Troubleshooting

Corrupt .scan Files

The Import Service rejects .scan files that are not well-formed.

Corrupt .scan files usually indicate one of the following problems:

  • Octoscan2 was killed before it could write the compressed output file. For example some methods of writing a logon script with VB Script may lead to this problem. When the login script ends, all processes started from the script are also killed.
  • There are access permission problems for parts of the registry or the WMI service is not started
  • The network connection between the scanned Machine and the network share was not stable.

Things you can try to get more information:

  • Use octodump -s to get a summary over multiple .scan files. This option also parses partial .scan files that cannot be processed by an XML parser.

  • De-compress partial files using Octodump and check the information at the beginning of the file.

    • Sometimes the problem might only occur on a certain machine or a group of machines.
    • Check OS version information
    • Remote session / Citrix ICA session
  • Try increasing the FlushLevel parameter to find out where Octoscan2 errs out.
  • Try setting either the ScanHardwareInfo or ScanSoftwareInfo to false.
  • As a last resort, try setting AppendMachineNameToScanFileName to true to find out what machines lead to the problem.

Changes Made to Scanned Systems

Care has been taken to minimize the impact of the scanning module on scanned systems. However, for optimized functionality, Octoscan2 needs to maintain a limited amount of per user state information on each scanned system.

All information is kept in a human-readable format. The registry settings and the local metering state file can safely be removed at any time. In the worst case, some metering information may be lost.

Registry Key for scan state Information: (roaming)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Octosoft\Octoscan

Registry Key for start of push installed octoscan2: (roaming)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CurrentUser\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Octoscan2

Metering State File Location: (non-roaming)

Local Appdata\Octosoft\Octoscan2\%COMUTERNAME%_metering.txt

Local Copy of Octoscan2 when push install is configured: (non-roaming)

Local Appdata\Octosoft\Octoscan2\Octoscan2.exe

Locally cached scan files when using http base upload: (non-roaming)

Local Appdata\Octosoft\Octoscan2\*.sca?

Locally stored trace files if tracing is active: (non-roaming)

Local Appdata\Octosoft\Octoscan2\Trace_*.log

Cleanup

Before removing Octoscan2 from an environment, set the Cleanup configuration parameter to true and let the scanner run for a month or so until it has removed its traces from most systems.

Using Local Settings

Octoscan2 supports local overriding of some of the configuration switches. This can be useful if you are testing an installation or if you are experiencing problems on a particular machine.

Use the provided OctoscanSettings.Exe utility to override settings.

These local registry settings override the configuration through the config file or through command-line options. In case of the FlushLevel setting, Octoscan2 will use the max. Value of all configurations found.

Tracing

OctscanSettings.exe can also be used to enable tracing for a specific user or all users on a machine. If the Write Trace option is enabled, Octoscan2 writes a trace file per day to local AppData (non-roaming). The trace files are kept until the option is disabled again.