PC Inventory Advisor - help & support

Solution #1 - Asset has to be online: This may sound primitive, but we have to ask this. Is remote asset online? Turned on? Available on the network? Many of pur clients just don't check that... sorry. It's the first thing you should consider; however, if it is online and "nicely" pinged, read on. If the remote asset you are trying to inventory does not appear in reports but is ping'ed easily and without severe losses, there might be something wrong with its configuration, please, check this FAQ further, we'll definitely have a sloution. Let us know if we don't, as we are still eager to help you.

Solution #2 - Admin rights: You might have no local administrator rights on the remote computer. You must have the rights of the domain administrator to be able to connect to your assets.

Solution #3 - Firewall: You should check for a firewall blocking access to the remote computer. While configuring it, note that remote computer's firewall should allow DCOM protocol and remote computer management. If there's a Windows firewall interfering, please, read on for more instructions.

Solution #4 - Sharing model: Some times it may seem that everything is configured correctly, but connection still fails. If you are using Windows XP or Windows 2003, you should check for the default sharing and security model for local accounts: open the Local Security Policy editor (e.g. type 'secpol.msc' in the Run box); go to "Local Policies" and select "Security Options". Now scroll down and find "Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts" (or its localized analog). If this is set to "Guest only", change it to "Classic" and restart the computer.

Solution #5 - Blank password: In Windows XP you can no longer use admin accounts with blank passwords for remote administration and management. This can surely be turned off in Local Security Policies, but it's not the right way to do this. It's better to set a password for the admin acount you will be using.

Solution #6 - WMI/RPC/etc no available: Windows NT, Windows 95, and Windows 98 do not support WMI. If "Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions" (or other WMI-related service, like RPC) is disabled on the remote computer you are inventoring, you won't be able to get any data from such an asset. However, you can easily fix this by installing the needed software.

Solution #7 - Compatibility restriction: Basically, you can't connect to/from some versions of Windows OS:

• Windows XP Home does not support remote management, you won't be able to inventory it from a remote PC
• Windows NT computers cannot connect to operating systems newer than Windows 2000, so you won't be able to inventory Windows XP, Windows 2003, or Vista from a Win NT system
• Windows 9x will not connect to Windows 2003 Server
• Windows 2000 assets need Service Pack 2 to be able to communicate successfully to Windows XP or newer Windows OS

Solution: Please, download WMI Core for Windows 95 and 98 and for Windows NT. Learn more details about WMI support in various versions of Windows in other sections of this FAQ (compatibility restriction and deployment of WMI in Win 9x).

Solution: First, download the WMI core. Secondly, place the WMI application in the startup section, and enable DCOM connections:

• In the registry, find the section HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\OLE and set the EnableDCOM value to "Y", and EnableRemoteConnect to "Y" (it is "N" by default)
• In the registry, find the section HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\wbem\cimom and set the AutostartWin9X value to "2". Set EnableAnonConnections to "1"
• Add a link to the Winmgmt.exe file into the Startup directory. The file is stored in the \Windows\WBEM folder

That's it.

Solution: In Windows 2003 the WMI Windows Installer Provider is an optional component. To install this provider, open the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs section and click Add/Remove Windows Components. Select the Management and Monitoring Tools checkbox, then click Details. Mark the WMI Windows Installer Provider checkbox, and click OK.

Solution: In case a Windows XP computer is not allowed for remote administration, please, follow these steps:

• Click "Start", click "Run", type "gpedit.msc" (Group Policies), and then click "OK"
• Under "Local Computer Policy" expand "Computer Configuration" > "Administrative Templates" > "Network" > "Network Connections" > "Windows Firewall" and then click "Domain Profile"
• Right-click "Windows Firewall: Allow remote administration exception", and then click "Properties" or simply double-click it
• Click "Enabled", and then "OK".

That's it.

