Install the Orbit Station

How to put the Station on your Windows PC, start it for the first time and run your first test. Nothing else needs to be set up on the PC: no SSH keys, no Git settings, no passwords for repositories.

Who this is for

Testers who will run tests on their own PC, and System Admins who enroll PCs. You do not need to know how Orbit works inside.

Before you start

• A Windows 10 (version 1803 or later) or Windows 11 PC, and an internet connection.

• Git for Windows installed with its default options (https://git-scm.com/download/win). If it is missing the installer tells you and opens the download page.

• An Orbit account with the QA Engineer role or higher on your project. A Viewer can look but not run.

• An enrollment code and the installer link. You get both in one of two ways:

  • Self-service (most testers): request a Station in your Profile; once a System Admin approves it, you create the code yourself. See Get a code yourself.
  • From an admin: a System Admin creates the code for you. See Get a code from an admin.

  A code works once and expires after 24 hours (a self-service code at the latest when your approval window ends), so get it when you are at the PC and ready to install.

Get a code yourself

1. In the Console, open your avatar menu, then Profile, then the Station tab.
2. Under Request a Station, enter the PC name and, if you like, a short reason. Choose Send request.
   • The PC name follows the Windows rule for PC names: 2 to 60 letters, digits, dots, hyphens or underscores, starting with a letter or digit, with no spaces (for example LDN-QA-08).
   • Use the PC’s own name: on Windows it is in Settings, System, About, Device name.
   • The name must be free: no other Station or open request may use it. If it is taken, the Console says so; choose another PC name.
   • You can send at most 5 requests a day. After that, try again the next day or ask a System Admin.
3. Every System Admin gets a notification. Wait for the decision: you get a notification too. It is the setting Station requests to review (System admins), and the decision on mine on Notifications, tab Settings (from Profile, Preferences: Choose which notifications you get). While you wait, the tab shows Request pending with Cancel request.
4. If the request is rejected, the tab shows the admin’s note. You can send a new request.
5. If it is approved, the tab shows Install with your PC name. You have 7 days from the approval to get a code. A System Admin can also withdraw the approval before you install; you then send a new request.
6. When you are at the PC, choose Get installation code. The Console shows the code once, the installer link and the three steps (Git, installer, paste the code). Use Copy code, then follow Install.

Good to know:

• The code is never emailed and the admin never sees it. Leaving the page or choosing Done hides it for good.
• Lost the code, or it expired? Choose Get a new code while the 7 days last. The new code replaces the previous unused one.
• A code expires after 24 hours, or earlier when the 7-day approval window ends first: it never outlives the approval.
• After 7 days without an install, request the Station again.
• A request is used up once its Station enrolled: the tab then shows “PC name is enrolled” and no more codes. For another PC, send a new request, even if that Station is later removed.
• The Station is enrolled in your name and listed under My Stations on the same tab, with its version, when it was last seen and whether it is online or revoked. You cannot revoke or remove it yourself: ask a System Admin.

Get a code from an admin

A System Admin creates the code in the Console, under Admin, Stations, Add station, and gives you the code and the installer link. This is for PCs an admin sets up, such as shared lab PCs; the Station then has no owner. System Admins also approve self-service requests on the same page, tab Requests, where Withdraw approval… ends an approval that has not enrolled a Station yet. On the Stations tab, under Waiting to enroll, Void… stops an unused code (an admin’s or a requester’s) working at once.

Install

1. Download the installer from the link (install-orbit-station.cmd) and open it. If Windows SmartScreen asks, choose More info, then Run anyway.
2. The installer downloads the Station (about 40 MB), checks that the file is intact and unpacks it for your Windows user. It does not need administrator rights.
3. When it asks for the enrollment code, paste it (right-click pastes; the code stays hidden) and press Enter.
4. When it asks Start Orbit Station now, press Y. A window opens and then your browser shows the Station.
5. Sign in with your Orbit email and password. If your organisation uses an authenticator, enter its code when asked.

The Station is now in the Start menu as Orbit Station. Keep its window open while you work.

Run your first test

1. Choose Run in the left menu.
2. Pick the project (in the bar at the top), the environment and the workload, then choose Start run.
3. The run goes through Checkout, Install, Lock and secrets, Running and Collecting results. The first run on a PC is slower: it downloads the test dependencies and the browsers. Later runs reuse them.

What the Station does for you

• It updates itself. When a new version is ready the Version card at the bottom of the left menu (and the About page) offers Restart to update.
• It reads the private test repositories with a short-lived, read-only key from the Console. You never enter a repository password.
• It can start when you sign in to Windows. Turn this on or off in Settings, tab Station, General: Start Orbit Station when I sign in to Windows.

If something goes wrong

What you see	What to do
“Git for Windows is needed” in the installer	Install Git with the default options, then run the installer again.
“The download is damaged or was changed”	Run the installer again. If it repeats, tell a System Admin.
The enrollment code is refused	Codes work once and expire after 24 hours (or when the approval window ends), a new code voids the previous one, and an admin may have voided it. Get a new one in Profile, Station (while your approval lasts) or ask the admin.
Get installation code is missing	Your request is still pending, was rejected or withdrawn, already enrolled a Station, or the 7-day window after approval has closed. The Station tab says which; request again if needed.
“Another Station or request already uses this name”	Choose another PC name, usually the PC’s own Device name.
“You made several requests today”	The limit is 5 requests a day. Try again tomorrow or ask a System Admin.
“You need a role in a project to request a Station”	Ask a Project Admin to add you to a project, then request again.
Installing the workload failed on a run	Open Diagnostics from the error card. It checks every repository the workload needs and says which one cannot be read. If it still fails, send the admin the run’s log (Log panel) and the Diagnostics page.
“The Station could not read a repository the workload needs”	A repository the workload uses is not in the Orbit organisation, or the workload needs to be registered again. This is for a Project Admin or System Admin to fix, not for you.
A test fails with a timeout on the first run of the day	The system under test may be starting up. Run it again after a few minutes.

Remove the Station (and start over)

1. Close the Station window and the browser tab.

2. Ask a System Admin to Revoke… and then Remove… your PC under Admin, Stations in the Console (your run history stays).

3. In PowerShell run:

   Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Orbit\Station"
   Remove-Item "$env:APPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Orbit Station.lnk" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
   Remove-Item "$env:APPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Orbit Station (autostart).lnk" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

   This deletes the Station, its sign-in and the local history on this PC.

4. Install again with a new enrollment code.

Values to record

Value	Where you find it	Kind
Installer link	Profile, Station, with your code; or from a System Admin (the Console shows it next to Add station)	Plain; can be shared
Enrollment code	Profile, Station, Get installation code (self-service); or Admin, Stations, Add station	Shown once, works once, valid 24 hours; paste it straight into the installer, do not save or share it
PC name of your request	What you typed in Request a Station	Plain; the Station is enrolled under this name
Approval window end	Profile, Station, under Install	Plain; after this date request again; a code never outlives it
Station name	Shown on the Station after enrolling	Plain
Station version	About on the Station	Plain