SoftPerfect Network Scanner Online Manual

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Getting started

This is the main window you see when you run the SoftPerfect Network Scanner.

Under the menu there is a toolbar with buttons used to access the main features.
The program controls are as follows:

Program options

Press Ctrl+O or the button to access the network scanner options

• Max. number of threads - the maximum number of scanning threads.
• Method - the ping method. Can be chosen from ICMP (ping), ARP (arping), or both.
• Ping Timeout - the period to wait for a reply from the remote computer.
• Retries - the maximum number of ping requests.
• Always analyze host - force the scanner to analyze a non-responding host.
• Ping broadcast addresses - when enabled the scanner tries to ping IP addresses ending with .255.
• Explore shared folders in background - If this option is set, whenever you choose to explore a folder the network scanner launches a separate process of Windows Explorer to avoid temporary unresponsiveness.
• Display dead hosts - add non-responding hosts into the results.
• Resolve Host Names - when enabled, the IP addresses are converted to the host names.
• Resolve MAC Addresses - when enabled, you will see hardware (MAC) addresses (Windows 2000 and higher only).
• Lookup NIC vendor - as per the IEEE standard, first three octets of a MAC address represent the NIC's vendor. In order to use this feature you will need to download this file from the IEEE and save it to the network scanner folder.
• Check for open ports - when enabled, the program will attempt connection to the specified TCP port (you can specify several ports separated by a comma or dash, e.g. 21,80,110-115).
• Case insensitive sorting - ignore case type when results are sorted.
• Retrieve comments - display a comment assigned to a Windows workstation.
• Lookup logged-on users - display a list of users currently logged-on to a Windows workstation (Windows NT and higher only).
• Lookup LAN group - display the workgroup/domain name which a Windows workstation belongs to (Windows NT and higher only, see rightmost columns).
• Lookup Windows version - display the Windows version on a workstation (Windows NT and higher only, see rightmost columns).

• Scan for shared resources - enables scanning of shared resources. Below are all the possible types of shared resources.
• Check for write access - when enabled, the program determines if the shared folder is writable or not (read only).
• Enable security & user permission scan - with this option enabled, the network scanner will discover what reading and writing privileges are assigned to shared folders. You may have to be an administrator to retrieve this information.
• All - all resources.
• Folders - shared folders or drives.
• Printers - shared print devices.
• Comm. device - a communication device.
• Special - special share reserved for interprocess communication (IPC$) or remote administration of the server (ADMIN$). It can also be used for administrative shares such as C$, D$, E$, etc.
• IPC - interprocess communication (IPC).

Use this tab to setup scanning for machines that have an SNMP service running. You can specify a community (e.g. public or private) and a MIB OID number. Multiple communities and/or OIDs are to be comma separated. This data will be used for an SNMP query. Set the Display answers option if you would like to see replies from the SNMP enabled machines. The As HEX sequence option prints an SNMP answer as a string of hexadecimal numbers rather than a raw string output.

The applications tab extends support for third-party applications. For example, if you use remote administration or specific network client software, you can setup the network scanner to connect to a remote host using the additional software directly from the network scanner.

Finally, the Browsing tab enables the network scanner to check whether a host is still on-line when you attempt to explore its folders, or establish a connection to that host. This greatly speeds up some operations, as an attempt to connect an off-line computer might temporarily hang the network scanner until the connection fails You can enable one or more methods to check the availability and set a timeout.

Auto-detect the network configuration

The SoftPerfect Network Scanner is able to detect your IP range automatically. Select the Options - IP Address - Detect Local IP Range menu item. In the following dialog, select an interface and the program will calculate the IP range of the network. If you are connected to the Internet and are behind a router or proxy server, use the Detect External IP Address command to determine your external IP address (requires Internet connection).

In this example SoftPerfect Network Scanner has determined the range of IP addresses on the network

Scanning

To begin scanning click the Start Scanning button

Scan results

When scanning has finished, you will be able to browse the results, save to a file, map a network drive, explore a folder, etc.

