Overview

Windows Device Directory (WDD) is a software solution for Microsoft Windows that will record information about the devices that are connected to your network.

It enables you to:

Keep on top of your Windows inventory (includes hardware, software and hotfixes.)
Maintain a log of any changes made to your devices.
Assign device-specific documentation to a dedicated device ‘documents’ folder.
Assign custom categories to identify your equipment easily.
Quickly search for devices using any criteria.
Associate your devices with your users\locations helping you manage loaned equipment.
Notify you of devices that haven't checked in for a while.
Run remote commands against your devices.
Export your directory to a CSV file ready to import into a spreadsheet.
Print reports with user-definable column fields and sorting. You can specify whether to print all of your directory or just a hand-picked section of them.

Windows Device Directory comprises 3 x components described below.

WDD Viewer

The viewer (wddviewer.exe) is where you'll spend most of your time. This will cache, sort and display all devices that have checked in.

The viewer enables you to add information to devices such as asset recording, acquisition data, etc. and record important lifetime events such as software installation\updates, OS reinstalls, BIOS updates, etc. You can also attach device-related documentation and run remote scripts against selected device(s). Finally, it enables you to export or print a device list at any time.

It can also perform as a kiosk application as part of an IT dashboard. This can be useful as it can be setup to show devices checking-in ‘bubbling’ to the top of the directory as they are switched on making it easy to see which devices are in use.

WDD Service

The service (wddservice.exe) processes the client database files produced by your devices after having run the wddclient.exe program. This service should only be installed on a single device; that is usually left powered on such as a server or virtual machine (for example).

WDD Client

The client (wddclient.exe) must be executed on all of your Windows devices and is responsible for checking-in with the WDD service. When ran, it records system-specific device information that is subsequently processed by the WDD service.

The client runs from a network share and does not need to be installed on each device. It should be configured to run at regular intervals. For example; consider adding the wddclient.exe to a group policy setting such as the Startup Script in the All Computers GPO on Windows Server.

To rule out connectivity issues associated with wireless devices, it is recommended to confirm your hired-wired devices are able to check-in first. Once you know everything is working, you can add wireless devices.

Using WDD Client on standalone devices

The client can be launched on standalone devices not connected to the domain. This can be accomplished via a network share or using external storage.

Connect to the Windows Device Directory network share as a domain administrator.
Right-click on the wddclient.exe file and select "Run as Administrator". Supply any network credentials as required.

External Drive method

Copy the wddclient.exe to an external or USB thumb drive.
Right-click on the wddclient.exe file and select "Run as Administrator" (this should create a folder structure on the drive if it doesn’t already exist.)
A database file with a .dbc file extension will be saved in the Clients\Staging folder on the USB drive (if the Clients folder doesn’t exist on the USB drive, it will be created).
Copy your new .dbc client database file(s) from the Clients folder on the USB drive into the staging folder of your WDD installation.

Provided the WDD service is running, the new device will be imported automatically into WDD and the new device will be shown in the Viewer.

Remember! Standalone devices cannot check-in automatically and you will be unable to use remote tools or run scripts against them. However, you can still manually record changes to standalone devices and use their device documents folder.

Installation & Uninstallation

Installation

Minimum Specification

Microsoft Windows Professional 10 x32 or greater
Microsoft DotNet Framework 4.8
10GB free disk space
4GB RAM

You must have Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) enabled on your network. This is used by the viewer, service and client programs.

Installing Windows Device Directory

Ensure your device meets or exceeds the minimum specification above.
Download the latest version of Windows Device Directory setup from www.johnfermor.co.uk.
Right-click on the downloaded setup file and remove the ‘mark of the Internet’ by unblocking it.
Run the setup as an administrator to start the wizard.
Specify the Name of your organization (this is displayed on the ribbon bar).
Select the installation path (i.e. “D:\Windows Device Directory”).
Complete the installation.

Ensure you only download official versions of Windows Device Directory from www.johnfermor.co.uk Confirm that the files you download are consistent with the published SHA-256 hashes on this site.

