Common questions about DMS School Guard v4 — the three-component lockdown alert system for schools.
DMS School Guard is an emergency alert management system. It allows designated staff members to instantly send a full-screen lockdown alert to every computer on the school network. When triggered, a large coloured overlay appears on each machine showing the alert level, a message from the member of staff who sent it, and any additional instructions.
Client machines check in with the server every 10 seconds. In practice most machines display the alert within 5 to 15 seconds of it being sent. The exact time depends on your network speed and the number of machines connected.
Only if the person who sent the alert has set an auto-close timer. This is configured on the Send Alert screen and specifies how many minutes must pass before a Dismiss button appears on the client screen.
If no auto-close time is set the alert stays on screen until a manager resolves it from the Manager application. This is the default behaviour.
Yes. DMS School Guard operates entirely within your local school network. It does not require an internet connection to function. As long as the server machine is switched on and connected to the school network, alerts will work normally.
Yes. You can create Departments (for example Science Block, Main Office, Sports Hall) and assign computers to them. When sending an alert you can choose to target one or more specific departments rather than the whole school.
Leaving all department boxes unticked sends the alert to every connected machine.
Yes. You can create Manager accounts for any staff member who needs to be able to send alerts. The Manager application (DMSSchoolGuardManager.exe) can be installed on any computer on the network and multiple people can have it open at the same time.
Manager accounts can be restricted to specific departments so they can only alert the areas they are responsible for.
Yes. When sending an alert you can customise the background colour, text colour and accent colour of the overlay. You can also increase the font size, add a scrolling marquee message along the bottom, show or hide the live clock, and choose which Windows system sound plays when the alert appears.
Your school logo is shown on every alert if you have uploaded one via Appearance in the Manager.
Yes. The Send Alert screen has an Additional Instructions field. Anything you type here appears on the overlay below the main message — for example specific assembly point instructions, a name to call, or safe room locations.
The red banner at the top of the Manager window shows a live Acknowledged count as staff click the acknowledgement button on their screens. You can also see individual machine status in the Client Machines list.
The client agent runs as a background process and does not require anyone to be logged in. The overlay will appear on the lock screen if the machine is running. If the machine is completely switched off it will not receive the alert — it will receive any still-active alert the next time it connects to the server.
No. DMS School Guard is designed for real-time emergency use. Alerts are sent immediately when you click Send Alert Now. Scheduled or planned drills should be sent manually at the appropriate time.
A machine shows as Offline if it has not checked in with the server within the last 2 minutes. Check that the machine is switched on, the DMS School Guard client is running (look for the shield icon in the system tray), and the machine has network access to the server.
If the shield icon is red, right-click it and select Configure Server to check the server address is correct.
There are two ways. In the Manager application, go to Client Machines, select the machine and click Delete Machine. Alternatively, right-click the server tray icon on the server machine, click Show Connected Machines, select the machine and click Delete Selected Machine.
If the machine reconnects to the server (for example if it was reinstalled with the same client ID) it will reappear in the list automatically.
The client identifies itself using a unique ID stored in its configuration files, not by the machine name. If a machine is renamed it will continue to work normally. The new hostname will appear in the Client Machines list after the next connection.
If the machine was completely rebuilt (new Windows installation) a new client ID will be generated and it will appear as a new entry. You can delete the old entry manually.
Once the maximum number of machines for your licence tier is registered, any new machine attempting to connect will be blocked. The client tray icon on the blocked machine will turn red and show the message 'Client limit reached — contact your administrator'.
Existing connected machines are completely unaffected. The blocked machine will retry every 60 seconds in case a licence upgrade has been applied. To increase your limit contact support@edusoftware.co.uk to upgrade to a higher tier.
Each licence key is valid for 365 days from the date it is activated. The server continues to operate normally through the full expiry day and stops accepting new connections from midnight on the following day. You will need to activate a new key to restore service. This is done directly on the server without any reinstallation.
Four licence tiers are available:
Contact support@edusoftware.co.uk to purchase a new annual licence key. Once you have the key, right-click the DMS School Guard Server tray icon on the server machine and select Licence. Enter your organisation name and the new key, then click Activate Licence. The server resumes immediately — no restart required.
Right-click the server tray icon and select Licence. The remaining days are shown at the top of the window. The Manager application also shows the remaining days in small text at the bottom of the left sidebar when you are logged in.
Once the licence expires the server stops accepting connections. Clients that are already running will see their tray icon turn red after their next failed check-in. Any active alerts that were in progress remain visible on client screens until they are dismissed.
Once you activate a new licence key the server immediately starts accepting connections again and clients will reconnect automatically within seconds.
No. The licence window is only accessible by right-clicking the server tray icon on the server machine itself. This is intentional — only someone with physical or remote desktop access to the server can activate a key.
Run DMSSchoolGuardResetPassword.exe on the server machine (this must be run on the machine where the server database is stored). Select the superadmin account from the list and click Reset to Default Password.
The password will be reset to Admin1234! — log in and change it to something secure straight away.
Yes. Create a Manager account for each person, and tick only the departments they are responsible for. When they log in to the Manager application they will only be able to send alerts to those departments.
There is no limit. Any number of people can have the Manager application open simultaneously. If two people send an alert at the same time both will be processed, but in practice the second will arrive while the first is still active.
The server listens on TCP port 5000. This must be open in Windows Firewall on the server machine. The Manager application and client agents use this port to communicate with the server.
The server also uses UDP port 5001 to broadcast its presence on the network. This allows the Manager and client to find the server automatically — it is not essential if you prefer to enter the IP address manually.
This can happen if local security software on the client machine (antivirus, endpoint protection) is blocking the client from displaying the overlay window. Add DMSSchoolGuardClient.exe to the allowed applications list in your security software.
It can also happen if the machine's display is connected to a different user session (remote desktop, fast user switching). The overlay appears on the active session only.
The server component can run on a virtual machine as long as it is on the same network as the client machines and the required ports are accessible. The client component is designed for physical machines in the school building. Installing the client on cloud VMs is not recommended and not supported.
All data — including alert history, client machine records, department configuration, admin accounts and the licence — is stored in a single SQLite database file on the server machine at:
%APPDATA%\DMSSchoolGuard\server.db
No data is sent to EDUSOFTWARE or any external service. Everything stays on your server.
Yes. Copy DMSSchoolGuardClient.exe to a shared network folder, then add it as a Computer Startup Script via Group Policy Management on your domain controller (Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Scripts > Startup). This requires Active Directory. Contact your IT provider if you need help setting this up.
Our support team is happy to help with any questions not covered here.
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