SMS: Software Inventory Does Not Report Last Accessed Date

ID: Q229973

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Systems Management Server version 2.0

SYMPTOMS

Software inventory in Systems Management Server 2.0 does not report the Last Accessed Date attribute of the files being inventoried. There is a command-line tool called Swinv.exe that will inventory the files you specify for file attributes including the Last Accessed Date and report its information as a .csv file or a .mif file.

This utility works for both Systems Management Server 1.2 and 2.0.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Systems Management Server 2.0. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q236325 SMS: How to Obtain the Latest Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server 2.0. This problem was first corrected in Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack Service Pack 1.

MORE INFORMATION

The syntax for Swinv.exe is:


swinv [/format:{csv|idmif|noidmif}] [/detail:{both|software|file}] [/drive:{a-z}*] 
[/path:[path] [/yield:<delay>] [/output:drive:\[path\] [file].ext | *

Where:

/format specifies the type of output created: csv, idmif, or noidmif. It defaults to csv if no option is specified.

NOTE: On Systems Management Server 2.0 clients, the IDMIF option is not currently supported in this tool.

/detail specifies the type of information retrieved by SWINV. "Software" returns the information in the file headers such as Manufacturer and Version. "File" returns the file attributes including "last accessed date". "Both" combines the two. SWINV defaults to "both" if no option is specified.

NOTE: There is no method of specifying particular attributes.

/drive specifies the drive that will be searched. You can specify a single drive letter and SWINV will scan only that drive. If a drive letter is not specified, SWINV will default to all local hard drives.

/path specifies a directory to start searching. SWINV will search the specified directory and all its subdirectories. If /drive is not specified and multiple drives have directories with that name, SWINV will scan them all. If /path is not specified, SWINV will default to a root directory search path.

/yield causes SWINV to pause for the specified number of milliseconds every time it changes a directory during its search. This allows it to yield processor time to another running application. If /yield is not specified, SWINV defaults to zero milliseconds, which gives the maximum scan rate.

/output writes the output to the path specified. It defaults to the Systems Management Server idmif or noidmif path (specified in c:\Sms.ini or Smscfg.ini); otherwise c:\Swinv.

NOTES:

When used, the output path must be a directory name only. When the format is ID or NOID MIF, /output must not be used.

The final parameter is required and is a filter that tells SWINV what files to look for. It takes the form:


      .ext (not *.ext)  -- all files with the specified extension
      Filename.ext      -- specific file name

The following sample usage provides some examples for how to use SWINV:

C:\>swinv /format:idmif /detail:software .exe .com C:\>swinv /drive:m /output:c:\nwsys .exe .com .dll .ocx C:\>swinv /format:noidmif /path:"My Documents" .doc C:\>swinv /format:noidmif doom.exe

SWINV is completely silent unless the /? switch is used. It logs messages to the Swinv.log file, located in the root of drive C.

After running SWINV and creating a noidmif file, in order for the information to be reported to the Systems Management Server database, hardware inventory (not software inventory) must run to pick up the noidmif file.

After the noidmif has been processed, you will be able to view the data by using Resource Explorer in Systems Management Server 2.0 or by opening Machine Properties in Systems Management Server 1.2. The file attribute information (/detail:file) will be reported in the Inventory Files Group under Hardware Inventory. The file header information (/detail:software) will be reported in the Audited Software Group also under Hardware Inventory.

Additional query words: prodsms sinv


Keywords          : kbSMS200 kbSMS200bug kbInventory kbSMSUtil 
Version           : winnt:2.0
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: July 25, 1999