Post Install Tasks

Once copied to your device, there are a number of tasks to undertake before the program(s) can be used.

Share the Windows Device Directory folder as Windows Device Directory$. Assign “Authenticated Users:F” permissions to this share.
Ensure that Domain Computers has MODIFY NTFS permissions to the Windows Device Directory program folder.
In the newly-created Windows Device Directory program folder, run the INSTALLSERVICE.BAT file (as an administrator). This will register the WDDService.exe as a service using NSSM.
From the Windows search bar, run services.msc and check the service has installed.
To avoid issues with the service not starting in a timely manner, set its startup mode to Automatic (Delayed Start).
Ensure the Windows Device Directory Service has started.

Setting up the service

Important note regarding Antivirus Software

As the WDD programs and resources have been packed for portable use, antivirus software commonly report them as being infected; this is a false positive. Please add an exclusion to the Windows Device Directory program folder your antivirus software.

Installation & Uninstallation

Uninstallation

To uninstall Windows Device Directory:

Stop the wddservice.exe service on the WDD host.
In the Windows Device Directory program folder, run the UNINSTALLSERVICE.BAT file (as an administrator). This will remove the WDD Service using NSSM.
Delete the Windows Device Directory folder.
Remove any group policy settings pertaining to your installation.
To remove logs and temporary files, delete any C:\ProgramData\Windows Device Directory folders from your devices.

Windows Device Directory Viewer

The Windows Device Directory Viewer user interface comprises 3 main areas; the ribbon bar, the device directory and a status bar.

The Ribbon

The ribbon at the top of the program window, comprises a number of tabs containing groups of buttons which perform specific functions.

Ribbon

Hiding the Ribbon

Press the Toggle Ribbon button on the ribbon.

Visible Ribbon

Showing the Ribbon

Press the Toggle Ribbon button on the ribbon.

Hidden Ribbon

Device Directory

The device directory occupies the most screen real estate and contains a list of all devices that have checked-in to WDD. The directory is dynamically updated and uses images (where appropriate) to represent the content being displayed. See the Symbol Key for more information.

Device Directory

Features:

Each device has an individual icon which determines a) the type of device and b) whether the device is switched on or off. See key to symbols.
Columns can be added from those available or removed by right-clicking on any column.
Columns can be dragged and dropped to reorder them.

Selecting columns and reordering them

Right-clicking on a device will show a context sensitive menu offering a number of options pertaining to that device(s).
You can select multiple devices by conventional use of the CTRL and SHIFT keys.
Selecting one or more devices will enable\disable the buttons on the ribbon bar on a contextual basis.
Click on any column header to sort by that column.
You can save your directory layout which can be loaded later.

Status Bar

The status bar is shown at the bottom of the program window and shows a summary of device information.

Status Bar

Features:

The number of currently selected devices.
The total number of devices.
Device utilization as a pie chart (how many devices are switched on).
The time of last activity (when a device was last checked-in or updated.)

Context Sensitive Menus

Buttons on the ribbon bar have an equivalent context menu in many cases.
For example, right-click on a device and a menu will be displayed.

Example Context Menu

These menus are context sensitive. If a menu item is unavailable (greyed-out), ensure it is appropriate for the selected device. For example, an archived device will have limited options such as restore and delete. Other buttons such as wake, ping, remote desktop, etc. will not be available.

Windows Device Directory Viewer

The View Tab

The directory can be viewed in one of five ways; large icon, tile, small icon, list and detail.

Large Icon View

Tile View

Small Icon View

List View

Detail View

Showing Device Groups

Enabling the Show Groups button can make it easy to identify devices with common characteristics.Your devices will appear grouped together according to the currently sorted column. For example, if you sort the directory by manufacturer, the devices will be clearly grouped together by the manufacturer.

Select the View tab on the ribbon.
Check the Show Groups button.

The directory will update and devices will appear grouped.

Tip: If you sort your directory by the serial number column and check the Show Groups button, your devices will be grouped by serial number making it a trivial task to spot duplicate devices.

