How can I remotely list installed programs on a Windows XP system, while it is in use?
The title pretty much covers it all. There is a Windows XP system on the network which is currently in use by another user. Since XP only allows one active user session at a time, I cannot use RDP and run appwiz.cpl
to view installed programs because this would result in the local user's session being locked or terminated. So, how can I get a list of installed programs from this system remotely without inconveniencing the user?
Presume the following:
- Remote system is running Windows XP SP3.
- Local system is running Windows XP SP3 or Server 2003 SP2.
- Both systems are running practically bone-stock setups.
- Do not presume any extra tools (MS or third-party) are installed, or non-default services enabled, unless otherwise specified here.
- Remote Registry is enabled on the target system.
- SNMP is disabled on the target system.
- I have a user account in the Administrator group on both systems.
- I am using an Active Directory domain account.
- I am not permitted to install any additional software, or enable any additional services on either system.
- I need a reliable list of all software which might be registered as installed.
- The list should effectively reflect the same information which is available via
appwiz.cpl
. - Any form of
dir "C:\Program Files\"
is not acceptable.
- The list should effectively reflect the same information which is available via
- Both systems, and my user account, are members of the same Active Directory domain.
- The systems are on an isolated network, without Internet connectivity.
Solution 1:
psinfo -s \\"remote machine"
- and you can run it from the Sysinternals website directly, without installing it.
In your case, without Internet access, query the remote registry (REG QUERY
) for everything under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
- you want terse, only extract the DisplayName value from the subkeys.
Solution 2:
How about
wmic /node:"workstation-name" Product GET description
?