Why are MECM/SCCM machines missing in vScope?

Some machines from MECM (formerly SCCM) may be discovered by vScope while others are not. This is most common for cloned servers or machines that were deployed from the same image.

The cause is almost always poor data quality in MECM. vScope needs enough information about each machine to tell it apart from every other machine. If MECM does not provide that information, vScope skips the machine instead of risking merging it with another one.

How to recognize the problem

The data source log contains entries like this for each skipped machine:

INFO  SCCM on 10.210.74.140, node:master, message: [Skipped the system with resource id: 16778293 and machine name: SERVER-01 since no valid data for instanceID were found]

The machine name and resource ID in the message tell you which machines in MECM to look at.

How to fix it

For each skipped machine, check that MECM holds complete and unique data for it. Typically, one or more of the following needs to be corrected.

1. Check what MECM knows about the machine

1. In the MECM console, go to Assets and Compliance > Devices and search for the machine name or resource ID from the log.
2. Right-click the device and select Start > Resource Explorer.
3. Under Hardware > BIOS, check that the serial number is present and not empty, “0”, or a generic value such as “System Serial Number” or “None”.
4. Under Hardware > Workstation Status, check the last hardware scan date. A machine that has never sent hardware inventory has no data to identify it with.

2. Fix cloned machines that kept the identity of the source image

Cloned machines often keep the MECM client identity of the machine they were copied from.

1. Look for duplicate entries in Devices, such as the same name appearing twice or a device showing Client: No or Inactive. Remove the stale or duplicate record.
2. On the clone, stop the CcmExec service and uninstall the client with ccmsetup.exe /uninstall.
3. Delete C:\Windows\SMSCFG.ini and the certificates in the SMS certificate store.
4. Reinstall the MECM client.

To avoid the problem for future clones, prepare images with Sysprep or remove the MECM client from the master image before capturing it.

3. Make sure the machine is uniquely named and joined

• Give the clone a unique computer name.
• Join it to the correct domain and verify that its computer account exists in Active Directory.

4. Force a fresh hardware inventory

1. On the client, open the Configuration Manager control panel applet and run the Hardware Inventory Cycle, or use Client Notification > Run Hardware Inventory from the console.
2. In Resource Explorer, confirm that the BIOS and system data now appear.
3. Run the SCCM data source again in vScope.

The machine should now be discovered.

Got more questions or need help?

Don’t hesitate to reach out to our support at https://www.vscope.net/contact/.