PDQ Inventory application scan missing some installs
Hi all,
As well as being a happy PDQ Inventory and PDQ Deploy user, we have Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM) and we're migrating things slowly to Endpoint Manager (Intune).
As part of our task sequence build in SCCM for Windows laptops, we deploy a core suite of applications including Google Chrome and VideoLAN VLC media player. I've noticed that PDQ Inventory isn't detecting the presence of at least these two apps on a significant proportion of our machines, but these apps are shown as there on others.
You're probably thinking that the task sequence failed, or we deployed the wrong version or edition, or the user has uninstalled the app, or they have manually installed another version over the top, or the apps have auto-updated. But SCCM's detection rules for these apps are verifying that they're present on the devices.
I used the task sequence to rebuild my own laptop only two weeks ago. All the VideoLAN folder entries including the app are on my Start menu (installed to C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC) and working, I can see it in the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VideoLAN\VLC), and SCCM thinks it's successfully deployed according to an MSI product code detection rule, but it is missing from the Apps list in Settings and PDQ doesn't see it either.
VLC isn't a big problem, as we can easily uninstall it and reinstall it if needed. What really concerns me is that two thirds of our devices (nearly 400 remote work laptops) are reported as not having any Google Chrome app installed at all, and I don't want to mess with working and heavily used software just to fix my inventory data for it.
Has anyone else seen issues with Google Chrome detection, and found a fix or workaround for it that doesn't involve creating a custom file / registry / WMI / PowerShell scanner and modifying collections to use it?
Comments
I'd definitely open a support ticket on this. I've been running PDQ for many years and haven't seen this...ever. I wonder what would happen if you removed one machine from Inventory and then resync from AD (if that's how you add machines) and let it get all fresh, new scans?
I had an issue the other day where all of my machines, under the Deployments section, was only showing an old deployment for Microsoft Edge. I removed all machines from PDQ Inventory and let them be rescanned. Subsequent deployments started being reflected properly.
Good tip Mike. I'll try but as my VLC app is missing from the list Windows itself reports, it probably won't fix that one :(
Okay I tried removing my laptop from Inventory and resynced it from AD, then let all my 11 scheduled scans complete.
Interestingly, VLC appears under my custom WMI "MSIProduct" scan profile but still not on the Applications page. So I did a dynamic collection for machines without an Applications entry named *vlc* but with an MSIProduct named *vlc* and got 48 hits!
Where does PDQ get its list of installed apps from if not from WMI, or is it somehow filtering out VLC?
I deploy VLC in my environment too and have never run across this. I would assume it comes from the Applications scan profile.
Here are some suggestions:
1. Review Log Files:
Check the PDQ Inventory logs for any errors or warnings related to the application scanning process. Logs are located in the following directory: C:\ProgramData\Admin Arsenal\PDQ Inventory\Logs. mapquest
2. Verify Permissions:
Ensure that the PDQ Inventory service account has sufficient permissions to access the registry and file system on target machines. Permissions issues can lead to failed scans.