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Snow Inventory Agent for Windows 6

Here you can find the release notes for Snow Inventory Agent for Windows 6. You can find the old release notes on the Snow Globe.

danger

Be aware of the following identified vulnerabilities

6.14.5 latest​

Release date: 2024-01-24

Compatibility
Snow Inventory Agent for Windows 6.14.5 is compatible with the following versions:

Snow Inventory Server
6.6.0 or later

Corrections​

  • Snow Inventory Agent for Windows no longer logs false errors when trying to delete non-existing folders during updates.

  • Daily metered usage will no longer exceed the maximum number of minutes in one day. Metering items are now updated properly when a new day is detected. (04729632)

6.14.4​

Release date: 2023-11-22

Compatibility
Snow Inventory Agent for Windows 6.14.4 is compatible with the following versions:

Snow Inventory Server
6.6.0 or later

Corrections​

  • The file scanner no longer performs unnecessary traversals when an include path lacks suffixes like “*” or “\”.

6.14.3​

Release date: 2023-10-11

Compatibility
Snow Inventory Agent for Windows 6.14.3 is compatible with the following versions:

Snow Inventory Server
6.6.0 or later

Enhancements​

File Scanning
Version recognition for java archives

  • The priority of used fields has been changed to improve the accuracy of version recognition for jar files (04709640).

6.14.2​

Release date: 2023-08-09

Compatibility
Snow Inventory Agent for Windows 6.14.2 is compatible with the following versions:

Snow Inventory Server
6.6.0 or later

Corrections​

  • The agent error handler has been improved so that the agent no longer crashes when calling to fs::is_directory.(04707695)

  • Manifest files of the Chrome and Edge browser extensions are located in their own subdirectory to comply with vendor standards and produce data as expected when installed (04693687).

6.14.1​

Release date: 2023-05-03

Compatibility
Snow Inventory Agent for Windows 6.14.1 is compatible with the following versions:

Snow Inventory Server
6.6.0 or later

Corrections​

  • The Windows, Linux, and macOS agents now consistently extract the same version values from JAR-files; previously the priority differed depending on the platform.

6.14.0​

Release date: 2023-04-05

Compatibility
Snow Inventory Agent for Windows 6.14.0 is compatible with the following versions:

Snow Inventory Server
6.6.0 or later

Enhancements​

File scanning
"Version" field fallback

  • The agent now uses “Implementation-Version” as an added fallback for the “Version” field when reading the version from Manifest.mf in JAR-files. As a result Snow Inventory Oracle Scanners are now identified as .jar files. (04624981, IDEAS-I-1893)

Corrections​

  • The behaviour of the agent has been changed so that files left behind in the “pending” folder are now deleted when downloading new updates. (04621873)

6.13.0​

Release date: 2023-02-22

Compatibility
Snow Inventory Agent for Windows 6.13.0 is compatible with the following versions:

Snow Inventory Server
6.6.0 or later

Enhancements​

Files scanning
Collecting .JAR files and their data as software rows

  • The Windows agent now creates software rows based on metadata in JAR files. Additional changes are planned in the Snow Inventory Oracle Scanners in order to get the full value of the enhancement.

6.12.0​

Release date: 2023-02-07

Compatibility
Snow Inventory Agent for Windows 6.12.0 is compatible with the following versions:

Snow Inventory Server
6.6.0 or later

Enhancements​

Communication
Agent to server communication

  • When the “send” command is run on the command line and there are no snowpacks available on the device the agent no longer calls home, reducing unnecessary communications with the server.

Corrections​

  • The agent now reads the file information from the file as first option, and only proceeds to reading the version information from the memory image as a fallback. (04570636, 04579326)

6.11.0​

Release date: 2022-12-14

Complete release notes is found here

Enhancements​

  • When the computer manufacturer is identified as Lenovo, the agent now favors the value from Win32_ComputerSystemProduct.Name over Win32_ComputerSystem.Model

  • When the computer manufacturer is detected as Lenovo, the agent retrieves the model number from an alternative location that provides the relevant information. (04602408)

Corrections​

  • The agent now uses the same way of getting model and manufacturer information, regardless of whether there is a Hypervisor present or not.

6.10.0​

Release date: 2022-09-07

Complete release notes is found here

Enhancements​

  • Depending on the system hardware specifications, file scanning may now run in a shorter time thanks to parallel execution.

  • Browser extensions deprecations and installation improvements: The installation and uninstallation procedures for the browser extensions have been changed with the following logic, for the system settings saas.chrome.enabled, saas.edge.enabled and saas.firefox.enabled.

Corrections​

  • Memory slot count corrected for multi-CPU systems (04566755).

6.9.0​

Release date: 2022-05-24

Complete release notes is found here

Enhancements​

  • Removed functionality: The Deny feature—which could be exploited to prevent specific applications from running—has been removed from the agent to increase its security.

Corrections​

  • Install and uninstall commands have been removed from the agent, as these functions are now handled by the MSI package.

