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How to Use Resource Explorer to View Hardware Inventory in Configuration Manager

 

Updated: May 14, 2015

Applies To: System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP2, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager SP1

Use Resource Explorer in System Center 2012 Configuration Manager to view information about hardware inventory that has been collected from clients in your hierarchy.

Note

Resource Explorer will not display any inventory data until a hardware inventory cycle has run on the client you are connecting to.

Resource Explorer in Configuration Manager contains the following sections related to hardware inventory:

  • Hardware - Contains the most recent hardware inventory collected from the specified Configuration Manager client device. You can review the inventory item Workstation Status to discover the time and date when the device last performed a hardware inventory.

  • Hardware History – Contains a history of inventoried items that have changed since the last hardware inventory was performed. Each item in the list contains a Current node and one or more <date> nodes. You can compare the information in the current node to one of the historical nodes to discover items that have changed in the client computers hardware inventory.

    Note

    Configuration Manager retains hardware inventory history for the number of days you specify in the Delete Aged Inventory History site maintenance task

Note

For System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 and later:

For information about how to view hardware inventory from clients that run Linux and UNIX, see the How to use Resource Explorer to View Inventory for Linux and UNIX Servers section in the How to Monitor Linux and UNIX Clients in Configuration Manager topic.

How to run Resource Explorer from the Configuration Manager console

  1. In the Configuration Manager console, click Assets and Compliance.

  2. In the Assets and Compliance workspace, click Devices or open any collection that displays devices.

  3. Click the computer containing the inventory that you want to view and then, in the Home tab, in the Devices group, click Start and then click Resource Explorer. The Resource Explorer window will open.

  4. You can right-click any item in the right-pane of the Resource Explorer window and then click Properties to open the <item name> Properties dialog box which can help you to view the collected inventory information in a more readable format.

  5. When you are finished, close the Resource Explorer window.