Hiding Device Groups

Disabling the Show Groups button will remove grouping from your directory and default appearance will be restored.

Select the View tab on the ribbon.
Uncheck the Show Groups button.

The directory will update and devices will appear ungrouped.

Open a Layout

To open a saved layout.

Select the View tab on the ribbon.
Click the Open button.
Select the layout file (*.wddl) using the File Selector.
Press Ok to continue or Cancel to abort.

The layout file will load and apply its settings to the directory.

Save Layout

The current directory layout comprising the currently visible columns, widths, sort column, etc can be saved for further use.

Select the View tab on the ribbon.
Click the Save button.
Select the destination layout file (*.wddl) from the File Selector
Press Ok to continue or Cancel to abort.

The layout file will save and become the most recently used layout file in the settings.ini file.

WDD Layout files (*.wddl) are used to save and load your directory settings to or from a file. They contain properties such as the visible column names, widths, currently selected sort column, whether device groups are enabled, etc. They do not contain any directory data.

Windows Device Directory Viewer

The Devices Tab

Devices are managed on the Devices tab. They can be viewed, edited, searched, managed and removed using the buttons here.

Displaying a Device

Press the Devices tab on the ribbon.
Select the device from the directory.
Press the Properties button on the ribbon bar.

The device properties dialog should be displayed.

Assigning a Category to a Device

Press the Devices tab on the ribbon.
Select the device(s) you wish to categorize from the directory.
Press the arrow on the Categories button on the ribbon bar.
Select the required category from the list of available categories.

The device should change colour in the directory. If it does not, ensure the Categories button is checked!

See Categories

Showing Device Documents

Pressing the Documents button when one or more devices have been selected will display a Windows Explorer instance for each device. Each device has an associated folder and contains documents and other media for that device.

Press the Devices tab on the ribbon.
Select the device(s) you wish to view from the directory.
Press the Documents button.

A Windows Explorer window will open for each of the devices you selected showing the documents associated with that device. Additional content can be copied in here to maintain a repository of information dedicated to this device and its history. Samples include loan forms, repair history, etc.

WDD (or scripts) may automatically create content here but you can also drop anything pertaining to the device into here as required. In this example, a folder containing repair information and a BitLocker recovery key have been added to the device documents folder.

The QRCode.png file is generated automatically. This comprises device information pertaining to the fields listed in the QR Code Content settings. The QR code can be scanned with your smartphone for instant device asset \ specification identification or printed as labels.

Opening a Device Database

Device database files can be opened directly in the portable version of SQLite Database Browser.

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon.
Select the device(s) you wish to open from the directory.
Press the Open button.

The device(s) database will be opened in a new instance of the SQLite Database Browser Portable program.

If the SQLite Database Browser (SQLiteDatabaseBrowserPortable.exe) cannot be found, the following message will be displayed:

The excellent SQL Database Browser Portable can be downloaded from https://sqlitebrowser.org/dl/. You will need to run the installer to unpack the archive, then copy the content into your WDD Tools folder. Rename the folder as \SQLiteDatabaseBrowserPortable.

Searching for Devices

To find devices which match a certain criterion, you can specify a full or partial search term such as name, asset number, location, serial number, model, assignee, etc.

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon.
Press the Search button.

In the Search Text box, enter the text to search for.
Press the Ok button or Cancel to abort.

The search is quick and will clearly highlight any devices that match your selected criteria.

The search will only check columns that are visible! Searches will fail if you have hidden columns which contain the search text. Searches are not case-sensitive.

To Archive a Device

To move one or more devices to the archive (see reference section).

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Select the device(s) you wish to archive.
Press the Archive button.

· At the confirmation dialog, press Yes to archive the device or No to abort.

The device will be moved from the directory to the archive.

To Restore a Device from the Archive

To restore one or more devices from the archive (see reference section).

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Ensure the View Archive button is checked.
Select the device(s) you wish to archive.
Press the Restore button.

At the confirmation dialog, press Yes to restore the device or No to abort.

The device will be removed from the archive and appear in the directory.

