Registry Scan - error

[jmje]

Trying to scan the following registry key, and getting an error :
I have 2 Lansweeper installs, at 2 sites. I've entered the key the same way in both sites, with different results.


Key : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update
RegValue : AUOptions

I expect a 4, or a 1, depending on how Automatic Updates for the OS is configured.

I have it configured like the top attached image at both sites.

And I'm getting the error shown in the 2nd image at site 2.

For site 1, It scans some machines, and shows the results, but they don't "stick". I can refresh the page, and the count of values declines. Originally I had 14 values after scanning a few machines. Once the scan was done, I showed all 14, but then I refreshed it a few times without rescanning, and the entries slowly disappeared.

Thoughts?

[jmje]

This is one of the values you change in a windows OS if you are managing updates from a 3rd party commercial product. It keeps windows from applying its own patches until you have a patch window, so you can minimize interruption. In many cases, you are creating the key when you set it for the first time.

References :

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/328010/how-to-configure-automatic-updates-by-using-group-policy-or-registry-settings

https://www.windows-commandline.com/disable-automatic-updates-command-line/

After a couple days, this seems to have settled down, and I'm showing 1928 assets with a key value. This is good, as I can compare it against my "All MS OS" list for machines missing the key, and can look for the specific values that won't play nice with our patching software, and update both of them via script.

I think I'm good for now, but I'll keep an eye on the numbers to see if I see a quick decrease again. It might have been just an oddity while the data was being initially scanned/ingested. Who knows? 🙂

Thanks.

[Bruce_B · Accepted solution]

I've been messing around with this registry value and scanning it for a bit, it does seem like it's not present on every Windows computer.

The built-in report that's generated when you click the report button as indicated in your screenshot does not have any special filters that would cause devices to disappear from the report. The report only filters for the specific regkey and value. The only reason assets can disappear from this report is if the registry key or value are no longer found upon rescanning the computer.

As stated earlier I'm not entirely familiar with the functionality of this registry value, but it does not seem to be a permanent one, judging from my test results, I only found it on 12 out of 50 Windows 10 computers. The key seems to be almost always present, but the value is not.

[jmje]

It's not a SQL generated report. It's file and registry scanning.

The first 3 are default with the install, I believe. Mine is the bottom entry.

Thanks.

[Bruce_B]

Could you provide the SQL query behind the report? This will help in determining what could be causing these "drops".

For a scan using LsPush with a direct server connection the .tsv file should not be necessary. (lspush.exe <servername> <portnumber>)

[jmje]

Thanks Bruce,

As the scan is running, I'm seeing the count go up, then decrement before the next scan. It's almost like it's seeing it, reporting it up to the server, then it's being dropped. I can hit refresh on the current report, and watch the values go down. That was the first time I'd built that registry scan, so I picked 100 machines at random and told Lansweeper to rescan them. The value got as high as 60, but dropped to 24 by the time the scan was done.

I do use LSPush on the machines for normal reporting, but this was a console driven request. Does that matter as far as .tsv files go?

Thanks.

[Bruce_B]

For the case where the registry values don't "stick", this would be caused by the registry data not being found during subsequent scans, this can have different causes:

• If the computers are scanned using LsPush and a file import, make sure you're using the accompanying .tsv file (point #5 in this article.), otherwise the registry value will not be found during the scan and removed from the asset page.
  
• The registry value may be intermittently present on the computer in question, I'm not quite sure which modifications occur to the registry key in question when updates are installed.

For the case where an error is returned: the error you're receiving is a generic SQL error that may indicate that something went wrong with inserting data. This may indicate that there is an issue with your Lansweeper database file if you're receiving this error for all registry scans. If the issue persists upon rescanning you could try following the steps in this article.