Live display

If you enable the Live Display option (choose View - Live Display from the main menu), the network scanner will constantly update scan results to reveal the latest changes in the network. If a new host joins or leaves the network, it will be logged in the display window.

Wake-on-LAN and remote shutdown

To send a 'magic' wake up packet to a remote computer (its MAC address must be known), choose Actions - Wake-On-LAN from the main menu. To shutdown or reboot a remote PC (Windows NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista), choose Actions - Remote Shutdown.

WMI Query builder and scanning

The network scanner is capable of running WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) queries against hosts being scanned. In order to create a WMI query, choose Options - WMI from the main menu. Queries are written in a special language called WQL, similar to SQL. Although you can create as many queries as you like, you can run only one at a time against computers being scanned. This query can be selected with the check mark.

The Build buttons allows you to easily make simple WQL queries. It merely connects to your computer's WMI subsystem and lets you pick a WMI class and parameter to be used in the query. When you have the WMI queries option enabled, there will be an additional column shown in the scan results.

Remote file and registry access

The application can connect to the remote registry of remote PCs running Windows, provided the remote registry service is started. It can also connect to the their system via administrative shares (C$, D$, E$, etc) and retrieve information about a specific file. These features are useful mainly for network administrators maintaining large networks and can be accessed by choosing Options - Remote Registry or Options - Remote File from the main menu.

There are several predefined entries in the list and you can easily add new items to retrieve data about hardware and software specific to your environment. The columns are as follows: Item Name is a name of the entry. Root represents one of the root registry hives. Registry key contains the path to a value of interest. Parameter Name is the value name to be retrieved. Finally, Local Value merely shows the value in the local registry on your computer. On this screenshot two items are chosen to be retrieved from remote computers.

Likewise, provided the administrative shares are enabled and accessible, you can pull out information about a specific file on remote computers. For example, you want to find out the version of Internet Explorer, or when a log file was changed, or how large a particular file is. To do so, enter the full name of a file and choose what property you would like to retrieve. On the following screenshot, the application is configured to access the Outlook Express executable and display its version. Drive letters get substituted to relevant administrative shared folders. For example, if you scan a range of 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.10 with these settings, the application will attempt to display the version information embedded in the files \\10.0.0.1\C$\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe, \\10.0.0.2\C$\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe, etc.

There will be one or two additional columns showing the information retrieved.

Command line switches

You can use the following switches as netscan.exe /switch1 /switch2 ... switchN. For instance, if you need to scan your network and export the list to the file, use the following command line: netscan.exe /hide /auto:"c:\desktop\result.txt"

/auto:<filename> runs scan with global settings and exports the results to a file, i.e. /auto:"c:\desktop\result.txt". Specify the .htm extension in order to produce a HTML report. Specify the .xml extension in order to to export the results as a XML file. Specify the .csv extension to in order to export the results to a CSV file.

/hide does not show the main window (silent mode).

/addr applies to the /auto command and exports only the MAC and IP address columns to a file.

/range:From-To Sets an IP address range for scanning. Example: /range:192.168.0.1-192.168.10.254

/append applies to the /auto command for text and CSV files. Appends the results to a file rather than overwrites it.

/wol:<MAC> sends a Wake-On-LAN magic packet to the specified MAC address and immediately exits. Example: /wol:AABBCCDDEEFF.

These two switches below are mutually exclusive and have no effect if the application is launched from a USB stick or other removable device. Use a shortcut to apply either switch at all times if it is needed.

/ini forces the scanner to load and save its settings to an INI file instead of the registry by default (see a note below).

/xml forces the scanner to load and save its settings to a XML file instead of the registry by default. However, when the network scanner is launched from a removable drive, such as a USB stick, it does not use the registry. Instead, it uses a XML file to save/load its settings, so you need not specify this switch to make it portable.

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