Deleting Devices

Deleted devices (whether archived or not) can be permanently deleted from the directory when they are no longer on your network.

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Select the device(s) you wish to delete.
Press the Delete button.

Uncheck the Delete Documents Folder option if you wish to keep the documents.
Press Yes to delete the device(s) or No to abort.

The device database (and all of its associated documentation if selected) will be permanently deleted.

Devices deleted from the directory but still on your network will continue to attempt to check-in if the wddclient.exe continues to be executed. To prevent this behaviour, ensure that the device is placed in an organizational unit within your Active Directory that is unaffected by the policy which runs the client program.

Remote Tasks

Remote tasks can be ran against one or more of your devices.

Ping a Device

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Select the device(s) you wish to ping.
Press the Ping button.

A command prompt window will be launched for each device and will show the results until the window is closed (same as PING mydevice -4 –t)

Remotely Control a Device

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Select the device(s) you wish to remotely control.
Press the Remote Desktop button.

An instance of Microsoft Remote Desktop (mstsc.exe) will be opened and populated with the selected device(s) name.

Open the Boot Drive of a Device

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Select the device(s) you wish to open.
Press the Open Boot Drive button.

A Windows Explorer window will open for each selected device and be rooted to the Windows boot drive (usually C:)

Run the Client Update on a Device (on-demand).

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Select the device(s) you wish to run the client update.
Press the Update Client button.

The client update (wddclient.exe) will run on the device and update the device on demand in the directory.

Run a script on a Device

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Select the device(s) you wish to run the script.
Press the Execute Scripts button.
Navigate to the required script.
Press Ok to run the script or Cancel to abort.

Select the script(s) you wish to run on your device(s).
Press Ok to continue, Cancel to abort.

The script will run remotely on the selected device(s).

Power Management

To Wake a Device

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Select the device(s) you wish to wake.
Press the Wake button.

The selected device(s) should power on.

Wake on Lan (WOL) must be enabled on your device(s) in the system BIOS. You may also need to consider changes to made to the network adapter WOL and power management settings. Not all BIOS will respond to WOL magic packets.

To Restart a Device

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Select the device(s) you wish to wake.
Press the Restart button.
Press Ok at the confirmation dialog or Cancel to abort.

The selected device(s) should restart.

To Shutdown a device

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Select the device(s) you wish to wake.
Press the Shutdown button.
Press Ok at the confirmation dialog or Cancel to abort.

The selected device(s) should shutdown.

Shutting down and restarting your devices does so without further warnings. Use these functions with consideration of any current user(s).

Windows Device Directory Viewer

Device Properties Dialog

General

The General tab lists information harvested from the device. It includes BIOS information, Operating System information, etc. The asset management section can be modified with device specific information such as acquisition date, asset number and end of life disposal details.

Device Properties - General Tab

Features:

Use the scroll bar to view hidden content in the window.
The minimize, maximize and close buttons can be used to size and close the dialog respectively.
The dialog can be manually resized by using the sizing handle at the bottom right of the dialog.
Pressing the Ok button will save any changes you make, pressing Cancel will abort.

Software

The software tab lists all software currently installed on the device. Where possible, the name, version number, publisher and install date is displayed.

Device Properties - Software Tab

Updates

The Updates tab lists all Windows updates currently installed on the device. The name, description, installer and install date are listed.

Device Properties - Updates Tab

Clicking on the KB number should launch your browser and navigate to that page on the Microsoft support site. This will provide detailed information as to what the update does.

Hardware

The hardware tab lists all hardware components installed in the device. Each node is collapsed by default, simply expand them to see the actual devices.

Device Properties - Hardware Tab

Drives

The Drives tab lists all disk drives (including network-connected ones) available on the device. The drive letter, label, size, usage and encryption status is shown.

Device Properties - Drives Tab

Timeline

The Timeline tab comprises an Outlook-style calendar which contains events that have occurred on the selected device. WDD will automatically detect certain changes to devices and these will be recorded here. Examples include; BIOS updates, disk replacements, system renaming, etc. You can also add events yourself to record device specific changes.

