be done by logging in as this user under "edit profile" - "Remove" under user management does not delete an account)

One of our supporters has also posted a powershell script that will allow you to delete groups if you would prefer. You can find this in our Knowledge Base here

I apologise, I know this is a long way around and I have added your votes to this feature request as well.

-Scotty

DomLan

Hi SuperDOS,

I do not know if this is the correct answer, but you might try (i suggest you try on a small set of devices).

Create a dummy group;
Select multiple devices;
Use the button to move items to the dummy group;
Delete the dummy group.

Repeat: I do not know if this is the correct answer, but this operation has been requested some times in ideas site, and marked as implemented (??)

Regards

All comments

Scotty

Hi All!

This is currently in as a feature request. (Bulk select for actions)

However, unfortunately placing the items in a group and then deleting is not currently doable as groups that contain items cannot be deleted.

I know this is not ideal, but this is the best work around I have:

Create a new account
Create a group owned by the new account and share this group with full control to the account with devices to be deleted.
Bulk move all the items to the shared group (This requires full control of the group you are copying from)
Delete the new account (this must be done by logging in as this user under "edit profile" - "Remove" under user management does not delete an account)

One of our supporters has also posted a powershell script that will allow you to delete groups if you would prefer. You can find this in our Knowledge Base here

I apologise, I know this is a long way around and I have added your votes to this feature request as well.

-Scotty

DomLan

Hi SuperDOS,

I do not know if this is the correct answer, but you might try (i suggest you try on a small set of devices).

Create a dummy group;
Select multiple devices;
Use the button to move items to the dummy group;
Delete the dummy group.

Repeat: I do not know if this is the correct answer, but this operation has been requested some times in ideas site, and marked as implemented (??)

Regards

REWINC

Thank you for your reply. I think it is still important to remember that I am responding as a customer and not merely some IT guy, this is feedback, so if I feel there is a need, don't you think that is something Teamviewer should take more into consideration?

Not every situation is the same obviously.

The 3 reasons given make no sense to me, so if I am missing something, I welcome any feedback on my misunderstanding. This is the problem I have with those reasons:

Griefing: I imagine you are talking about other users that were given access could mass delete objects screwing the company over.
- If every software company made a decision based on this, we would have no features at all. I subscribe to several other software companies for online portal access that also gives access to users/employees. They simply add a group based system where I can simply check a box that determines if they have ability to modify or not. It doesn't need to be used, but if I want to, I can. Again, this can be done regardless, if someone wanted to grief, one by one.
Only for Advanced Users: I am not aware of many "normal users" of this software that could accidently select multiple objects, then accidently drop down a menu, then accidently hit delete all, then accidently hit YES to the confirmation in several successive actions. If that user exists and he is managing or using your Teamviewer portal, that is a training problem, not a software problem.
- This could be mitigated by above solution
There is No Need: I beg to differ, as a customer. I am busy enough, I don't want more steps to do a simple function that is available in most software. I think the customer should determine if they need a function or not. Why create a shadow system (which is essentially the same thing) to patch up what is lacking? If "griefing" is a problem, then this solution does not fix that problem, because I would be totally griefed already if someone did this to all my objects.
- This could be mitigated by above solution as wellI

I am sorry too, but as a customer, these reasons make no sense.

GarethW

Hi Scotty,

Just wanted to say thanks for this response. I've got 900+ computers to remove and was not looking forward to doing it by hand!

Will give this method a go!

tvuser

How can this feature still be unavailable in 2019? Yes, the PS script works as a workaround, but seriously, it cannot be that hard to implement it to the graphical interface??

p20002

this is a disgrace at this point in time, 2 plus years for a stupid feature. my god, you guys are acting like you are trying to solve world peace. World peace might be solved before you guys add a simple delete function. just have them type their user and pass again for extra authentication, or MFA.. or just let us delete it with a warning!!!

we just need to delete multiple computers, like every other piece of software that exists in this world allows you to.

Scotty

Hi Everyone,

If it helps, one of our supporters has posted a powershell script that will allow you to delete groups if you would prefer. You can find this in our Knowledge Base here

As I said before, this is in as a feature request and being discussed as part of enterprise upgrades, but I cannot change my answer that it is not currently a feature, this is being passed on.