Solution: Please, follow these steps:

• Click "Start", click "Run", type "DCOMCNFG", and then click "OK"
• In the "Component Services" dialog box, expand "Component Services", expand "Computers", and then expand "My Computer"
• On the toolbar, click the "Configure My Computer" button. The "My Computer" dialog box appears
• In the "My Computer" dialog box, click the "COM Security" tab
• Under "Launch and Activate Permissions", click "Edit Limits"
• In the "Launch Permission" dialog box, follow these steps if your name or your group does not appear in the "Groups or user names list": In the "Launch Permission" dialog box, click "Add"; In the "Select Users", "Computers", or "Groups" dialog box, add your name and the group in the "Enter the object names to select" box, and then click "OK"
• In the "Launch Permission" dialog box, select your user and group in the "Group or user names" box. In the "Allow" column under "Permissions for User", select "Remote Launch", and then click OK.

That's it.

Solution: Before you enable ports in "Windows Firewall", make sure that the "Windows Firewall: Allow local port exceptions" setting is enabled in Group Policies. To do this, follow these steps:

• Click "Start", click "Run", type "gpedit.msc", and then "OK"
• Under "Local Computer Policy" expand "Computer Configuration" > "Administrative Templates" > "Network" > "Network Connections" > "Windows Firewall", and then click "Domain Profile"
• Right-click "Windows Firewall: Allow local port exceptions", and then click "Properties", or simply double-click it
• Click "Enabled", and then "OK"

That's it.

Note: You can also use the "Windows Firewall: Define port exceptions" setting to configure local port exceptions.

The DCOM port is TCP 135. To open the DCOM port, follow these steps:

• Click "Start", and then click "Control Panel"
• Double-click "Windows Firewall", and then click the "Exceptions" tab.
• Click "Add Port".
• In the "Name" box, type "DCOM_TCP135", and then type "135" in the "Port number" box.
• Click "TCP", and then click "OK".
• Click "OK".

Note: You can also type the following command at a command prompt to open a port:

netsh firewall add portopening TCP 135 DCOM_TCP135

Solution: Before you define program exceptions in "Windows Firewall", make sure that the "Windows Firewall: Allow local program exceptions" setting is enabled in Group Policies:

• Click "Start", click "Run", type "gpedit.msc", and then "OK"
• Under "Local Computer Policy" expand "Computer Configuration" > "Administrative Templates" > "Network" > "Network Connections" > "Windows Firewall", and then click "Domain Profile"
• Right-click "Windows Firewall: Allow local program exceptions", and then click "Properties" or simply double-click it
• Click "Enabled", and then "OK"

That's it.

Note: You can also use the "Windows Firewall: Define program exceptions" setting to configure local program exceptions.

To add the program to the "Windows Firewall Exceptions" list, follow these steps:

• Click "Start", and then click "Control Panel"
• Double-click "Windows Firewall", and then click the "Exceptions" tab
• Click "Add Program"
• Locate the file NetworkInventoryExplorer.exe (in the program folder, inside "Program Files"), and then click "OK"
• Click "OK"

You can also type the following command at command prompt to add a program to the Windows Firewall Exception list:

netsh firewall add allowedprogram path_to_the_program_folder\NetworkInventoryExplorer.exe NetworkInventoryExplorer ENABLE

Solution: According to our tests this error refers to Generic Failure accessing remote WMI. However, solutions can be different depending on recurrence of this error. You can find a good discussion on this error here. Please, feel free to contact our tech support any time.

Solution: The reason of this issue is the version of Windows OS. Actually, in Win NT/2000/XP a user always logs on before logging to network (Netware or Microsoft). In Windows 9x you cannot get the user name unless you log on into Windows. So, Windows logon must precede the network logon to correctly capture the username. So, please try to select the 'Windows logon' option in the 'Primary Network Logon' list (Control Panel > Network > Configuration). Unfortunately, it is not possible to get the user name in Windows 9x BEFORE 'Windows logon' occurs.