Providing data to Symantec Support when SymDiag won't complete

Products

• Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange
• Endpoint Protection

Issue/Introduction

This article describes how to manually gather data for a support case when the Symantec Diagnostic Tool (SymDiag) won't complete its tasks.

Resolution

In some cases, the Symantec Diagnostic Tool (SymDiag) may not be able to complete a data collection scan or is otherwise interrupted from doing so. In these cases, it can still be possible to send important information to Symantec Support even though a save of the data was not performed through the UI. When SymDiag launches it creates some directories and a database file in the user’s temp directory. The database file is where much of the data that is collected is stored. Additionally, files that are not stored in the database are stored in a sub-directory of the user’s temp directory.

 

To supply Symantec Support with available data from an incomplete run of SymDiag do the following:

 

1. Optionally, create a screenshot of the SymDiag UI where it has stopped.

 

 

2. Open the user’s temp directory.

 

 

3. Find the .SdDb file and the corresponding Temp#### (where # represents a random digit) with the most recent Date Modified timestamp.  Also, you may find a .log file with the same name as the .SdDb file.

 

 

 

4. Copy the .SdDb file (and the .log file if present) and the Temp#### directory and then compress them both(all) together using a file compression utility.  This will significantly decrease their size.

 

 

5. Send the compressed file to Symantec Support along with any screenshots or other requested information

 

 

A Symantec Support technician can access the data in most .SdDb files and determine if additional information is needed. Also, if the above information is supplied, the Symantec Support technician can provide this data to the SymDiag team who can attempt to determine a cause and develop a solution for the next release of SymDiag.  In the event that SymDiag is unable to run and collect the needed data, it will be necessary to manually collect the data.  The Symantec Support technician will be able to specify what is needed.