Device Properties - Timeline Tab

See Device Timeline

Profiles

The Profiles tab lists all users who have logged onto the device and at what time.

Device Properties - Profiles Tab

Windows Device Directory Viewer

Device Timeline Dialog

To add an event to the Timeline

On the Device Properties dialog, select the Timeline tab.
Navigate to the required date by using the Day, Week, Month and Year buttons.
Click and drag the mouse to define a suitable time for the new event.
Right-click on the newly-selected event.
Press the Add Event button.

You can also create a new event by double-clicking on an empty space in the timeline.

At the Edit Event dialog, enter a suitable subject, description (optional) and colour for the event.
Check the start and End times are correct and amend them if required.
Press the Ok button to add the new event, Cancel to abort.

The event will be added to the timeline.

Once added to the timeline, events can be resized or moved using mouse drag and drop. Events in your timeline can be moved and resized in 1 minute intervals when pressing the ALT key during move\resize operation.

To Edit an Event

On the Device Properties dialog, select the Timeline tab.
Navigate to the required event by using the Day, Week, Month and Year buttons.
Double-click on the event you wish to edit.
At the Edit Event dialog, change the subject, description, start and end times and colour of the event as appropriate.
Press the Ok button to update the event, Cancel to abort.

To change the colour of an Event

On the Device Properties dialog, select the Timeline tab.
Using the Day, Week, Month and Year buttons, navigate to the unwanted event.
Right-click on the event you wish to update.
Select an appropriate colour from the context menu.

The event colour will be changed to the selected one.

To Delete an Event

On the Device Properties dialog, select the Timeline tab.
Using the Day, Week, Month and Year buttons, navigate to the event you wish to delete.
Right-click on the unwanted event.
Press the Delete Event button from the pop-up menu.

The event will be deleted from the timeline.

You can also select the event and press the Delete key to remove it.

Windows Device Directory Viewer

The Reporting Tab

The Reporting tab contains functions to setup, preview, print and export your directory.

Page Layout

Editing the page layout.

Select the Reporting tab on the ribbon.
Click the Page Layout button.
Make changes such as page size, orientation, margins, etc.
Press Ok to accept or Cancel to abort.

The changes will be applied to the current page layout.

Print Preview

To display a print preview.

Select the Reporting tab on the ribbon.
Click the Print Preview button.

The Print Preview dialog will be displayed. This will inherit characteristics set in the Page Setup dialog.

Print

To Print your Directory

Select the Reporting tab on the ribbon bar.
Click the Print button.

The document will print using the properties set in the Page Layout component.

The Print and Print Preview options will target your currently selected default printer. You may need to change your printer prior to using these functions.

Export

To export your directory to a file.

Select the Reporting tab on the ribbon bar.
Click the Export button.
At the Save dialog, enter a suitable .CSV file name.
Press Ok to accept or Cancel to abort.

The changes will be applied to the current page layout.

Windows Device Directory Viewer

The Program Tab

The Program tab contains functions to monitor, configure the behaviour and settings of the WDD software.

The Staging Folders

Staging folders are the directories which are populated when the service and client runs. Devices are processed from these folders.

Device Folder

The Devices Folder contains the devices in the Clients folder. These are clients that have been imported and added to the _devcache cache file. They can be managed by WDD.

Device Queue

The Device Queue folder contains devices files that have yet to be processed by the WDD service. It is checked regularly for updates. If the WDD service is paused or not running, device updates will continue to be placed here until the service as started and processed them.

Devices with Errors

The Devices with Errors folder contains the devices in the Clients\Staging\Devices with Errors folder.

If the WDD Service or client encounter any issues when harvesting or processing a database update, the databases are moved here and are renamed with a “.err” file extension.

To view the contents of the above folders.

Select the Program tab on the ribbon.
Click the appropriate button.

A Windows Explorer instance will be displayed, rooted at the selected folder. If a number balloon is displayed on the button, this indicates the number of devices therein.

Settings

To display the Program Settings dialog.

