Recording logon/logoff times

[unixman_again]

Is there an easy and cheap method (free would be nice) to record in a central location, the logon time, logoff time and user id of networked W10 PCs?

[sted]

logon/off scripts depends how much info you want

 

something like

 

echo -------Log user access to Machine-------set mytime=%TIME:~0,-3%echo %username%,%computername%,%mytime%,%date% >> \\server\log$\userlog.txt

 

but its not very searchable and only records logons but you could dump it to a temp file and run a similar script to add time at logoff to that file then dump that temp file into the bigger log (and delete the temp file)

 

so logon

echo -------Log user access to Machine-------set mytime=%TIME:~0,-3%echo %username%,%computername%,%mytime%,%date% >> \\server\log$\%computername%.txt

 

logoff

echo -------Log user access to Machine-------set mytime=%TIME:~0,-3%echo %mytime%,%date% >> \\server\log$\%computername%.txt

copy \\server\log$\%computername%.txt \\server\log$\log.txt

 

havnt tried just thinking out loud

[LeMarchand]

What @sted said, but to csv.

 

Logon:

 

echo LogOn,%COMPUTERNAME%,%USERNAME%,%DATE%,%TIME% >> \\Path\to\LoggingFolder\UsageLog.csv

exit

 

Logoff:

 

echo LogOff,%COMPUTERNAME%,%USERNAME%,%DATE%,%TIME% >> \\Path\to\LoggingFolder\UsageLog.csv

exit

 

The "Time" looks a bit hinky sometimes, but otherwise seems to work.

[sted]

What @sted said, but to csv.

 

Logon:

 

echo LogOn,%COMPUTERNAME%,%USERNAME%,%DATE%,%TIME% >> \\Path\to\LoggingFolder\UsageLog.csv

exit

 

Logoff:

 

echo LogOff,%COMPUTERNAME%,%USERNAME%,%DATE%,%TIME% >> \\Path\to\LoggingFolder\UsageLog.csv

exit

 

The "Time" looks a bit hinky sometimes, but otherwise seems to work.

 

thats why i used a mytime variable so that i consistently get the same format or some machines give stupidly precise times that are of no use to anyone

[LeMarchand]

thats why i used a mytime variable so that i consistently get the same format or some machines give stupidly precise times that are of no use to anyone

 

Cheers! So what do the numbers do in

mytime=%TIME:~0,-3%

?

[sted]

Cheers! So what do the numbers do in

mytime=%TIME:~0,-3%

?

 

its an old bit of code i cant remember i think it just caps the time to seconds no tenths hundedths etc

[LeMarchand]

@sted: Tested with my script and it looks like it'll be a great improvement. Added into the "proper" versions. Thank you!

@unixman_again: If you do it to csv it saves a step making it sortable. I've found it very useful in identifying machines that aren't being used.

[ianniow]

I use a vbs scirpt one for logon and one for logoff which uses two folders one for computers and one for users and creates name.txt files for each inside these.

I can't claim any credit as I got it from edugeek somewhere I think (Long time ago)

 

' LOGOUT SCRIPT as follows

Option Explicit
Dim strUserDirectory, strCompDirectory, strDate
Dim strUser, strComp
Dim strUserFile, strCompFile
Dim objWshNtwk, objFSO, objTextFile

Set objWshNtwk = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Network")

strUserDirectory = "\\servername\foldername$\Users"
strCompDirectory = "\\servename\foldername$\Computers"

strDate = Now
strUser = (objWshNtwk.UserName)
strComp = (objWshNtwk.ComputerName)

strUserFile = "\" & CStr(strUser) & ".txt"
strCompFile = "\" & CStr(strComp) & ".txt"

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Const ForAppending = 8

' Username Log
Set objTextFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile (strUserDirectory &_
strUserFile, ForAppending, True)
objTextFile.WriteLine ("User:" & ", " & strUser & ", " _
& "Logged out of Computer" & ", " & strComp & ", "_
& "at" & ", " & strDate)
objTextFile.Close

'computer name Log
Set objTextFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile _
(strCompDirectory & strCompFile, ForAppending, True)
'objTextFile.WriteLine (strUser & "," & strComp & "," & strDate)
objTextFile.WriteLine ("Computer" & ", " & strComp & ", "_
& "Was logged out of by" _
& ", " & strUser & ", " & "at" & "," & strDate)
objTextFile.Close
WScript.Quit