-Scotty

tscott1224

Same here, TeamViewer keeps pestering us because we reimaged this summer, so we have roughly 2x the amount of computers. Normally I would run the PS script(ridiculous that there is no option in the panel) but it looks like they purposely make it so it doesnt work anymore. They want the numbers to be too high so you are forced to upgrade from what I can see. The account rep keeps trying to tell us that there is a fix being implemented. But support says there's no way to do it.

pdccnethead

I attempted this method and, when I tried to delete the group, I was greeted with a message that said I couldn't delete the group because it was not empty.

Still have many "unnamed" and really "non-existent" computers showing up in my management console. Would just like to clean them out.

davidblum

I'm sorry....

This was a feature request before V13 was out months ago... don't you guys have anything better to propose more than 6 months later ?

I have more than 200 rogue computers that are an issue and this happens also for reassigned computers or migrated computers which clone themselves in the process ... (e.g : To a new Hypervisor)...

i believe DEV could consider another way at least in the Web console for a company administrator.... .. The Company Administrator should have a bit more rights and flexibility. to me the statement about Rogue agent is valid at some point but inappropriate if you look at any other decent IT management product on the market...

SuperDOS

@davidblumwrote:
What is MFA :P ?
@SuperDOSwrote:
The easiest way to make sure you don't have someone by mistake removing a bulk of users/computer is using MFA to elevate this type of execution.

Multi-Factor Authentication

Would be pretty simple to implment with either a SMS service or Googles Authentication App.

Leeham

Hi guys,

I cannot see a delete option when clicking Edit profile on the created account.

Any suggestions?

Scotty

@it4logistics

Yes, they do.

Please read the instructions again as I advised to delete the new account, not the group.

Create a new account
Create a group owned by the new account and share this group with full control to the account with devices to be deleted.
Bulk move all the items to the shared group (This requires full control of the group you are copying from)
Delete the new account (this must be done by logging in as this user under "edit profile" - "Remove" under user management does not delete an account)

The PS script in the KB article also works on devices with groups in them.

-Scotty

bcatoe

This workaround is more than 18 months old. Can Teamviewer not simply make a change that allows us to delete a group that isn't empty? A bulk move to a "trash" group, then delete the group (with an appropriate warning) seems like a simple fix. Either that, or use the same multi-select and give an option to delete account (perhaps under Tools).

Come on guys, this can't be hard to implement.

Barry_K

Almost the end of 2021....and still waiting. This is absurd. I'll be looking into another remote connection solution for our company at this point. It's obvious that TeamViewer's "Dev" group couldn't care less about addressing this.

MrBiker

October 2020 checking in. Over 3 1/2 years since the first query about delete multiple computers and still no "feature" added by TV - as far as I can see.

How about this: If you delete something from DropBox, you have 30 days to undelete it. Since they're storing files (huge amounts of data) and your storing letters and numbers and maybe a certificate (tiny amounts of data), why don't you add the delete feature and a 30 day restore feature?

Since we're almost all enterprise IT people on this thread, we know, as someone else pointed out, that you can have a top-level account that grants certain permissions to other users and groups by clicking permission boxes.

I'd go as far as to say the people here wanting to delete copious amounts of computers actually know what they're doing and are expert at managing permissions.

My $0.02

PS: I'll give a kudo to Scotty as his hands are tied by the engineers/corporate policy and he's trying to be as helpful & friendly as possible. Naturally, this kind of simple-to-solve problem (I'll disagree with him on "it's complicated") causes a lot of frustration with talented IT people who know what's what regarding software functionality.

bcatoe

Scotty,

I know you are tired of replying to this thread. Trust me, nowhere near as tired as we Admins are of asking for this deficiency to be corrected. We are Admins, not random users. We live day by day with the ability to delete things we don't want deleted. That is our job, to know what we should and shouldn't do. We understand that you are the moderator here and not in charge of Dev. Having said that, we don't have direct access to Dev so we have to go thru you. This is not a 'request' for something that would be a nice luxury. This is a request for a standard feature present in virtually all enterprise software. I consider it a BUG that it isn't already there. The 'reasons' that have been given for NOT implementing this are nonsense. If I have rights to do a multi-select delete (or delete a group that isn't empty), then I have rights to create the token to run the script. Stop making us jump thru hoops because Dev is unwilling to implement this. Or, they can refund my money and we can go buy something else that doesn't treat us like children.