Select the Program tab on the ribbon.
Click the Settings button.

The program settings dialog will be displayed. From here, the behaviour and appearance of WDD can be changed.

Program Settings Dialog

Run Backup

Regular backups of WDD should be taken to prevent data loss. The supplied backup program will zip the Clients and Config folder into a convenient compressed archive. This can then be used to recover from in cases of data loss.

Select the Program tab on the ribbon.
Click the Run Backup button.

Depending on the size of your Clients folder, it may take a few seconds to several minutes to complete. The backup will be copied into the folder specified by your settings.

The backup utility is a standalone program. If you want to forget about backing up, use Microsoft Task Scheduler to run an automated backup each day!

Lock Screen

The Windows Device Directory dialog can be locked if required. This will prevent unauthorized use in your absence.

To lock the application, press the Lock Screen button on the ribbon bar.

The Login dialog will appear and will display the current domain username. You must enter your domain password to unlock the program. If you enter the incorrect password three times, the program will exit.

Getting Help

To get assistance with the program.

Select the Program tab on the ribbon.
Click the Help button.

The help file will be displayed.

Windows Device Directory Viewer

The Archive

Devices can be moved to the archive when you no longer wish to see them in your directory. For example, you may have loaned a number of devices and no longer wish to monitor them on a daily basis. Moving them to the archive will hide them from the directory but enable you to keep a record of them (auditing purposes, for example).

The View Archive button image will change from empty to full when it has content. Also, if a number indicates how many devices are in the archive.

To View the Archive

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Check the View Archive button.

The directory will refresh to show only the devices that have been moved to the archive.

To Hide the Archive

Select the Devices tab on the ribbon bar.
Uncheck the View Archive button.

The directory will refresh to show the normal (non-archived) devices.

Reference

Key to symbols

Reference

Settings Dialog

The settings dialog contains properties which affect the behaviour and performance of WDD. It has settings for the viewer, service and client.

Appearance
Categorize using background colour	True: Show categorized devices with a coloured background. False: Show categorized devices with a coloured foreground.
Layout File	The filename of the most recently used layout file. The MRU file is set when a layout file is saved or loaded. It is also added to the title bar of the viewer adjacent to the organization name.
Number of days to consider devices ‘missing’	Maximum number of days that a device has not checked-in. ‘Missing’ devices are highlighted in bold text.
Organization	Name of the organization. Used as the program title and within reports.
Show Disposed Devices	True: Viewer will show devices that have been disposed (or have a disposed date set). False: Viewer will not show disposed devices.
Strikeout Disposed Devices	True: Viewer will show devices that have been disposed of with ~~strikethrough~~ text. False: Viewer will not use strikethrough font hen displaying disposed devices.
Theme	The current theme used in the viewer. There are 7 themes available.

Behaviour
Copy Serial Number to Clipboard	True: If a device serial number is clicked, it is copied to the clipboard. False: The serial number is not copied to the clipboard.
QR Code Content	The main body of the device QR Code. Fields can be added as a delimited string according to need. i.e. Name, Manufacturer, Model, Serial Number, etc.
QR Code Title	The plain text title of the QR code located below the main graphic.

Client
Connection Test Delay	The number of seconds to wait before attempting to re-test the network connection to the test site. Default = 2
Connect Test Max Retries	Number of attempts to connect to the test site before giving up Default = 5
Connection Test Site or I/P Address	A website or I/P address to test Internet connection (Default: server \ 127.0.0.1 \ google.co.uk)

Service

Delete Cache on Startup

True: Deletes the _DEVCACHE file when starting the service.

