What you will do
Open the Prixl Warden dashboard for the first time, accept the licence terms, read what Warden changes on the server, and learn what each tab is for. The dashboard runs on the server itself, not on a website: to use it from your own desk, connect to the server with Remote Desktop first.
Time: about 10 minutes. You need: Warden installed (see Install Warden on your server) and an administrator account on the server.
Open the dashboard
- Sign in to the server with an administrator account.
- Double-click the Prixl Warden Dashboard icon on the desktop.
- Windows asks whether to allow the app to make changes. Click Yes. The dashboard needs administrator rights to open.
- The dashboard opens in your web browser. If Internet Explorer opens instead and shows “Internet Explorer is not supported”, copy the address into Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.
Always open the dashboard from the desktop shortcut. Links in Warden emails and the address http://localhost:9843 in installer messages normally open a page titled “Session Expired” instead of the dashboard. That page is expected: close it and use the shortcut. From a command line, the same shortcut is prixl-warden dashboard in a Command Prompt opened as administrator.
Accept the licence terms and the change notice
These two pop-ups appear only on the first visit (the licence terms appear only if they have not been accepted yet).
- In the “Licence terms” window, read the terms and click I accept. The window cannot be closed until you accept.
- The next window, “What Prixl Warden changes on this server”, lists four things: sign-in auditing in Windows (“Logon / Logoff auditing”), reading the Windows Security event log, Windows Firewall rules and firewall logging, and Remote Desktop settings, which Warden changes only when you ask. Read it and click I understand. Warden records your Windows user name and the time.
- A short guided tour starts. Follow it, or close it and come back later from the menu with Take the tour.
- A yellow banner asks you to “Set your working hours.” Until you do, sign-ins outside office hours are recorded but not emailed. Click Set Hours and follow Set working hours, recipients and which alerts you get.
Find your way around
The top bar shows your organisation, the device name and the server name (“Org: … · Device: … · Host: …”) and, on the right, the Warden version. The tabs are on the left:
| Tab | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Overview | The landing page. Counters “Attacks Prevented Today”, “Yesterday” and “Cumulative”; charts of blocked attempts by port and by IP; a protection status line (“All protections in force” when all is well); and cards for “Hardening Score”, “RDP Port”, “Plan” (with “Valid till” date) and “Admin Emails (alerts go here)”. |
| Hardening | The security audit: every check, your score out of 100, and the fixes. See Run the security audit and apply fixes. |
| IP Blocking | Attackers Warden has seen, addresses you have blocked, manual blocking and the auto-block switches. See Block attackers. |
| Trusted IPs | Addresses and ranges Warden must never block automatically, such as your office’s own internet address. |
| Secure Access | Prixl Guard: staff invites, connected devices and the “Lock RDP to Secure Access only” switch. Greyed out if your plan does not include it. See the Guard guides. |
| Open Ports | Ports the server is listening on, whether they are reachable from the internet, and buttons to limit them to your office network. See Restrict risky ports. |
| Settings | Working Hours, Notification Categories, Alert Recipients, Regular Summaries (daily digest and weekly reports), Windows Firewall, Software Updates, and Advanced. |
The menu button in the top bar (“More options”) has four entries:
- Info: what Warden does and collects, troubleshooting answers, the installed version and a Check for updates button.
- Activity: “Recent Dashboard Activity”, a list of every change made from the dashboard.
- Take the tour: replays the guided tour.
- What Warden changes: re-opens the change notice from your first visit.
Things worth knowing
- Every change you make in the dashboard (a fix, a block, a settings change) is recorded with your Windows user name and emailed to all alert recipients, so nothing changes silently.
- After each change there is a short pause before the next one. The sidebar shows “Next action in Ns” while it counts down.
- Coloured banners above the tabs tell you about your licence (for example a grace period after expiry), an available update (“Update Now”), or a problem with monitoring. The troubleshooting guide explains each one.
- On the trial, the Hardening tab shows “View only – upgrade your plan to apply fixes.” in place of the apply button.
Check it worked
- The top bar shows your organisation name and the device name you chose during the install.
- No licence banner such as “No license file found” or “Device is not yet enrolled with the cloud” shows above the tabs.
- The “More options” menu, then Activity, opens the list of dashboard changes.
If something goes wrong
- “Access denied reading the dashboard token.”: the shortcut was not run with administrator rights. Sign in as an administrator and click Yes at the Windows prompt.
- “Warden dashboard is not running.”: the service is stopped. In PowerShell opened as administrator, run Start-Service PrixlWarden, wait a minute and try the shortcut again.
- A banner says “No license file found. Upload your org.lic to get started.”: click Upload .lic file and pick the org.lic from your welcome email.
- For “Session Expired” pages that keep coming back and other problems, see Troubleshooting Warden.
Next
Previous: Install Warden on your server. Next: Run the security audit and apply fixes. Back to Prixl Warden guides.