Q: I am using Windows XP (or 2003/Vista/7/2008/8/...) and I cannot get the remote computer's configuration with WMI. How can I fix this?
A: Please read the help topic WMI Troubleshooting Guide. Pay your attention to WMI support by different Windows versions (Home versions do not support WMI, 95/98/ME/NT4 should be upgraded), the network access model under Windows XP/2000/2003/Vista/7/2008/8 (it should be "normal" not guest), and firewall settings.
The program should have local admin rights on remote computers in order to get the data from them via WMI. If your account (you run the program with) does not have the admin rights, you need to configure the domain admin account in the program (Service - Accounts). It is better to specify the admin's username in the domain\login format.
For WMI, blank passwords should be disabled in the security policy. DCOM and RPC should not be blocked by the Firewall.
You might also be interested in these topics: typical errors arised during the WMI polling, restoring broken WMI.
If WMI cannot be used for gathering the inventory data on your network for some reason you can use the agent service or the client application on remote computers.
If everything fails, please contact our technical support and we will try to help you. We can analyze the program's log files and give some recommendations on what to do.
Q: I am using Windows XP Home (Vista Home) and I cannot get the remote computer's configuration with WMI. How can I fix this?
A: Home versions of Windows do not support WMI operation over network fully. Install our agent service or client on remote computers.
Q: Can I share the inventory database to other administrators? How can I configure this?
A: Administrators can run the program on different computers simultaneously and use one common database. The first connected user gets full access to the database. Other users will get the read-only access only ultil the first user disconnects. They will see the first user's computer name on the program start if he have already connected to the database. In the read-only mode, the users can view and search for data, create and print reports.
Copy the database files to a network server's share and configure all the installed programs to open the database from that shared folder. Go to the program's settings, select the "Collect Information" section, and configure the "Inventory database path" parameter.
Warning! This inventory database folder should differ from the client data file importing folder (the previous option on the settings window). The program will move the files from the client import folder to the database folder when it starts. For example, clients copy data files to folder1. The program opens the inventory database from folder2. On the program start, it moves all new client data files from folder1 to folder2. If you want other administrator to be able to connect to one common inventory database, you need to share folder2 to him, and he should configure the inventory database path to folder2. It will be better if only one administrator will do the client data file importing (from the folder1).
Q: Our network uses the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP). How can we ensure that the program scans the computers properly?
A: When adding computers to the database, enter the computers' textual addresses (computer's network name or DNS name) in the “Computer Address” property. Thus, before the host is accessed, its textual address will be converted into an IP address first.
Q: How do I check whether I have administrator privileges on a remote computer?
A: Right-click on the “My Computer” icon on your desktop and then select “Manage”. Then, on the menu at the top, select “Action – Connect to Remote Computer” and select the remote computer, which you want our software to collect data from, and then click OK. If the console has connected successfully, and you can manage the remote computer, you do have the administrator privileges.
Q: Ping is prohibited in computers' firewall in our network. How can I monitor the on/off state of the remote computers using the "Background check" feature?
A: Since most hosts in modern networks are protected by firewalls, pinging those computers regularly may not work (if the ICMP protocol is disabled). In such cases, checking by opening a TCP connection to a specific port of the host may help. In this case, we can check the availability of computers by attempting to connect to their TCP port 135 (DCOM) or 139 (NetBios).
Please send your questions to us.
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