Share via

How do I find out what or who is modifying a file daily on our file server?

TomKingTech 96 Reputation points
2021-01-05T14:18:26.487+00:00

We have a Windows file server that contains a .csv file that is updated the same time every weekday morning. Unfortunately, since this scheduled update was created by a former employee a long time ago without documentation, we have been unsuccessful finding out what is overwriting the file.

Here is what we have dug into to try to answer this question (without success)

  • File properties and histories
  • Task Scheduler for the file server in question
  • Task Scheduler for the local PC that uses the file
  • Event Viewer for the file server in question
  • Event Viewer for the local PC that uses the file
  • Both SQL Servers and their Task Schedulers/Event Viewers (since this .csv is updated using SQL records)

Any assistance you can provide to help me investigate what/who is updating this file would be greatly appreciated. It has been a challenge to find any forum posts on the Internet that discuss this and give a clear answer. I will, of course, update this post if I happen to find a solution.

SQL Server Integration Services
Windows for business | Windows Server | Storage high availability | Other
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
  1. TomKingTech 96 Reputation points
    2021-01-05T14:46:21.493+00:00

    So I did discover the source of the updates: we have a separate file server that handles scheduled tasks that I did not have access to...it uses SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) in order to write changes from the database table to this .csv file.

    So now we know how the .csv gets its data and receives updates. Thank you for your attention!

    0 comments

1 additional answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2021-01-05T14:34:39.24+00:00

    You can turn on some file system auditing.
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/solution-guides/plan-for-file-access-auditing

    --please don't forget to Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

    1 person found this answer helpful.

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.