Why File-Based Discovery Creates Software Install Records Without Version InformationSummary<!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: #000000; } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: #000000; } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: black; } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: black; } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: black; } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: #00718F; } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: #024F69; } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: #032D42; } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: #00718f; } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } In File-Based Discovery (FBD), ServiceNow does not populate software version details for Linux or Windows devices. This is expected behavior due to a product limitation in how FBD gathers file metadata. FBD identifies the presence of files and captures basic attributes such as product name and publisher, but it does not collect detailed software version information. It is also important to note that the version field in the File Information table reflects the version of an individual file, while the version field in the Software Installations table represents the version of the overall software installation. Since these two values serve different purposes and are not equivalent, using file-level version data to populate the Software Installations version field is not recommended and may lead to inaccurate results.