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System Report

The System Report captures a complete picture of the software and configuration on a machine, then compares that picture against the last time the report ran. It answers the question every regulated lab must keep answering: whether anything on the computer has changed, and whether the change was expected. Because it inventories the whole environment rather than a single product, it runs on every deployment type and needs only the Test Services User role.

What the report inventories​

The System Report is an evidence document, not a pass-or-fail check in the usual sense. Its value is in the detail it records about the machine at a point in time. Each report covers four areas.

  • System details. The hardware inventory (processor, memory, drives, video adapters, and printers) and the operating system configuration, including installed antivirus, time synchronization information, and the users or groups allowed to change the date, time, and time zone.
  • Software applications. Each installed application with its version, publisher, and installation date.
  • Updates. Each installed operating-system update with its type and installation date.
  • Summary of changes. The differences from the previous System Report, so a reviewer can see at a glance what moved.

The software list is assembled from the Windows registry rather than from the Control Panel view, so it can differ from what you see under Add or remove programs. The list may include more entries than the Control Panel shows, and a few applications that do not register in the usual place may be absent. This is expected, and it is why the report is read as a record of the registered environment rather than as a literal mirror of one Windows dialog.

How change tracking works​

The first time the report runs on a machine there is no baseline, so everything is listed plainly with no change annotations. From then on, each run is compared to the previous one. Newly installed, updated, and removed software and updates are called out, and the Summary of changes section groups them so the reviewer does not have to scan the full inventory to find what is different.

When a run detects any change, the result is Passed with additional information rather than a plain Passed, and an information icon appears next to the result. The change itself is not a failure: the report passed, and the additional-information flag is a prompt to confirm the change was intended.

What raises a warning​

Some findings are worth a reviewer's attention even when nothing was installed or removed. The report flags these as warnings and reports Passed with additional information.

  • Antivirus is not installed, not active, or has out-of-date signatures. Antivirus information is read on desktop operating systems only; it is not available on Windows Server.
  • The Windows Users group can change the system date, time, or time zone, which weakens control over the system clock.
  • More than 24 hours have passed since the system clock last synchronized, or time synchronization is not configured.

These checks reflect the report's underlying purpose. A correct system clock and a working antivirus are part of a trustworthy data environment, so the report surfaces them alongside the software inventory.

Where it fits​

The System Report runs on its own and does not require a license. Its output is stored with the other reports in the OpenLab storage backend, included in the overall Summary report, and available from the home page and the execution history. For the steps to run any test, see Run verification tests.

See also​