[adrianjones]

I use a logon / logoff .bat script:

 

Logon Script:

echo Log In %Date% %TIME% %USERNAME% >> \\server\logs$\computers\%COMPUTERNAME%.log
echo Log In %Date% %TIME% %COMPUTERNAME% >> \\server\logs$\users\%USERNAME%.log

 

Log Off Script:

echo Log Off %Date% %TIME% %USERNAME% >> \\server\logs$\computers\%COMPUTERNAME%.log
echo Log Off %Date% %TIME% %COMPUTERNAME% >> \\server\logs$\users\%USERNAME%.log

[simonw]

Please help, I can't get this to work. I'm trying the simplest of methods and I'm getting no output.

 

My .bat is

echo Log In set mytime=%TIME~0,-3% echo %Date% %mytime% %USERNAME% %COMPUTERNAME% >> \\server\user$\LogOn\%COMPUTERNAME%.csv exit

 

So I've added this to the GP for User Config/Windows Settings/Logon and clicked apply

I've run a gpupdate, and waited for this to complete but when I logon to a client machine there is no output file.

 

What have I missed?

Simon

Edited January 23, 2017 by simonw
syntax

[sted]

Please help, I can't get this to work. I'm trying the simplest of methods and I'm getting no output.

 

My .bat is

echo Log In set mytime=%TIME~0,-3% echo %Date% %mytime% %USERNAME% %COMPUTERNAME% >> \\server\user$\LogOn\%COMPUTERNAME%.csvexit

 

So I've added this to the GP for User Config/Windows Settings/Logon and clicked apply

I've run a gpupdate, and waited for this to complete but when I logon to a client machine there is no output file.

 

What have I missed?

Simon

what happens if you run the script manually with a pause at the bottom?

[simonw]

I'm not sure what you mean by pause, im not a coder by any means.

[3s-gtech]

I'm not sure what you mean by pause, im not a coder by any means.

 

Literally, just put

 

pause

 

at the end of the script. It'll wait for user input before finishing.

[LeMarchand]

Please help, I can't get this to work. I'm trying the simplest of methods and I'm getting no output.

 

My .bat is

echo Log In set mytime=%TIME~0,-3% echo %Date% %mytime% %USERNAME% %COMPUTERNAME% >> \\server\user$\LogOn\%COMPUTERNAME%.csv exit

 

So I've added this to the GP for User Config/Windows Settings/Logon and clicked apply

I've run a gpupdate, and waited for this to complete but when I logon to a client machine there is no output file.

 

What have I missed?

Simon

 

You may need the commas in for a csv and I think you need to declare the variable first.

 

set mytime=%TIME~0,-3%

echo Log In,%Date%,%mytime%,%USERNAME%,%COMPUTERNAME% >> \\server\user$\LogOn\%COMPUTERNAME%.csv     exit

[simonw]

that works for the local machine, thank you. I've had the change the .bat as the mytime was only returning %mytime%.

 

am I being a bit too ambitious wanting to test this on a client machine, as I've tried and got nothing reported to my folder location

[sted]

if it works logged in as you on a pc but not as a logon script i would guess the pcs account dosent have read/write access to your server location (either give that share authenticated user modify of domain computers modify permissions)

[simonw]

I spotted the error for the %mytime%, I'd missed a colon after TIME....

 

set mytime=%TIME:~0,-3%
echo LogOn echo %Date% %mytime% %USERNAME% %COMPUTERNAME% >> \\\LogOn\%COMPUTERNAME%.csv  exit

Its working without commas for .csv output too.

 

Now to hope it works on the client machines....

Edited January 23, 2017 by simonw
syntax

[Chris_RM]

Hello, RM has recently developed a free tool called RM inform that accurately monitors the logon times for machines on a Windows network, reporting back to a central console that the network team can use. Alongside, logon times it also monitors other things such as what machines are / aren't being used, what specification they are and the installed software. RM Inform is currently in it's initial release, with new features on the roadmap for the future.

 

RM Inform - School IT monitoring and reporting

 

PM me if you have any questions or want to talk through the detail.

 

Thanks,

Chris