SpiceWorks: Resolving Unknow Device

How Are Devices Detected?

Resolving Unknowns Webinar

The first step of resolving unknown devices and scan errors is understanding how Spiceworks detects and assigns devices.

• Spiceworks' scan: Understanding how your network is scanned and devices are assigned to groups may help you to figure out your problem.
• Undetected devices: There are a few reasons why devices on your network are not being detected by Spiceworks.

 

What Is An Unknown?

Understanding what an unknown is and why you should resolve it is important to your network's organization.

• An unknown is a device that cannot be identified:When Spiceworks has detected a device but can't figure out what to do with it, it is labeled as an unknown. This happens when Spiceworks cannot connect to the device due to no ports being open or login-password issues.
• Resolving unknown devices: It is important to resolve these unknown issues rather than to simply regroup the device. While it is an unknown, you will not be able to fully use all of the Spiceworks functionality and your scan time can be affected if there are a large number of unknowns.

 

What Causes A Device To Be Labeled As Unknown?

There are many things that can cause devices to be labeled as unknowns, generally anything that prevents Spiceworks from connecting to ports on the device. Here is a list of error messages from Spiceworks and why the error would occur.

• No open ports for this device were found to be responding: This message occurs when Spiceworks cannot connect to any port on a device. There are a couple of reasons this may happen.
  • Anti-virus settings: The settings of the anti-virus software installed on the unknown device could prevent access from outside computers.
  • Firewall settings: The settings of the firewall on the unknown device could prevent access from outside computers.

• Network Configuration: Your network routers may be configured to not allow queries into the information Spiceworks uses to classify devices. See how the scan works to help correct this problem.
• Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI): WMI must be configured properly for Spiceworks to gather information about your network. You can test to see if your WMI is set-up correctly on the machine in question by using the following command FROM the machine with Spiceworks installed and TO the remote machine. 'username' and 'yourpassword' are the log-in and password with admin privileges on the remote machine.

c:\ wmic /user:username /password:yourpassword /node:remotemachine  systemenclosure get serialnumber 

You should get some results that look like:

Serial Number  2iduekfj45ufh (the actual serial number from remotemachine) 

If you do not get the serial number from the machine, you have an issue with your WMI configuration. You can learn how to fix this problem below. You can also check out Troubleshooting WMI for more information.

• There was a Windows authentication error when attempting to connect to this device: This message occurs when Spiceworks cannot login to the unknown Windows device.
• These was an SSH authentication error when attempting to connect to this device: This message also occurs when Spiceworks cannot login to the unknown device, a Unix/Linux or Apple machine in this case.

 

How Did A Device Have A Scan Error, Yet Be Correctly Classified?

Sometimes you might see a device in the correct group, but when you try to access the device information, you see a scan error because Spiceworks cannot access the device. This scan error generally appears when Active Directory is being used.

• How the scan works: Check out how the scan works for a detailed explanation of how Spiceworks scans your network.
• Spiceworks can't access the machine: When Spiceworks can't access a device, a scan error is generated. In this case, the usual suspect is a firewall blocking access.
• Active Directory information is used: Based on information gathered from NetBIOS and pinging, Active Directory records are used to populate as many fields as possible in the devices with scan errors. These devices will generally list operating system and serial number and other fields like these.

• Detailed information cannot be accessed: Until the scan error is resolved, Spiceworks cannot gather detailed information from the device. So, in order to use many features of Spiceworks (reporting, monitors, etc.) with this device, you will need to resolve this error.

Viewing devices with scan errors:

• From the Inventory view, look for this icon  on the group icon. This signifies that there are scan errors on devices in the group.
• Click the icon to view all devices in the group with scan errors. This will bring up a listing of all the devices with scan errors in the group.

 

How Do I Resolve Unknown Windows Machines In A Domain Environment?

There are two issues that will cause a device to be listed as an unknown in a Windows Domain environment.

• No open ports: There are several reasons for this. Follow these steps to determine what is causing the problem and correct it.
  • Configure your anti-virus and firewall settings to allow remote access.
  • If the unknown device is running Windows Firewall, you will need to configure it.
  • Ensure the WMI and DCOM settings allow the unknown device to be authenticated in a Domain environment. See this post in the Spiceworks Community for more help on properly applying DCOM security settings.
  • Disable Strict RPC On Microsoft ISA Server
  • If the issue is still not resolved, you should run the Microsoft WMI Diagnosis Utility on the affected computer, and check outTroubleshooting WMI.
• Windows authentication error: Spiceworks, by default, uses the Windows account it was installed under to access the devices on your network. If this account is not valid for all Windows devices on your network, you will need to add a new account, or edit the existing account.

• Add a Windows account with Administrator access to Spiceworks: Click the Add Accountbutton located below the error message. In the new text boxes that appear, enter a unique description to identify the account, the login name and the password. You need to make sure the account works by clicking Test Account. After the account is confirmed, click Save to save the account.
• Edit the login/password of an existing Windows account: Select the account you want to edit from the drop-down menu located below the error message. Change the incorrect information from the text boxes that appear. Test the account to make sure the new settings work, then save the account.

• Edit your network settings: You can also edit and add accounts by editing your network settings. Go to Settings and thenNetwork Scan.
• If you are unable to use an account with administrator rights on the client machines, you will need to enable remote administration. This is not the preferred method of accessing machines, but it can be done by using the Microsoft Knowledge Base article, Microsoft Firewalls.

