Documentation forSolarWinds

Find and launch tools with the Toolset Launch Pad

Toolset Launch Pad gives you central access to all of the Engineer's Toolset for the Desktop (ETS for the Desktop) tools. You can use it to find and launch the tool you need.

Open the Toolset Launch Pad

To open the Toolset Launch Pad, do either of the following:

  • From the Windows Start menu, expand SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset and click Toolset Launch Pad.

  • Click the Toolset Launch Pad shortcut on your Windows desktop.

Choose grid or list view

Click the Grid View or List View button in the upper-right corner to specify how tools are listed. By default, tools are displayed in a grid. Each box includes information about the tool.

List view displays more tools in a view, but does not provide any information other than the tool name.

Determine which tools are displayed

Select one of the following options from the top of the left pane:

  • Quick Start (the default) displays the most commonly used tools.

  • Recent Tools displays the tools you opened recently.

  • Favourites displays the tools you have designated as a favorite. To designate a tool as a favorite, you can:

    • On the tool's launch box, select the star in the upper-right corner (grid view), or click the horizontal ellipsis menu and select Add to favorites (list view).

    • On the Favourites view, if no tools are listed, click the 'edit this folder' link. Then select one or more tools, click Add, and click Save changes.

You can browse for other tools by clicking a category in the left pane.

Reorganize tools

Rearrange the tools in any folder or view

You can change the order in which tools are displayed in any folder or view of the Toolset Launch Pad.

  1. Place the cursor over the vertical dotted lines in the upper right corner of any square that represents a tool. The cursor changes shape to indicate the square can be moved: .

  2. Drag and drop the square in the desired location.

Create a new folder and add tools to it

By default, tools are organized into folders. You can change the organization by creating additional folders.

  1. Click the Create Folder icon above the list of folders in the left pane.

  2. Enter a name to identify the folder.

  3. Select one or more tools to add to the folder, and click Add.

  4. Click Create Folder.

Copy a tool to a different folder

  1. Open the first folder, right-click the tool, and select Copy.

  2. Open the second folder, right-click the background, and select Paste.

    The tool is added to the second folder.

Delete a tool from a folder

  1. Open the folder, right-click the tool, and select Delete from folder.

  2. On the confirmation dialog, click Delete.

    The tool is removed from the folder. It is still available from the All Tools folder.

Search for a tool

  1. Type a tool name or category in the search bar.

  2. Click the magnifying glass or press Enter to perform the search.

    The search results include a description of each tool, a preview screenshot, and a Launch button.

For example, if you're looking for tools to help you solve a DNS-related problem, enter dns in the search bar. Toolset Launch Pad returns all tools with dns in the name or description.

Define command line parameters to run when a tool is launched

  1. Right-click a tool, and select Command line parameters.

  2. Enter one or more command line parameters that you want to run whenever the tool is launched from ETS for the Desktop. Surround each parameter with quotation marks, and put a space between parameters. For example:

    "-l:MyLoginID" "-pw:MyPassword"

  3. Click Test to test the results of launching with the defined parameters.

    For some tools, you can enter "/?" or "-?" and click Test to get a list of available command line parameters.

  4. Click OK to save the parameters.

Launch a tool

When you find the tool you want to use, click that tool's Launch button to open it.

Add other tools to the Toolset Launch Pad

You can make other tools not associated with SolarWinds available from the Toolset Launch Pad. This allows you to access all of your frequently used tools from one place.

  1. In the lower-left corner, click Import Local Tools.

  2. Click Browse, then locate and select the executable file of the tool you want to add.

  3. Enter a name and description to identify the tool within Launch Pad.

  4. Click Next.

  5. Select the folder from which the tool will be available. Optionally, you can create a new folder.

  6. Click Import.

    The tool is available to launch in the selected folder, and can be found with a search.