Attach additional files to a support case with SymDiag

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange
• Endpoint Protection

Issue/Introduction

This article describes how to provide additional files for a support case that are not typically gathered by the Symantec Diagnostic Tool (SymDiag).

Resolution

There are two ways in which you can specify additional files for the Symantec Diagnostic Tool (SymDiag) to collect that are not collected as part of any of its scan options:

• Through the user interface (UI) when choosing ‘Collect data for a support case’
• Through a text file placed in the same directory from which SymDiag.exe is run

Warning:  DO NOT attach any executable files or files that may be malware using this feature.  Executable files will not be collected by SymDiag.  To submit potential malware files to Symantec go to Security Response: Submit Virus Samples.

Using the UI

Note: Download Symhelp from https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/155115

After accepting the EULA, click on either...

• The "Collect Data for Support" button in the Scans section on the upper left, or
• The "Collect Custom Files" link in the right-hand column (this takes you directly to the custom file selection dialog)

 

Collect Data for Support 
If you select to 'Collect Data for Support, in the Data Type selection dialog, check the box to 'Choose additional files to collect'.

Collect Custom Files
If you choose to collect custom files from the Home page you will see the following warning dialog:


Choose the appropriate option for your circumstance.  The collect custom files feature is not compatible with best security practices for handling potential malware.  If you have potential malware files select 'Submit Virus Sample'.

In either scenario, in the custom file selection window, browse for the file or enter the path. After the files have been selected click "Next".

After all the logs are gathered you will see the custom files being added.

After the scan is complete, in the Save page, enter your customer information. Be sure to enter the correct case number as this is used to identify your report.

Then click "Open or Update a Support Case".

For more information on how to send data collected by SymDiag to support:  Create or update support cases with data collected by SymDiag

After the upload is complete you will see a success screen.  This may take some time depending on the size of the attached file(s),

 

Using a text file

To add custom files to a data collection run of SymDiag, create a text file named…

SymDiagCustomFiles.txt

Use a plain text editor (or UTF-8 encoding if Unicode characters are needed).  In the text file add one file to be collected per line.  To properly direct SymDiag to the file desired, the following path formats may be used:

• UNC (network share) or local drive
• Must be an absolute path; no relative paths will be recognized
• Must end with a filename, not a directory name
• Environment variables are accepted
• Wildcards (*, ?) in the filename are accepted
• The double-asterisk wildcard (**) can be added as the last directory name in order to specify all sub-folders of the directory

Note:  As in the UI dialog executable files will be ignored and not collected

Place this file in the same folder as SymDiag will be run from.

Example:

• %temp%\**\*.log

- Collects all files with the extension “.log” in both the user and system temp folders and their subfolders