Software Inventory of Applications installed might be different from expected while comparing with Client data

Products

• IT Management Suite
• Client Management Suite
• Inventory Solution

Issue/Introduction

Customer reporting that after Software Inventory scan, the report might show that client machine have more software detected than expected when comparing Client data:

And data we have in Console Resource Manager > Summaries > Software Summary:

 

Environment

ITMS 8.x

Cause

During Software Inventory scan - the plugin would perform various API calls to the system to detect installed software.

It's worth to check through SoftwareCache_v2.xml on affected client machine for the list of software we have in cache.

(file located by default in C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\SoftwareManagement\data\ path).

Where <Source> field value would provide further details.

If value is 1 = it's MSI cache detection

If value is 8 = we detect it from Windows Add/Remove Programs (ARP)

If value is 9 = program detected both in MSI cache and ARP.

If value is 128 = detected during AppX scanner (Modern Apps)

Resolution

If per ARP data we do not have this software installed, but still report it, it's worth to further check through PowerShell - from where MSI cache might be taking this data, as example:

In ARP we might have only 1 record of Java software:

But if we do first PS script to check for data using command: Get-Package -Name * | Where-Object { $_.Name -like "*Java*" }

we get result like:

Where we can see that we have not just Java 8 Update, but also Java Auto Updater installed, further we can get the Product Code and exact path from where MSI cache would detect it using next PS call: get-wmiobject Win32_Product | Where Name -like "*Java*"| Format-Table IdentifyingNumber, Name, LocalPackage -AutoSize

resulting in:

And this information can be used further either to perform removal of unexpected software or generally for understanding the nature of software detection.

For Modern Software (Appx) following PS command can be used to on client to narrow down the search: get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Where Name -like "*Edge*":

 

Additionally, in some scenarios - it might be worth to perform Full Software inventory (in case if Full Inventory Scan is not scheduled) where it's required to uncheck Delta option:

for the SoftwareCache xml file to be updated and Removed software is also cleaned from our Software Management Agent cache file.