Flexera Agent file scan triggers .exe file downloads from OneDrive

[anttimustonen]

Hi,

Scanning .exe files from eg. C:\ will trigger file download from OneDrive if OneDrive file is flagged as on demand (offiline).
I know this approach has pros and cons, but generally is there any possibility of triggering this behaviour? In some cases users want to keep files offline and downloadable only on-demand not to fill their SSDs with large files - not touching the fact why some people may have .exe files on their OneDrive.

[tjohnson1]

You could update your file exclusions so that your OneDrive folders are not scanned. This would prevent the files from being downloaded when the agent accesses them to get file details.

[anttimustonen]

Hi, @tjohnson1 I am aware of the exclusions, however I am more interested in mechancism that trigger the file Onedrive download, is it MD5 check on offline OneDrive files etc? Users may sync for example their personal OneDrive to any folder eg. D:\xyz or C:\abc  if they have permissions to do so, so filtering may not be feasible.

BR, Antti

[ChrisG · Accepted solution]

When the ndtrack inventory gathering process scans .exe file details on Windows, it reads PE file header information from these files. Some of these details are returned in the generated inventory data. I expect if the file content is not physically present on the filesystem, this operation would cause the file to be downloaded.

PE file header information includes details that you can see in the "Details" tab when viewing file properties in Windows explorer. For example, for the ndtrack.exe file itself:

[anttimustonen]

Thanks @ChrisG probably this is not something that can be controlled in FNMS in any way, but at least it is good to have explanation for this behaviour.