Using a Particular User Account for All Agents

You can specify particular user account credentials in a central location to be used for all agents, except for cloud agents which always use a dedicated user. This feature allows agents to be launched under a specific user account rather than the default SYSTEM account. For technologies such as browser-driven web, it is useful and recommended to run the virtual users in the context of a user account instead of the Windows built-in SYSTEM account. When you enable this setting, make sure that the specified user account is available on all the agent machines that are used for the load test.

By default agents are assigned to the SYSTEM account, but you also have the option to specify a dedicated user account to an agent through the System Configuration Manager (see Using a Particular User Account for a single Agent). Using this method to assign a specific user account can be cumbersome if you have a large amount of agents, because you have to specify user account credentials separately for each agent.

Note: Ensure that the specified user account is a member of the Remote Desktop Users Windows group on the remote agent.
  1. In the Silk Performer menu, click Settings > System .
  2. Click the Agents icon and the Advanced tab.
  3. Enable Use particular user account.
  4. In the fields Username and Password, specify the credentials for a user with permission to launch the agents to test.
  5. Click OK to save your settings.
Note: Any settings that are defined in the System Configuration Manager for agents will be overridden by this setting on the Advanced tab.
Note: If a Remote Desktop Server is installed on the agent, it is recommended to use the default SYSTEM account. If you used a particular user account instead and the session was unexpectedly disconnected, the agent's session including the agent would be ended. This is true if "End a disconnected session" is activated in the Remote Desktop Server configuration.