SMS Does Not Report BIOS Information on Windows NT Systems (160718)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.0
- Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.1
- Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.2
This article was previously published under Q160718 SYMPTOMS
When Systems Management Server inventories MS-DOS systems, the BIOS
information is reported. However, Systems Management Server currently does
not report the BIOS information for systems running Windows NT.
CAUSE
Systems Management Server collects inventory properties for computers
running Windows NT by examining the system registry. With Windows NT 3.1
and 3.5, the system BIOS was not reported in the registry, and Systems
Management Server could not query the BIOS directly due to the hardware
abstraction that is a part of Windows NT. Since the BIOS information was
not available, Systems Management Server was not designed to report BIOS
information on computers running Windows NT.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server
versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2. A supported fix is now available for version
1.2 only, but has not been fully regression-tested and should be applied
only to systems experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are
severely
impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for
the next Service Pack that contains this fix. Contact Microsoft Technical
Support for more information.
MORE INFORMATION
With Windows NT 4.0 and above, the BIOS information is reported in the
registry. The registry value that Systems Management Server will query is
located in \\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware\Description\System.
With the hotfix installed, Systems Management Server will query the new
registry values SystemBiosVersion and SystemBiosDate. If the values exist,
Systems Management Server will report the BIOS information contained in
the registry.
The current Systems Management Server Windows NT Inventory Processor cannot
report the BIOS information directly, due to the current architectural
limitation in the RAW file format. To work around this current limitation,
the BIOS information is written to the Noidbios.mif file, located in the
client's MS\SMS\Noidmifs directory. This information will then be collected
by the standard Inventory Agent file collection process, and reported to
the site server.
| Modification Type: | Minor | Last Reviewed: | 6/14/2005 |
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| Keywords: | kbbug kbinterop kbInventory KB160718 |
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