  • When matching filenames, the agent scanning process filename comparison is no longer case-sensitive.

  • Hypervisor detection: To prevent proxies from forwarding HTTP requests to link-local IP addresses (169.254.x.x), use of proxies is explicitly disabled in the call used to detect Azure hypervisors. (04538696)

  • File scanning: Exclusion paths now allow the use of the exp: prefix to do full-path matching instead of by directory/file part. (04561284)

6.8.2​

Release date: 2022-01-27

Complete release notes is found here

Corrections​

  • When capturing process usage metering, the agent can handle null image path names without terminating unexpectedly (04536285).

  • The agent installation date (which is included in the inventory scan results) is now gathered correctly when the agent has been installed using a recently-built MSI package.

6.8.1​

Release date: 2021-11-17

Complete release notes is found here

Enhancements​

  • The agent’s file system scanner has been refactored to enable inclusion and exclusion rules for both path and file-name patterns. In most cases, there is no need to change the agent configuration, but for more detailed information on the new behavior, you can refer to the Agent configuration topic on the Docs Portal.

  • The agent attempts to send pending scan result files every time it successfully contacts one of the configured endpoints (IDEAS-I-1623).

  • Each PowerShell script run during an inventory scan is executed in a separate context. This prevents a failure in one script execution from affecting any others.

  • The agent now collects system identifiers for virtual machines running on Microsoft Azure, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, and Google Cloud Compute Engine.

  • The agent reports the resulting status of scanning the computer for swidtag files, together with the resulting content; this will enable future releases of Snow Inventory Server and Snow License Manager to better handle recognition of added, removed, or changed software.

Corrections​

  • The agent can record application usage when the service is run by a user who is a part of the local Administrators group.

  • The agent does not report the IP address in the scan results manifest when the configuration file’s “privacy.hide_ip” setting has the value “true”.

  • The agent cleans the update_staging folder when its service restarts after an upgrade or downgrade of the agent itself.

  • The agent reports the Windows Operating System version information according to Microsoft’s new guidelines (04498972).

  • The agent reports when the scanning for swidtag files has been performed but returned no results (04493134).

  • The agent does not append unexpected Unicode characters when reporting the name of the device that originates the session for remote application usage (04468822).

  • The agent implements a more robust method to collect metadata for running executables, improving the logging in case of failure (04463421).

6.7.2​

Release date: 2021-11-03

Complete release notes is found here

Enhancements​

  • To prevent a malicious user from removing files without permission, the agent does not delete linked file system entries (CVE-2021-41562).

6.7.1​

Release date: 2021-03-17

Complete release notes is found here

New​

  • When running on a server that provides remote access to applications, the agent reports the correct device used to connect to a session when the multiple sessions are recycled (04462965).

  • When the agent removes the Cloud Application Metering extension for Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, the browser’s keys in the Windows registry are correctly cleaned (04466411).

6.7.0​

Release date: 2020-11-11

Complete release notes  is found here

Enhancements​

  • Encryption of metering data

  • Frequency of handshakes has been limited

  • Default scope of file-system scan has been limited

Corrections​

  • The Agent now correctly reports the user who had accessed a cloud application from a Citrix session (04433234).

6.6.0​

Release date: 2020-09-30

Complete release notes  is found here

New​

  • Aggregate application usage data only

Enhancements​

  • Reporting Adobe SLConfig.xml file content

  • Support for Snow-provided PowerShell scripts when using custom encryption keys

  • New system setting: powershell.enabled

  • Encryption of Cloud Application Metering data

Corrections​

  • The Agent now does not include unexpected Unicode characters in the log file (04420245).

  • The Agent now cleans the log files generated by Windows after scanning for virtualized applications (04364176).

  • A Warning message in the log file related to the Ps-Intermediate file is now recorded as Verbose (PRB0043198).

  • The amount of total memory reported by the Agent for Windows is now consistent with other platforms and it reflects the total amount of physical memory instead of the amount of memory available to the operating system (PRB0043174).

  • The agent now does not collect data about environment variables and file shares when the configuration setting software.scan.enable is set to “false”.

6.5.0​

Release date: 2020-02-12

Complete release notes  is found here

New​

  • A new way of deploying extensions in Firefox

  • Cloud application metering and discovery for Microsoft Edge based on Chromium.

Enhancements​

  • In order to provide more timely support for new Microsoft SQL Server releases, the scanning of SQL Server is now performed using a dedicated PowerShell script.

6.3.0​

Release date: 2019-09-25

Complete release notes  is found here

New​

  • It is now possible to configure the Agent to never retrieve updates from its configured endpoint(s).

Corrections​

  • The external library cpuidsdk(64).dll is no longer extracted in the agent folder when the SystemSetting “hardware.scan.enable_cpuid” is set to “false” (PRB0042476).

  • In some scenarios, temporary files were left on the client after a scan involving virtualized applications. This is no longer the case (PRB0042482).

  • The agent now removes empty snowpack files to prevent issues with some external proxy configuration (PRB0042490).