False: Do not delete the _DEVCACHE file (Default)

Ping Check Interval

The number of PING processes before checking for device updates (Default = 20)

System
Backup Destination	The full UNC path of the backup destination. This may be on the WDD server or could be a different server or NAS.
Backup on Exit	True: Run a backup when WDDViewer.exe quits (default). False: Do not run a backup on exit.
Categories ǂ	A list of available categories.
Display Date Format	The format of dates (locale). Default: dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss
Manufacturers ǂ	A list of hardware manufacturers
Maximum Backups	Number of backups to create before older ones are deleted.
OS Versions ǂ	A list of Operating System versions (matches build numbers with version names.)
Report Watermark	An optional diagonal message pasted across your printed directory reports.
Tools Path	The full UNC path of the tools folder. Default: \\%SERVERNAME%\Windows Device Directory\Tools

ǂ You will need to maintain these manually or copy\paste from our support website www.johnfermor.co.uk.Reference

Manufacturers

Manufacturers are a collection of hardware manufacturers linked with their support website. Devices with a matching manufacturer (and website) will show as a clickable link in the WDDC.

On clicking the serial number.

The serial number will be copied to the clipboard.
The support webpage will be launched in your default browser.
In the appropriate location on the support webpage, click CTRL+V to paste this serial number.

This will expedite obtaining warranty or device driver information.

Serial numbers without links will not be clickable.

To Add a Manufacturer

Select the Program tab on the ribbon.
Press the Settings button to display the Program Settings dialog.

On the Program Settings dialog, locate the System \ Manufacturers item and press the ‘…’ button.

On the Manufacturer Item Collection Editor dialog, press the Add button to append a new manufacturer (it will appear as “New Manufacturer”.
Click on the New Manufacturer name in the New Manufacturer properties and amend it as required.
If known, enter a website address for the manufacturer. Ideally this should point to the vendor support page that requires a serial number to progress (i.e. warranty or device driver page).
Press the Ok button to save your changes or Cancel to abort.

The manufacturer will be added.

To Remove a Manufacturer

Press the Program tab on the ribbon.
Press the Settings button.

Select the unwanted manufacturer from the available manufacturers.

Press the Remove button
Press the Ok button to save your changes or Cancel to abort.

The manufacturer will be removed.

Reference

OS Versions

OS Versions (or Operating System versions) are a collection of known friendly names to represent the Windows 10\11 Build Number. When matched in the Viewer, the Version column will be populated with this friendly name in addition to the build information columns.

Showing OS Versions

To Add an OS Version

Press the Program tab on the ribbon.
Press the Settings button.

On the Program Settings dialog, locate the System \ OS Versions item and press the ‘…’ button.

On the OSVersion Item Collection Editor dialog, press the Add button to append a new category (it will appear as “Build Number (i.e. '10.0.18363')” and a sample version number)
Click on the new Build Number (i.e. '10.0.18363')” name in the properties and amend it as required.
Enter the friendly name for the build number (i.e. ‘H3H2’)

Press the Ok button to save your changes or Cancel to abort.

To Remove an OS Version

Press the Program tab on the ribbon.
Press the Settings button.

Select the unwanted OS Version from the available OS versions.

Press the Remove button.
Press the Ok button to save your changes or Cancel to abort.

The OS Version will be removed.

Reference

Scripts

Scripts can be created for use in Windows Device Directory. Tasks such as backing up the devices’ BitLocker recovery key, harvesting drivers, activating a Windows product key, etc. become trivial as a script when executed remotely on your device(s).

Scripts are ran on your devices using the excellent PSExec from Sysinternals (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/psexec). You must download their PSTOOLS package and copy the PSEXEC.EXE into the WDD\Tools folder in order for scripts to work.

A number of scripts have been provided and can be found within the WDD Scripts folder. If you write a useful script, please let us know about it and it can be added to the scripts repository!

Adding Custom Scripts

Scripts are batch files that are configured with a predefined header so that they can be listed in the Execute Scripts option shown above.

Create a dedicated folder for your script in the WDD Scripts folder. Use a name that indicates what the script does (‘Get System Info’ for example.)
To be visible in WDD, the script must have the following header:

REM Name=SystemInfo.bat
REM Description=Runs the Windows SYSTEMINFO.EXE program and copies output to the device document folder.
REM Author=John Fermor
REM Version=1.0

Save your batch script in here and rename it so it has the same name as the parent folder.
Create a suitable image (32x32 PNG format) and save it as icon.png in your new script folder.

