Install Advantage on the store computers

On this page

1. Purpose
2. Before you begin
3. Step 1: Install the store program
4. Step 2: Install the Terminal
5. Step 3: Keep the store computer on
6. After the install

Purpose

Advantage puts two programs in the store:

• The store program (the Advantage agent) runs on the computer connected to the register’s network. It reads the register’s sales, shifts and price book and sends them to Advantage. It runs in the background as a Windows service, so it keeps working when nobody is signed in.
• The Terminal is where the crew works: starting and closing shifts, lottery, cash drops and invoices. It can run on the same computer or on another one, such as a laptop by the counter. It does not need the store program’s computer to be on.

Install them once the store computer can reach the register: see How to check if you have a backoffice connection.

Before you begin

• The store computer: Windows 10 or 11, connected to the register’s network.
• Two codes from Advantage: one for the store computer and one for the Terminal. Each works once, only for your store. If one has been used or has expired, ask Advantage for a new one.
• Verifone stores: someone who knows the register’s manager login. It is typed once on the store computer and never kept. See Configure a Verifone POS for Advantage.
• Gilbarco stores: the Manager Workstation set up as in Configure a Gilbarco Passport POS for Advantage.

Step 1: Install the store program

Your Advantage contact starts the installer with you on the store computer. It asks for very little and changes nothing until every check has passed.

1. Type the store computer’s code when the installer asks for it.
2. The installer finds the register at its standard address on the store’s network. It never searches the network for it.
3. Verifone only: type the register’s manager login when asked. The installer adds Advantage’s own register login and leaves every other login as it was. If the register asks for a one-time code, follow When the register asks for a one-time code, then run the installer again.
4. The store program installs in one to three minutes, then the installer waits for the register’s first read. When it arrives, the screen says the register was read and sales flow to Advantage.
5. Send your Advantage contact a photo of that last screen.

If a line starts with STOP, the installer did nothing further. The line says why, for example a code that was already used. Send a photo of the screen to Advantage support.

Step 2: Install the Terminal

On the computer the crew will use:

1. Download the Terminal from the link Advantage gives you and run it.
2. At Activate, type the Terminal’s code.
3. At Lottery Setup, type the number of lottery bins, scan the pack in each bin, then select Save. A store without lottery types 0.
4. The Terminal shows Install Status while Advantage finishes your store’s setup. You can leave it on that screen.
5. When the setup is done, the Terminal shows Set up completed. Click ok to restart. After the restart, the first shift opens by itself.

Step 3: Keep the store computer on

The store program can only read the register while its computer is on, awake and connected. Set the computer never to sleep: see Keep the Windows store computer awake. The screen may turn off and staff may sign out; that does not stop it.

After the install

• Advantage keeps the store program up to date from the cloud. You do not need to install it again.
• Close shifts on the register first and then on the Terminal, so each shift on the Terminal matches the register’s own report.
• If sales stop showing in Advantage, check that the store computer is on and connected, then contact Advantage support.