The program is intended to
assist Network Administrators, Architects and/or Support
Technicians but is useful for anyone who needs to
document a single computer or a network of computers.
You don’t need any special technical skills to use the
program or its output.
Why use
Computer
Census™?
How does
Computer
Census™
work?
What are
the requirements to run
Computer
Census™?
Logon:
A valid logon to the local computer. If taking a census
of remote computers, an Administrative logon that is
common to all of the computers to be inventoried is
required. Users who are members of an administrators
group and at a workstation or server running Windows
2000 or later can inventory remote computers. We
recommend using a Domain Administrator logon at a Domain
Controller server when using the discovery option.
Operating System: A computer using a Windows operating
system: Microsoft Windows 9x, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP,
Server 2003 with Internet Explorer 5.0 or later. Windows
9x computers will require the installation of DCOM, and
WMI.
Disk
space: For the executable file approximately 600 KB. You
will need additional space for collected data.
Time:
Depending on various performance factors,
Computer
Census™
requires
35-60 seconds per computer to complete
data collection and capture.
What
technologies does
Computer
Census™
use?
What
is the syntax for
Computer
Census™?
At a command prompt:
CC.exe [/B] [/F:Path\Filename] [/?] [?] [TargetComputerName]
|
Option |
Meaning |
|
No entry (blank) |
Inventory the local computer
only |
|
/B |
Discover and inventory all
computers found in the current domain |
|
/F:Path\Filename |
Inventory computers whose
names are found in Path\FileName.
FileName must include the filename
extension. FileName must be a plain text
file of computer names, one per line. |
|
/? Or ? |
Displays usage |
|
TargetComputerName |
Inventory TargetComputerName.
Program will accept any number of
TargetComputerName entries |
What is deployed on the individual PC’s?
Server?
Only the executable file CC.exe is
deployed.
How do I uninstall
Computer
Census™?
Remove or Delete the executable file CC.exe. In all
cases data and log files are available for use without
the presence of the executable file.
How
is information about laptops collected?
Laptop computers are inventoried in the same manner as
workstations and servers. Either
Computer
Census™
is run
locally at the laptop or the laptop is connected (and
User logged in) to a network where it can be found and
inventoried.
What type of hardware/operating systems does
Computer
Census™
require?
Computer
Census™
requires Microsoft Windows 95 or later
operating system (computers with operating systems
earlier than Windows Me must install WMI and have WMI
running) with Internet Explorer 5.0 or later. See the
User Manual
for details.
Is any additional software
required for Computer
Census™
No.
However,
Computer Census™ relies on various
components of the operating system that must be present
for all aspects of the program to function. See the
User Manual for details.
What Users Privileges are needed to run
Computer
Census™
User
privileges are required to run on a local computer.
Administrator privileges and a common logon (User Name
and Password) are required to collect data from remote
computers.
Is a Server required to run
Computer
Census™?
No, a server is not required to run
Computer
Census™.
Where do I find
Computer
Census™
output data?
Computer
Census™ writes output to the Users “My
Documents” folder. Look for files beginning with “CC”.
Is there a User Manual or
other reference document?
Yes, a User Manual is provided.
Click here to obtain the
User Manual
in PDF format.
Does
Computer
Census™
run in
a peer-to-peer network?
Yes, but data must be collected
locally for each machine.
Can I inventory PCs which are not connected to my network?
Yes.
Run
Computer
Census™
locally from the “My
Documents” folder. To include these machines in the
database, place a copy of the CC.MDB file in the local
User “My Documents” folder.
I get the message
"Requirement Missing: WMI" and
Computer
Census™ closes, what’s
wrong?
Computer
Census™ requires WMI to be
installed on the local computer and each
remote computer inventoried. On computers with
legacy operating systems you may need to
install WMI before running
Computer
Census™. See “What
is WMI?” and “How do I get WMI” for additional
information.
What is WMI?
Windows® Management
Instrumentation (WMI) is a component of the Microsoft®
Windows® operating system that provides management
information and control. WMI is Microsoft's primary
management technology for Windows and provides a
consistent model and framework through which all Windows
resources are described to the outside world. Beginning
with Windows NT® 4.0 Service Pack 4, WMI is an integral
part of the Windows family of Operating systems. WMI is
available as an installable option for Windows® 95
operating systems forward. Additional information about
WMI is available from Microsoft. Visit
www.msdn.com and search for WMI.
How do I get WMI?
