Collecting computer inventory using WSUS
I was recently tasked with collecting a list of software installed in my environment (desktops and servers). In the past, I would have used a WMI script to query the computers and export it into a database or spreadsheet. However, the more recent Windows versions block all remote connections by default, meaning my WMI script would fail.
A little research made me began to look at WSUS (which was already used to patch our environment). I realized there was a view (PUBLIC_VIEWS.vComputerInventory) that is empty, but looks like it should hold inventory information. There is also a table (tbInventoryRule) that lists an XML to inventory hardware and software of client machines. So it’s possible, how do I enable it.
I finally came across a field – tbConfigurationC.CollectClientInventory=0. I executed the following command to update its value.
update tbConfigurationC set CollectClientInventory=1
I told my client to rescan for updates, and now when I view PUBLIC_VIEWS.vComputerInventory, I see hardware inventory, and Add/Remove Programs information.
You beauty! I've spent several hours trying to figure out why WSUS wasn't collecting this information despite having the tables for it.
Thank you very much.
i must not be doing it right i changed the value but nothing is populating what else did you change and what tables are you viewing?
This can also be changed with PowerShell with the wsus API:
$wsusserver = "wsus-server-name"
#Load required assemblies
[void][reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration")
$wsus = [Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration.AdminProxy]::getUpdateServer($wsusserver,$False)
$wsusconf = $wsus.GetConfiguration()
$wsusconf.CollectClientInventory = 1 # 0=turn off, 1=Turn on
$wsusconf.CollectClientInventory
$wsusconf.Save()
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Talking about hardware inventory for sure the best solution is https://www.softinventive.com/products/total-network-inventory/ I tried a lot of different software, but this one is the most userfriendly and very comfortable to use and create reports.