Prey

Prey is a set of bash scripts that helps you track your computer when it is stolen.

This guide shows you how to install Prey.

Installation

Install prey-tracker^AUR from the AUR.

Configuration

Add a new device using the control panel on Prey's website.

Note: The 'Add new device' button on Prey's website links to it's download page for whatever reason. You can add a new device here: https://panel.preyproject.com/devices/new

Edit /usr/share/prey/config and add your device key and API key, both of which are listed in Prey's control panel.

Run /usr/share/prey/prey.sh as root to ensure that the configuration is correct.

Tip: To automatically start Prey at boot, you must enable systemd service prey-tracker.service and prey-trackter.timer.

Note: The old version of prey-tracker^AUR ( < 0.5.9-3) was in /usr/share/prey-tracker/ folder, now (>0.5.10-2) it is in /usr/share/prey/.

Modules

To enable/disable modules, you must change the executable permissions for the the "run" files in prey's respective modules/core subdirectories. Adding executable permissions to a module will enable it, while removing permissions will disable the module.

GUI config

You can use a GUI to configure prey using the prey-config script:

# /usr/share/prey/platform/linux/prey-config.py

Note that if this doesn't work you are missing a dependency, not sure if Python alone suffices.

Standalone Mode

The GUI can be used to configure standalone mode.

Alternatively,/usr/share/prey/config can be edited to change post_method to email and edit the SMTP settings.

Note that in Standalone Mode, all modules in /usr/share/prey/modules run by default. To disable them, remove executable permissions on the module's run file (located within the module's core subdirectory). For example, the following command disables the alarm module:

# chmod -x /usr/share/prey/modules/alarm/core/run

Troubleshooting

To troubleshoot, run

# /usr/share/prey/prey.sh --check

Beeping

If scrot is installed, prey will use it to take a screenshot if the session module is enabled. Unfortunately, scrot emits an annoying beep everytime it is run. To disable beeping, append xset -b to the beginning of /usr/share/prey/modules/session/core/run.

Bugs

There seems to be a bug in version 0.5.3 which gives an error if the SMTP password is set when using "email" post_method, which returns an error, but works fine when executed normally without the --check option.