A method and system to remotely install management software on client machines of a network without requiring user-intervention such as a logon. A data discovery manager determines which discovered machines in a network should be configured for client installation, and queues a client configuration request (CCR) for each such machine. A client configuration manager dequeues each CCR, and attempts to establish a connection with the remote machine corresponding to the CCR. If successful, a bootstrap install service is downloaded to the client machine from a server having administrative rights, after which the bootstrap service is run to install the remainder of the management software on the client machine from a client access point server. If unsuccessful, retries may be attempted. Client machines having users with sufficient security rights may install the management software via a logon or other process at the client machine.