Q: How can I use Steel Inventory with hosts running Windows95 and 98?
A:You must install the WMI core. You can download that microsoft site. The URL is Link for WMI core

Q: After installing WMI core on Windows 95/98 systems,I am not able to get informations from them..why?
A: The WMI service starts automatically on computers running Windows NT/2000, but not on computers running Windows 95/98. To set up the Windows Management service to start automatically on a Windows 95/98 system, you must make the following changes to the operating system registry. To set up the Windows Management service to run automatically on a computer running Windows 95/98

Please follow the steps below...
1.In the registry, navigate to the value named EnableRemoteConnect?.

2.Under the key HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\OLE, set EnableDCOM? to "Y" if it is not set to "Y" already. "Y" is the default setting.

3.In the registry under the key HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\OLE, set EnableRemoteConnect? to "Y". The default setting for the EnableRemoteConnect? value is "N" for Windows 95/98 systems.

4.Place the following entry in the registry to enable the WMI automatic start feature:\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\wbem\cimom - AutostartWin9X

5.Set the AutostartWin9X value to either "1" or "2".

6.Add the file Winmgmt.exe to the computer's Startup directory. You can find this file in the \Windows\WBEM directory.

7.Under the key \HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\wbem\cimom set EnableAnonConnections to "1".

Q: How to make Steel Inventory work with WinNT4.0?
A: The default installation of Windows NT 4 does not include the WMI service. The following instructions explain how to obtain and install WMI on any machines that have the Windows NT 4.0 operating system installed, so that you can use Steel Inventory to audit them.

1. Download and install WMI Core version 1.5 for Windows NT from the Microsoft web site. Download here
Now we need to modify the security settings for DCOM to allow remote connections.
2. Run dcomcnfg.exe in the command prompt.
3. On the Default Properties tab, select Enable Distributed COM on this computer.
4. Set Default Authentication Level to Connect.
5. Set Default Impersonation Level to Impersonate.

Q: Why doesn't Steel Inventory work with Windows XP SP2?
A: Why not ? By default, the Windows XP Firewall blocks all incoming RPC traffic.So How do I fix it?
Windows Firewall includes a Remote Administration option that alters its configuration to allow Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) communication. Enabling Remote Administration option statically opens TCP 135 and TCP 445 to unsolicited incoming traffic. Additionally, communication over named pipes is permitted, and ports will be dynamically opened as needed by Windows services using RPC
To enable Remote Administration by default in the Domain Profile, add the following entry to the ICF.AddReg.DomainProfile section of the Windows Firewall INF file: HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters \FirewallPolicy\DomainProfile\RemoteAdminSettings" ,"Enabled",0x00010001,1

To simplify the process of enabling remote administration download this little script and
execute in the XP host you wish to audit once. Script

Not yet convinced ? ... read more

For using SteelInventory audit on a XP workstation not in a domain ( workgroup mode )..
Open command prompt [cmd.exe]
Type Secpol.msc /s this will run the local Policy Editor
Expand the tree "Local Policies" and select "Security options"
In the right side pane find the line "Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts" and double click
select "Classic - local users authenticate as themselves"from the combobox
Click ok and and close all windows and give a restart ... You are on !

For using SteelInventory audit on a XP workstation in a domain ( Domain participation mode )..
Once a XP workstation is joined to a domain (active directory or classic NT domain) the Security option is set to Classic NTLM mode of authentication.
When a XP client becomes member of a domain, this policy will get Enabled automatically.

To enable WMI after installing SP2 on Windows XP
1. Ensure that the user account is a local administrator on remote machine.
2. If the user is not an administrator but has Remote Enable permission on remote machine, then the user also must be given DCOM Remote Launch privilege on remote machine by running Dcomcnfg.exe at command line. The 0x80070005 error occurs when this privilege is not set.
3. Enable Windows Firewall remote administration.

Commands to be executed in the Dos Shell (command prompt)

netsh firewall set service RemoteAdmin enable

netsh firewall add portopening protocol=tcp port=135 name=DCOM_TCP135

The above commands enables the computer to be accessed and audited by Steel Inventory.