Example Script 1

This script runs the Windows SystemInfo.exe file locally and copies the output file into the devices’ Documents folder as SystemInfo.txt

REM Name=SystemInfo.bat
REM Description=Runs the Windows SYSTEMINFO.EXE program and copies output to the device document folder.
REM Author=John Fermor
REM Version=1.0
@echo off

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

rem Get the directory path of the batch file
set "batchDir=%~dp0"

rem Get the computer name
for /f "tokens=2 delims=:" %%A in ('wmic computersystem get name /value ^| findstr /C:"Name="') do (
    set "computerName=%%A"
)

rem Set the target directory based on the batch file's location
set "targetDir=%batchDir%..\..\Clients\Documents\%ComputerName%"

rem Create the target directory if it doesn't exist
if not exist "%targetDir%" mkdir "%targetDir%"

rem Run systeminfo and capture the output to a temporary file
systeminfo > "%temp%\SystemInfo.txt"

rem Move the temporary file to the destination directory
move "%temp%\SystemInfo.txt" "%targetDir%\SystemInfo.txt"

Example Script 2

This script runs the Windows DISM.EXE program and harvests the device drivers into a custom %ModelName% Drivers folder within the device documents directory.

REM Name=Driver Harvest.bat
REM Description=Export Windows drivers and copy them to the device documents folder.
REM Author=John Fermor
REM Version=1.0

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

rem Get the directory path of the batch file
set "batchDir=%~dp0"

rem Get the computer model
for /f "tokens=2 delims==" %%A in ('wmic computersystem get model /value') do (
    set "model=%%A"
)

rem Remove leading and trailing spaces from the computer model
rem set "model=!model: =!"
set "model=!model:~0,-1!"

rem Set the target directory based on the batch file's location and computer model
set "targetDir=%batchDir%\..\..\Clients\Documents\%ComputerName%\!model! Drivers"

rem Create the target directory if it doesn't exist
if not exist "!targetDir!" mkdir "!targetDir!"

rem Export Drivers
dism /online /export-driver /destination:"!targetDir!"

rem Get Manufacturer and Model and save to ManuModel.txt
wmic computersystem get Manufacturer,Model > "!targetDir!\ManufacturerModel.txt"

Removing Scripts

Scripts that are no longer required can be deleted.

Locate the unwanted script folder in the WDD Scripts folder.
Delete the folder.

If you are unable to delete the script folder, try exiting WDD and ensure it is not open elsewhere. Then try again.

Overview

WDD Viewer

WDD Service

WDD Client

Using WDD Client on standalone devices

Network share method

External Drive method

Installation & Uninstallation

Installation

Minimum Specification

Installing Windows Device Directory

Post Install Tasks

Important note regarding Antivirus Software

Uninstallation

Windows Device Directory Viewer

Navigation

The Ribbon

Hiding the Ribbon

Showing the Ribbon

Device Directory

Status Bar

Context Sensitive Menus

The View Tab

Showing Device Groups

Hiding Device Groups

Open a Layout

Save Layout

The Devices Tab

Displaying a Device

Assigning a Category to a Device

Showing Device Documents

Opening a Device Database

Searching for Devices

To Archive a Device

To Restore a Device from the Archive

Deleting Devices

Remote Tasks

Ping a Device

Remotely Control a Device

Open the Boot Drive of a Device

Run the Client Update on a Device (on-demand).

Run a script on a Device

Power Management

To Wake a Device

To Restart a Device

To Shutdown a device

Device Properties Dialog

General

Software

Updates

Hardware

Drives

Timeline

Profiles

Device Timeline Dialog

To add an event to the Timeline

To Edit an Event

To change the colour of an Event

To Delete an Event

The Reporting Tab

Page Layout

Print Preview

Print

Export

The Program Tab

The Staging Folders

Device Folder

Device Queue

Devices with Errors

Settings

Run Backup

Lock Screen

Getting Help

The Archive

To View the Archive

To Hide the Archive

Reference

Key to symbols

Settings Dialog

Categories