--- title: Kentico Installation Manager related: - https://docs.kentico.com/k81/external-utilities/kentico-service-manager.md --- > Agent instructions: > **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown. > > - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version. > - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt). Kentico Installation Manager (also referred to as **KIM**) is an external utility that provides a way to install and manage Kentico instances. You can manage all instances located on a single machine, which is especially useful on machines with a large number of instances. The utility is compatible with Kentico instances starting from the previous major version. For example, Kentico Installation Manager 8.1 can work with instances of Kentico 7 or 8 (any minor version). #### Launching the KIM utility You can launch this utility by selecting **Kentico Installation Manager** from the Kentico folder in Windows Start menu. ## Kentico Installation Manager interface ![Kentico Installation Manager](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k81/kentico-installation-manager/Kim_8.png "Kentico Installation Manager") **Browse** - opens the URL of the selected instance in a new browser window. **Manage** - opens the Kentico administration interface of the selected instance in a new browser window. **Edit** - opens the selected instance's web project in Visual Studio. **Install** - opens the Kentico Installer, which you can use to create new Kentico instances. **Uninstall** - uninstalls the selected instances, optionally including removal from the file system, IIS, database and from the instances list in KIM. See [Uninstalling an instance in KIM](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/external-utilities/kentico-installation-manager/uninstalling-an-instance-in-kim.md). **Deploy to ...** - allows you to deploy _**web site**_ projects to a specific directory or remote server. The deployment copies the content of the CMS folder, which you can then use as the physical path of an application in IIS. The **Deploy to** functionality is not available for web application projects. Deployment is also possible for [Microsoft Azure projects](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure.md). **Upgrade/Hotfix** - opens a dialog box where you can upgrade or hotfix the currently selected instances. See [Upgrading and hotfixing an instance in KIM](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/external-utilities/kentico-installation-manager/upgrading-and-hotfixing-an-instance-in-kim.md). **Check** - checks if there are any new upgrades or hotfixes available for any of the managed instances. See [Upgrading and hotfixing an instance in KIM](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/external-utilities/kentico-installation-manager/upgrading-and-hotfixing-an-instance-in-kim.md). **Register** - opens a dialog where you can manually register instances for management by KIM. See [Registering an instance in KIM](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/external-utilities/kentico-installation-manager/registering-an-instance-in-kim.md). **Unregister** - unregisters the selected instance from KIM (removes it from the list). See [Registering an instance in KIM](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/external-utilities/kentico-installation-manager/registering-an-instance-in-kim.md). **Services** - opens Kentico Service Manager, where you can install and manage Kentico Windows services. See [Kentico Service Manager](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/external-utilities/kentico-service-manager.md). **Settings** - opens a dialog where you can adjust settings related to upgrading and hotfixing. See [Upgrade and hotfix settings](#upgrade-and-hotfix-settings). In cases where a large number of instances is registered in the utility, you can use the **Find** text box below the toolbar to search for particular instances by the value stored in their **Name** column. ## Upgrade and hotfix settings You can adjust the settings related to upgrading and hotfixing by clicking the**Settings** button on the main toolbar. On the **General** tab, you can adjust the following settings: - **Check for upgrades/hotfixes** - determines when KIM checks if new hotfixes or upgrades are available for registered instances. - **On start** - KIM checks for updates/hotfixes automatically upon launching. - **Manually** - KIM checks only after selecting the **Upgrade/Hotfix** or **Check** action from the toolbar. - **New upgrades/hotfixes** - determines what to do when new upgrades or hotfixes are found. Only applicable if **On start** is selected above. - **Announce** - KIM displays a notification message. - **Download** - KIM downloads all new upgrades and hotfixes automatically. On the **Cache** tab, you can see the number of temporary upgrade and hotfix folders. These folders contain upgrade/hotfix data unpacked from downloaded upgrade/hotfix packages and are stored in _C:\ProgramData\KIM_. You can delete these temporary folders by clicking the **Delete** button. On the **Update** tab, you can check for available updates of Kentico external utilities and setup files. ## Deployment to Azure By clicking **Deploy to Azure**, you can deploy your Microsoft Azure instances of Kentico to a Microsoft Azure server. Before you can use this feature, you need to create a certificate that provides access to the Microsoft Azure Service Management API functionality. Use the instructions on the [Create a Service Certificate for Azure](http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/azure/gg432987.aspx) page to create a X.509 v3 certificate on your machine and create a personal information exchange certificate, which you have to upload to the Microsoft Azure via [Microsoft Azure Management Portal](https://manage.windowsazure.com/). **See also**: [Running Kentico on Microsoft Azure](https://docs.kentico.com/k81/running-kentico-on-microsoft-azure.md)