6.2.1​

Release date: 2019-06-27

Complete release notes  is found here

Corrections​

  • When configured to use a custom encryption key for the PowerShell scripts, the Windows agent will no longer try to execute unencrypted scripts.

  • The executable file cloudmeteringhost.exe, used in Cloud application metering, is now signed as part of the building process. This will prevent alerts from security software.

  • When retrieving printer information, the printer share is now included in the result file.

6.2.0​

Release date: 2019-06-04

New​

  • Public key pinning.

Enhancements​

  • Support for powershell scripts.

  • Automatic generation of URLs for IDX endpoints

  • Support for new chassis types

  • Operating-system name in the manifest

  • Updated cpuidsdk.dll library

Corrections​

  • While scanning the virtual registry of an App-V application, non-standard data was preventing the agent from extracting some information, such as uninstall flags. Additional logic has been added to the agent to ensure that all requested data is extracted from the virtual registry (PRB0042081 and PRB0042113).

  • Additional logic has been implemented to prevent computers from incorrectly reporting as Amazon Elastic Cloud (PRB0042033).

  • When the agent encounters multiple copies of the same file – same name and metadata – in different locations, it now reports all instances ensuring correct software recognition (PRB0042212).

  • It is now possible to use environment variables in the agent configuration file to exclude locations of the local file system locations from an agent scan (PRB0041588).

  • Logical errors preventing some PowerShell scripts from running successfully are resolved so that the agent can run custom and Snow scripts successfully (PRB0042252).

6.1.0​

Release date: 2019-03-14

New​

  • Browser extension for Microsoft Edge.

Enhancements​

  • ENHANCEMENT

    • Security hardening through compilation options.

    • Reduced memory usage for web metering rules.

    • Enhanced script-tampering protection.

    • Diagnostics enabler for cloud application metering.

    • Hardening of dll search path.

Corrections​

  • CORRECTIONS
    • When no value is set for encryption path in snowagent config the default value now points to the correct folder.
    • Issues related to invalid metering data collected from computers that are locked at midnight or locked when the agent runs the scheduled scan have been resolved, ensuring that all data collected by the agent is processed. 
    • Logging of registry entry errors arising due to the 32-bit version of the agent looking in the 64-bit registry for install/uninstall data have been corrected. The agent now searches the correct registry based on its architecture.
    • Product keys for Windows 8 and higher are now correctly extracted from the target machine. ▪ The number of monitors connected to a machine and their resolution is now correctly reported in inventory scans.

6.0.2​

Release date: 2018-10-23

Corrections​

  • A new agent configuration setting has been added, http.timeout. This setting defines the timeout value, in seconds, for requests to the server endpoint and has a default value of 15 seconds.

  • A newer version of the third-party CPUID module has been included, which has improved CPU detection for:

    • Intel 9th generation Core family (Coffee Lake 9900K, 9700K, 9600K, 9600, 9500 and 9400).
    • Intel Coffee Lake-U processors.
    • Intel Z390.
    • AMD ThreadRipper 2000.

6.0.0​

Release date: 2018-10-02

New​

  • Support for additional types of inventory information.

Enhancements​

  • To reduce memory usage, the agent service is no longer restarted every six hours.

  • To ensure that the Windows agent can determine when to trigger a scan, the agent stores the timefor next scan on the local machine. If the agent is started and the stored time has passed is used to determine whether the scan time has passed. If so, a scan is carried out immediately. (PRB0041545).

  • A newer version of the third-party CPUID component has been included, which has improved CPU detection for:

    • AMD desktop Raven Ridge APU (AM4)
    • Intel Coffee Lake processors and Z370 platform
    • Intel Skylake-X HCC processors
    • Intel Xeon Skylake-SP and Xeon/W Skylake processors
    • Intel Xeon Phi Knight Landing

  • The agent can now be updated to a newer version directly from Inventory Server – even if it is not installed in the default location.

  • The following file attributes are now included in the scan result: product_name, product_version, original_filename and file_description.

Corrections​

  • The setting to enable scanning on all local disks (<LocalDisk>) has been deprecated. We have added a new setting, Software-Include, which will function together with the existing Software-Exclude configuration settings. If Software-Include paths are present in the agent configuration file, the agent will scan the specified paths. If Software-Include paths are not set, the agent will scan all local disks. If Software-Exclude paths are included, these spaces will not be included in the scan. (PRB0041267).

  • Physical memory slot information is now gathered correctly (PRB0041345).

  • The Snow Inventory Oracle Scanner (SIOS) now runs correctly even if the inventory agent is running from a different working directory. The SIOS executable, however, needs to be placed in the same folder as the agent (PRB0041359).

  • Lingering application metering data for applications that have been removed no longer causes software rows to be created for the removed application (PRB0041428, PRB0041710).

  • Memory leak issues when running App-V applications have been resolved (PRB0041894).

  • A problem with identifying the display adapter has been resolved (PRB0041604).

  • The agent can now update itself correctly when the service path and exe path has different cases (PRB0041656).

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