WMI
is included when you install Microsoft® Windows® 2000,
Windows® XP, Windows® Server 2003, or Windows®
Millennium Edition (Me). For those running Windows® 95
OSR 2, Windows® 98 or Microsoft® Windows NT® 4.0, a WMI
installation package can be downloaded from Microsoft®
MSDN® which offers similar functionality as found in the
later operating systems. WMI will not work on a Windows®
NT® 3.51 installation. You can download the latest
version of WMI from the MSDN website:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/ and search for “WMI
Core”. Be sure to select the version for your operating
system and follow instructions regarding
installation of DCOM before installing WMI.
What is DCOM and how do
I get a copy?
Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) is a component
of Microsoft COM (Component Object Model) technology in
the Microsoft Windows-family of Operating Systems. It
enables software components to communicate. More
information about these technologies is available from
Microsoft at
http://www.microsoft.com/com/default.mspx. Follow
Microsoft links to download versions appropriate for the
legacy operating system for your system. DCOM MUST
be installed before WMI. Be sure to follow
instructions regarding installation of DCOM before
installing WMI.
I
have installed WMI on my Windows 98 computer but
Computer
Census™ still
will not run.
Windows
98 does not support the concept of managed services.
Additionally, WMI must be running on the computer for
Computer
Census™ to collect information. On legacy
systems, WMI can be loaded manually by running
winmgmt.exe or you must configure the operating system
to initialize WMI automatically at start-up. The
simplest way to do this is to place a shortcut to
winmgmt.exe in the Windows startup folder.
A more secure way of
initializing WMI on Win98 computers is to configure WMI
and DCOM settings in the registry.
IMPORTANT:
This procedure contains information about modifying
the registry. Before you modify the registry, make
sure to back it up and make sure that you understand
how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For
information about how to back up, restore, and edit
the registry, click the following article number to
view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/EN-US/)
If you use Registry
Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems
that may require you to reinstall your operating
system. Microsoft and LAD Enterprizes, Inc. cannot
guarantee that you can solve problems that result
from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use
Registry Editor at your own risk.
Editing the registry can be a dangerous task for the
health of your computer and may require a reinstall
of the operating system. If you do not feel
comfortable doing this, then please ask someone else
to help with that step of the procedure as
making a mistake can cause the computer you are
working on to not work properly or become completely
unusable.
To
configure WMI and DCOM settings in the registry use the
following procedure: (These settings enable
remote computers to access the local computer via DCOM.)
Start > Run >
regedit
Open
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\OLE
Find two values in
the right hand pane:
EnableDCOM
EnableRemoteConnect
Set these values
to “Y” by double-clicking each one and entering
“Y” as the data value.
This setting
causes WMI to start automatically.
While in Regedit
Open
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WBEM\CIMOM
Find the value in
the right hand pane:
AutostartWin9X
Set the value to
“2” by double-clicking the value and entering
“2” as the data value
Close regedit
I receive one or more of
these messages when running
Computer
Census™:
"Requirement Missing: ADO"
"Requirement
Missing: ADOR"
"Requirement
Missing: ADOX"
"Requirement
Missing: Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0"
Computer
Census™ uses
various components of the operating system to manage
data and databases, collectively called MDAC. Microsoft
Data Access Components (MDAC) provides data access in
Microsoft Windows operating systems. Beginning with
Microsoft® Windows® 2000, MDAC is an integrated part of
the operating system. ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) ActiveX
Data Objects Recordset (ADOR), ActiveX Data Objects
Extentions (ADOX) – collectively “ADO”, and Microsoft
Jet 4.0 are components of MDAC.
Many applications,
including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Visual Studio,
SQL Server, and Office require MDAC for data binding and
other application functions. As a result, MDAC, is
available as an installable option for Windows® 95
operating systems forward and is installed on computers
as part of Microsoft Office. Additional information
about ADO is available from MS at the following link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/ado270/htm/adostartpage1.asp
To install MDAC on Windows
95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows
Millennium Edition, run the setup program, for the
redistribution package, Mdac_typ.exe. This program is
available from the Universal Data AccessWeb site.
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?linkid=5748
search for MDAC downloads.
Some operating systems and
all MDAC versions 2.6 and later installations might not
include Microsoft Jet 4.0.
Microsoft knowledge base article KB271908 provides more
information. Computer Census™ employs this technology to
create the Access database. You must install the correct version of Jet based on
your operating system as described in Microsoft
knowledge base article KB239114.
