ReleaseDate registry value used by Software Update policy

Products

• Server Management Suite
• Patch Management Solution
• IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

You are trying to check what is the "Release Date" for one of your recent patches. Looking at the registry, you found "ReleaseDate" but it has a bunch of characters that doesn't tell you a date.

What is the format used to keep data in "ReleaseDate" registry value?

Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Patch Management\Software Update\Policies\<policyGUIDhere>

 

Environment

Patch Management 8.5, 8.6, 8.7

Resolution

Value is a serialized binary format of COleDateTime.

Below is an example how to print out in human readable format:

 

Registry value:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Patch Management\Software Update\Policies\{55B4AC6C-503E-40CD-8C99-6951B63DC043}]
"ReleaseDate"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,db,e5,40,00,00,00,00,cc,cc,cc,cc
"BulletinName"="7ZIP-220718"
"Name"="7z2201_22.01_x86.msi"

 

C# Code:

//using Microsoft.Win32

var rKey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Patch Management\Software Update\Policies\{55B4AC6C-503E-40CD-8C99-6951B63DC043}");
byte[] binData = (byte[])rKey.GetValue("ReleaseDate");
double doubleValue = BitConverter.ToDouble( binData, 0);
Console.WriteLine("Double( C++ COleDateTime):" + doubleValue.ToString());
var date = DateTime.FromOADate(doubleValue);
Console.WriteLine("Date:" + date.ToString());