Simply finding portable applications

JoshG asked a question.

June 28, 2017 at 7:00 AM

I can see that SNOW picks up portable applications and inventories them, but I am finding it very difficult to identify which machines have these portable applications installed.

Taking a hypothetical example, if a computer has access.exe on the desktop and another machine has Microsoft Access installed correctly, I can just see that both machines have Access. If I edit that application and select program files, it should show the installation paths, but does not pair to a machine easily.

In a scenario where an application has many installations, is there an easy way to list these portable apps and their paths?

Software & License Management

Community Manager (Flexera Software)
9 years ago
Hi Josh, Which version of Inventory are you running, and do you have access to run SQL queries against the database? I have written a SQL query that we use on Inventory 3 to return the file path for installed applications. I could post it if you would find it useful.
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- JoshG
  9 years ago
  Hey Mark/Jesper, We have a hosted platform and so far, I have only got access to the SNOW Licence Manager. I do not know if we have access to SNOW Inventory, but I have asked the question. Once I find out I will get back to you and see about either of your suggestions. Thanks!
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Community Manager (Flexera Software)
9 years ago
In the meantime Josh, it may not give you exactly what you need, but have you looked at the standard report "Used but not installed applications by user" This will show any applications that have been picked up by Snow metering, but the install was not found on the local machine. Obviously this will only pick up the application if the user has started it, so it wont pick up those who have a shortcut on the desktop but never used it. Also I am afraid this report will not show the path, but at least you will have a list of computers you need to look at, until you find a better solution.
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- JoshG
  9 years ago
  Hi Mark, I have had confirmation we do not have access to SNOW Inventory, so I can't do the query the way you are doing it. The 'Used but not installed applications by user' is very useful and that does half of what I am trying to achieve. What a shame it can't just show me the whole estate! I have very limited knowledge of the Inventory tool so I am making a guess, but can a query built in Inventory be turned into a report on the Licence Manager?
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  - JLassen.20160609142050
    9 years ago
    Hi Josh Shouldn't the hosting provider then be able to provide you the data upon request (I don't know how hosted setup works)? Alternative, since this data is present in a database, maybe ask the hosting provider / Snow to engage in helping to create a custom report for you, which should/would then subsequently be present in and used from the license manager. I have previously discussed that with Snow - creation of custom reports. Just an idea... /jesper
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    JoshG
    9 years ago
    Thanks for the help Jesper and Mark, I will give the custom report path a go.
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  - Community Manager (Flexera Software)
    9 years ago
    Hi Josh, I dont believe there is a way to create a custom report in Snow Licence Manager through the user interface in the current release, and as you are a hosted cutsomer you wont have access to the database to do it that way either. I know that Snow Services are able to create and import custom reports, and it may be that your hosted provider can also do the same, so it is certainly worth talking to them. In our estate we have a local instance and I have complete access to the database, so I have many custom reports that we are running, including one that exposes the file name and file paths for specific applications. Sorry I cant help you further.
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JLassen.20160609142050
9 years ago
Hi Josh I'm thinking that should be possible through Snow Inventory. Do you have access to that? From there you should be able to create an Inventory Overview and via the Filter show you, e.g Software.Name + Software.Path.Name - the path.name being the .exe-file triggering the recognition and its location. It actually has a pre-defined report (filter) for MS Access. You might need to edit the Query a bit to ensure you get the results for the portable editions also. But, the exported file will then hopefully allow for a more easy comparison or overview.
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Björn
8 years ago
Although you already choose an correct answer, I would like to point to a different solution strategy with SLM :-) a) SLM identifies by rules, often by executeables like msaccess.exe . If you install or execute this exe on computer, SLM will identify same application by checksum (which is actually correct). So not installing does not make a application an "portable app", it just a copy of same app: b) If someone uses a portable app with executables create to run without installation, Snow hopefully identifies them correctly as "Portable App", which is actually correct, too. You can find portable apps in SLM by search for "portable" in your applications: c) You want to know, if some applications (portable or not) are run from removable drive? You can find the via the report standard report "Used but not installed applications by user" mentioned by Mark Potts or look for used applications with zero installations under "All applications" or by orange color applications under one user or computers ( What does the orange/brown highlight of an application mean? ). Then you can check the path by computer in SLM , if you go to "Computer" -> "Edit Computer" -> "Identified files" -> then click the app interested in to see path. This solution is not suitable for mass research, but it helps me in my day-to-day business.
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