 

How Do I Resolve Unknown Windows Machines In A Workgroup Environment?

There are two issues that will cause a device to be listed as an unknown in a Windows Workgroup environment.

• No open ports: There are several reasons for this. Follow these steps to determine what is causing the problem and correct it.
  • Configure your anti-virus and firewall settings to allow remote access.
  • If the unknown device is running Windows Firewall, you will need to configure it.
  • Ensure the WMI and DCOM settings allow the unknown device to be authenticated in a Workgroup environment. See this post in the Spiceworks Community for more help on properly applying DCOM security settings.
  • If the issue is still not resolved, you should run the Microsoft WMI Diagnosis Utility on the affected computer, and check outTroubleshooting WMI.
• Windows authentication error: Spiceworks, by default, uses the Windows account it was installed under to access the devices on your network. If this account is not valid for all Windows devices on your network, you will need to add a new account, or edit the existing account.

• Add a Windows account with Administrator access to Spiceworks: Click the Add Accountbutton located below the error message. In the new text boxes that appear, enter a unique description to identify the account, the login name and the password. You need to make sure the account works by clicking Test Account. After the account is confirmed, click Save to save the account.
• Edit the login/password of an existing Windows account: Select the account you want to edit from the drop-down menu located below the error message. Change the incorrect information from the text boxes that appear. Test the account to make sure the new settings work, then save the account.

• Add a Windows account with Administrator access to Spiceworks: Click the Add Account button located below the error message. In the new text boxes that appear, enter a unique description to identify the account, the login name and the password. You need to make sure the account works by clicking Test Account. After the account is confirmed, click Save to save the account.
• Edit the login/password of an existing Windows account: Select the account you want to edit from the drop-down menu located below the error message. Change the incorrect information from the text boxes that appear. Test the account to make sure the new settings work, then save the account.
• Edit your network settings: You can also edit and add accounts by editing your network settings. Go to Settings and thenNetwork Scan.
• If you are unable to use an account with administrator rights on the client machines, you will need to enable remote administration. This is not the preferred method of accessing machines, but it can be done by using the Microsoft Knowledge Base article, Microsoft Firewalls.

 

How Do I Resolve Unknown Unix/Linux Machines?

• SSH authentication error: Spiceworks, by default, uses the Windows account it was installed under to access the devices on your network. If this account is not valid on your Unix/Linux devices, you will need to add a new account, or edit an existing account.
  • Add an SSH account with Administrator access to Spiceworks: Click the Add Account button located below the error message. In the new text boxes that appear, enter a unique description to identify the account, the login name and the password. You need to make sure the account works by clicking Test Account. After the account is confirmed, click Save to save the account.
  • Edit the login/password of an existing SSH account: Select the account you want to edit from the drop-down menu located below the error message. Change the incorrect information from the text boxes that appear. Test the account to make sure the new settings work, then save the account.
  • Edit your network settings: You can also edit and add accounts by editing your network settings. Go to Settings and thenNetwork Scan.
• Spiceworks uses the SSH2 client, so it cannot connect to SSH servers that only understand the SSH1 protocol. This problem tends to show up when the correct login/password is used, but the test login still fails.

 

How Do I Resolve Unknown Apple Machines?

• SSH authentication error: Spiceworks, by default, uses the Windows account it was installed under to access the devices on your network. If this account is not valid on your Apple devices, you will need to add a new account, or edit an existing account.
  • Add an SSH account with Administrator access to Spiceworks: Click the Add Account button located below the error message. In the new text boxes that appear, enter a unique description to identify the account, the login name and the password. You need to make sure the account works by clicking Test Account. After the account is confirmed, click Save to save the account.
  • Edit the login/password of an existing SSH account: Select the account you want to edit from the drop-down menu located below the error message. Change the incorrect information from the text boxes that appear. Test the account to make sure the new settings work, then save the account.
  • Edit your network settings: You can also edit and add accounts by editing your network settings. Go to Settings and thenNetwork Scan.
• Spiceworks uses the SSH2 client, so it cannot connect to SSH servers that only understand the SSH1 protocol. This problem tends to show up when the correct login/password is used, but the test login still fails.

 

How Do I Test My Changes?

We will use the Spiceworks desktop and Microsoft WMI to resolve the authentication and connectivity issues that can cause Unknowns and Scan Errors. Click here for more information.

 

What Can I Do If I Can't Resolve A Machine?

If you've tried everything and the device is still unknown, you still have a few options.

• Use the Community: Chances are, someone has had the same problem and might be able to help you, so use the Spiceworks Community. It's a great tool.

• Ask us for help: You can email support@spiceworks.com and we will try to help you.
• Reclassify the device: If none of this works, and you know what an unknown device really is, you can reclassify the device.
  • Select the unknown device you want to reclassify and click the General Info tab.
  • Click on Edit then select the new device type for the unknown by using the drop-down menu.
  • Save your changes by clicking Save.

 

How To Resolve 8004100E Error when scanning PC

Via command prompt, run:
cd /d %windir%\system32

regsvr32 /n /I userenv.dll

cd wbem

mofcomp scersop.mof

gpupdate /force

gpresult

reboot the machine

(Thanks Ian 512!)

Rev 32 (diff) — Last edited at August 11, 2011 04:17 pm by Jonathan (Spiceworks)