Go to the Universal Data AccessWeb site:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?linkid=5748
and search for the knowledge base article(s).
I get the error message
"A required system file, SHFolder.DLL, was not found."
This system file provides a
way for
Computer
Census™ to locate the Users “My Documents”
folder. Installed as part of Windows® 2000 and later
operating systems, SHFolder.dll is also installed as part of
a large number of applications including Internet Explorer
5.0 and later. The file is freely redistributable and can
be obtained from a variety of sources including Microsoft at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=6AE02498-07E9-48F1-A5D6-DBFA18D37E0F
I get the error message
“Run-time error ‘429’:
ActiveX component can’t Create Object”.
Computer
Census™
is attempting to create a file
using the scripting runtime library function
Scripting.FileSystemObject
(a registry object) and is unable to bind to the
needed function. The scripting runtime library is
contained in scrrun.dll
(found in the system directory – typically
C:\Windows\System32 or C:\Windows\System) and must
be registered before use. This file is automatically
installed as part of the operating system. However
the file is not present or is not registered. For
more information search for Microsoft Knowledge Base
articles KB200271 “How to Diagnose and Resolve Some
Automation Errors”, KB254166 “Distribution of
Microsoft Scripting Runtime Library Fails”, KB247979
"PRB: Error 429 Using MSDN File System Object Programming
Examples" at
www.MSDN.com.
To correct the error
locate scrrun.dll and
register it using RegSvr32.exe or install Windows
Scripting Host (WHS) 5.6 – also available for download
from Microsoft.
I get the error message
“Failed to connect to … Err#462 The remote server machine
does not exist or is unavailable”.
This is not a
Computer
Census™ error. The program attempted to connect
to a remote computer using WMI but the remote computer
did not respond. There are many conditions that could
cause this result. Check to see that the remote computer
is turned on, an active network connection is present, a
User is logged on, the computer is not in hibernation,
and that WMI is both installed and running.
I get the error message
“Failed to connect to … Err#70 Permission denied”.
This is not a
Computer
Census™
error. The program connected to a
remote computer using WMI but the user running
Computer
Census™ does not have an Administrative logon on the
remote computer. As a result the remote computer
security functions deny access to
Computer
Census™
Check to see that there is a common Administrative logon
at both the local computer (where
Computer
Census™ is
run) and the remote computer (the target computer to be
inventoried).
Upon exiting
Computer Census™ you receive an error message: CC.EXE
- Application Error: The instruction at '0x????????'
referenced memory '0x???????? The memory could not be
'read'."
Example
This is not a
Computer Census™ error. No data is lost, files have been
properly closed and Computer Census™ is properly closed.
The system running Computer Census™ did not close
required connections quickly enough so an error is
reported. This error may occur in systems using MDAC
2.5, 2.6 and 2.7.
Computer Census™ relies
on various components of MDAC to create and populate the
Access database. One of these components is
Odbc32.dll. Odbc32.dll generates a secondary thread to
monitor the ODBC registry keys. When Odbc32.dll is
unloading, it waits 100 milliseconds for the secondary
thread to terminate. After 100 milliseconds, it unloads
itself, even if the thread has not terminated. In most
cases, 100 milliseconds is enough time for the thread to
terminate. However, if the CPU is too slow for any
reason, the secondary thread may still be running after
Odbc32.dll is unloaded, which causes the error. Our
tests indicated this condition does not result in
a memory leak.
See Microsoft knowledge
base article KB281735 BUG: "Memory could not be read"
Error Occurs with ODBC Under High Stress at
www.MSDN.com.
Are User Name and/or
Serial Number (SN) case sensitive?
Yes. Both
the User Name and Serial Number are case sensitive and
must be entered in the License screen exactly as
provided when you purchased your license.
Computer Census™ only
inventories three (3) computers and quits – what’s wrong?
This action is by design.
Computer Census™ runs in two modes:
1. Free
mode which
restricts the number of computers to be inventoried at
one time to three. No User Name or Serial Number is
required to be entered into the License screen for this
mode. This mode is intended to
a.
Allow
individuals and small peer-to-peer network users to
collect critical information about their equipment
and
b.
Permit
users in larger network environments to try the
program before purchase of the Full Use License.
2. Full
use mode
permits an unlimited number of computers to be
inventoried at one time. To run in full use mode
requires a User Name and Serial Number to be entered
into the License screen. You must purchase Computer
Census™ to obtain the serial number associated with a
User Name.
See the
User Manual
for more information.