@Scotty wrote:
@REWINC
As previously stated, this is currently not a feature of the software and although I have put this in as a feature request I cannot guarantee if or when it will become a feature.
I have given our development teams reasoning above and forwarded your feedback to our development team.
I have also given you 3 alternate options.
1. Create a "Trash" group which requires very little action
2. Bulk move to another account and delete the account
3. The powershell script one of our supporters created using the API.
There is no further assistance I can provide for this topic sorry.
-Scotty

bcatoe

The Powerscript solution was pretty easy, and worked well. I recommend that until/unless they build something directly into the UI.

I created a folder named TRASH, I bulk move whichever ones I want into that group, then run the powershell script, copy/paste the token ID, select the Trash folder, boom, gone.

whccdadmin

The lack of this feature has convinced me that we need to replace TeamViewer. We're being pestered over having too many devices, but most of our devices are zombie machines that have been replaced and don't really exist any more.

it4logistics

thx. :-)

SuperDOS

Yes that's a workaround, hope this will be implemented in the future.

Thanks.

it4logistics

this workaround doesnt work, only empty groups are deleteable in this moment! :-(

Scotty

Hi @bcatoe

As I have already explained, it is not that simple sorry. It has also been waaaay longer than 18 months, it has just been in the Community for 18 months.

As I previously stated above: it is not a case of the length of time users have been asking. It's about security. If bulk delete was possible, development is worried that one rogue agent or one mistake could easily wipe an entire contacts list.

This is in as a feature request. And yes, there is also talks of better methods for stopping accidental or malicious deletion but please understand this is not simply a case of adding the feature or the number of times or duration you have been asking.

We have a PS script that can be used, the workaround provided or you can just place the old contacts in a "Trash" group.

Thank you for your understanding.

-Scotty

bcatoe

Scotty, thank you for the prompt reply.

If the bulk delete, or delete of a non-empty group, presented a "Warning!! This group is not empty, are you sure you wish to delete. This action cannot be undone", then that should cover their concerns. We are admins, many of our actions have the ability to do great damage if not done properly. Do they think we can't do the same damage using the powerscript?

If Dev has decided that this feature request will not be implemented, then state it as such. I initially read it as something that just hadn't been implement yet and so this user-created workaround was offered in the meantime.

pdccnethead

Step 4 doesn't make sense. If you log in as the "new account" (from Step 1) and go to "Edit Profile", there is no option to "delete" the new account.

Am I missing something?

REWINC

Why is this still not a feature? I just upgraded and still cannot do this from what I can tell. I know im reviving an old post, but ... if I am here stuck looking for a solution, then it is either a user error, or a software flaw.

Scotty

Hi @REWINC

I have already gone over why it is not a feature and that it is in as a feature request.

1. It is to stop griefing
2. we have other options, but only for advanced users to make sure it is not done in error
3. There is really no actual need to delete devices. You can create a trash group and put the old devices in it, this will not lock out anyone else or impact functionality.

I am sorry I cannot give you a better answer.

-Scotty

Scotty

@REWINC

As previously stated, this is currently not a feature of the software and although I have put this in as a feature request I cannot guarantee if or when it will become a feature.

I have given our development teams reasoning above and forwarded your feedback to our development team.

I have also given you 3 alternate options.
1. Create a "Trash" group which requires very little action
2. Bulk move to another account and delete the account
3. The powershell script one of our supporters created using the API.

There is no further assistance I can provide for this topic sorry.

-Scotty

msg

Long time TeamViewer user/admin/proponent/evangelist here. Just wanted to throw in a +1 for this feature. I was just going through old machine entries wanting to clean up my account and looking for a way to mass wipe.

While I can understand the concerns for accidental deletion, I do agree that we need better admin tools and controls. Maybe there could/should also be a way to backup or export our accounts/contents, as well as locking down operations we'd be able to perform under certain accounts.

This is one of the things I hate about hosted, material designy stuff - very limited access to configuration compared to local administration utilities. Local admin utilities usually seem to have some kind of export functionality, either csv, xml or some kind of database. Not trying to open another can of worms here, but I'm of the same sentiment as above users - at this level, we're admins, not end users.

For now I'll have to have a look at the workarounds. Not ideal, but wha'cha gonna do. Just gotta get the job done.

At least the status shows us when the last connection was.

Scotty

@bcatoe

I have not had any reports that development have said it will definitely not happen. I am not going to say it definitely will not happen when by nature of development, with enough requests they might implement it.

And yes, I agree the same damage can be done by the PS script, but only by someone who can generate the keys needed.

In any case, I can only tell you what I have been told as to why it has not been implemented before, explain the workarounds and tell you that it is in as a feature request. But I cannot say if or when it will be implemented.

-Scotty