Dynamic Group not removing assets who fail to meet criteria

[CBG-NK]

I have the latest version of Lansweeper. I created a dynamic group with three filter criteria:

1. State Equal To Active
   
2. Software Installed Not Equal To Adobe Reader XI (11.0.13) MUI
   
3. Computer OU Equal To (Target Computers)

Clicking "View Assets" displayed the correct target computers. I then deployed the Adobe Reader 11.0.13 package to the target computers and selected the rescan asset option. After I verified that the package was successfully deployed to the targets, I checked back the dynamic group and noticed that the assets were still listed. I went ahead and manually rescanned the assets a few times, but they were still being listed in the dynamic group. Am I missing a step? Why is this happening?

[Susan_A]

Glad you were able to resolve the issue. Thank you for posting the solution as well. I assumed the problem had something to do with spaces, though it was not immediately apparent to me that there was an extra space *within* the software name as listed in Add/Remove Programs. I'm assuming this is a really rare occurrence and should affect very few customers. Dynamic groups were added to the software more than a year ago and this is the first time this issue has come up as far as I know.

Regardless, I'll ask development to modify the Software tabs and dynamic group configuration in our next release so that all spaces are displayed. I'm not sure when the next release will be, but you can enable the automatic update check under Configuration\Your License.

[CBG-NK · Accepted solution]

I am currently on v5.3.0.24 and WAS getting the same results. Until I noticed something!

If you look closely at my first screenshot of the Add/Remove Programs on the client, you will notice that the "MUI" in the Adobe name is a little spaced out. I've included it here for reference. The green arrow below shows a regular single space, but the red arrow indicates that there is a double space in the name.



The dynamic group worked after I added the extra space in the filter for the software name.

The bigger problem is that Lansweeper AND the filter, does NOT observe and display the extra space! Even AFTER I modified it. Refer to my earlier screenshots and you will observe this. Even though lansweeper mimics the add/remove programs from the client, it fails to accurately display the software name verbatim. I had copied the display name from lansweeper when I originally created my filter (just to be precise), but because lansweeper was not accurately displaying the software name with the extra space, the filter was not working. After adding the extra space, lansweeper accepts the changes but still does not display the extra space.



So although Adobe screwed up with an extra space in their software name, lansweeper failed to accurately display it. I should be able to view accurate software names in lansweeper instead of having to login to clients to achieve the same. So this issue needs to be corrected urgently.

[Susan_A]

The only way I am able to reproduce this in the latest Lansweeper release is if I add leading and trailing spaces to my dynamic group filters, which you shouldn't do. Could you:

• If you haven't already, update to the latest Lansweeper release (5.3.0.24) by following the instructions in this knowledge base article. We did fix some dynamic group bugs in previous releases.
  
• Edit the software name and version entries of your dynamic group filter under Configuration\Asset Groups and ensure that they contain no leading or trailing spaces. (These would not be visible in the screenshots you posted.)
  
• If the issue persists, try a Not Like instead of a Not Equal To operator for the software filter of your dynamic group. There may be leading or trailing spaces in the scanned software name itself for some reason, in which case a Not Equal To filter without the extra spaces won't locate the software.

[CBG-NK]

Just to be clear. The software IS listed in Add/Remove Programs on the client machine AND listed in the Software tab of the computer's Lansweeper webpage. Please note that everything is consistent. See below:






I tried using the following filter setting with the software version number:




I even tried not including the version number:



But I still get the same results of the clients being listed in the dynamic group even though the software has been installed on them. Please also note that that software name is consistent on the client, in lansweeper and on the filter. The package was installed since Dec. 9 and as of today (Dec. 17), the clients are still listed. Hope you can resolve this so that the feature can serve its purpose.

[Susan_A]

The dynamic asset group looks at the information listed in the computer's Software tab, which in turn mimics Add/Remove Programs on the client machine itself. I would recommend checking Add/Remove Programs on one problem client machine, as well as the Software tab of the same computer's Lansweeper webpage. Possible explanations for the issue:

• The software is not listed in Add/Remove Programs on the client machine and hence not scanned by Lansweeper's default software scanning procedure. (This seems unlikely.)
  
• The software is listed in Add/Remove Programs on the client machine, but not listed in the Software tab of the computer's Lansweeper webpage. The computer's software data may not have been rescanned yet, which again seems unlikely in your case, or the software may be installed only for a select number of users on the computer, in which case it will only be detected if the last logged on user has the software installed. To determine when Lansweeper last scanned a computer's software data, look at the SOFTWARE item in the computer's Scan Time tab.
  
• The software is listed in Add/Remove Programs on the client machine and listed in the Software tab of the computer's Lansweeper webpage, but the software name specified in your dynamic asset group does not exactly match what is listed in Add/Remove Programs and the computer's Software tab. If this is the case, you'll need to change your dynamic group filters under Configuration\Asset Groups.

If the explanations above do not apply to you, please contact support@lansweeper.com and provide the information below. (Emails are prioritized and responded to within 24 working hours. Forum topics may take longer to get a response.)

• Description of the problem.
  
• Program Files (x86)\Lansweeper\Service\Errorlog.txt, as present on your Lansweeper server.
  
• Screenshot of the dynamic group filters under Configuration\Asset Groups, as well as the current group results.
  
• Screenshot of Add/Remove Programs on one problem client machine.
  
• Screenshots of the same problem client machine's Lansweeper webpage. Show us the Software and Scan Time tabs of the page.