SCCM SQL Query – Google Earth Installs

Reporting on Google Earth installations across an SCCM environment is trickier than most software, because Google Earth doesn’t reliably show up in the standard Add/Remove Programs (ARP) hardware inventory data. If you go looking in SMS_G_System_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS for it, you’ll likely come up empty even on machines where it’s clearly installed.

The workaround

Instead of relying on ARP data, this query uses file-level hardware inventory — specifically the SoftwareFile table — to detect the presence of googleearth.exe on disk. This requires that you’re already collecting EXE file information as part of your hardware inventory configuration; if you’re not, you’ll need to enable that first (Client Settings > Hardware Inventory > Set Classes, adding the relevant file type to the inventory).

SELECT
*
FROM v_GS_SYSTEM SYS
INNER JOIN SoftwareInventory SWI
on SYS.ResourceID = SWI.ClientId
INNER JOIN SoftwareFile SWF
on SWF.ProductId = SWI.ProductId
WHERE SWF.FileName = 'googleearth.exe'

This returns every column across the joined tables, which is useful for exploring what’s available but noisy for a real report — trim the SELECT * down to just the columns you actually need (system name, file path, file version, etc.) once you’ve confirmed the query works in your environment. The same pattern — filtering SoftwareFile.FileName for a specific executable — works for detecting any other application that doesn’t register cleanly in ARP; just swap in the exe name you’re chasing.

Still a Valid Query Pattern in 2026

v_GS_SYSTEM remains a standard, current hardware inventory view in the ConfigMgr SQL schema, and the overall join pattern — matching a system to its inventoried EXE files by filename — is still valid on the current release. One thing worth double-checking if you adapt this query yourself: current Microsoft sample queries for file-level software inventory reference the prefixed views v_GS_SoftwareProduct/v_GS_SoftwareFile rather than the bare SoftwareInventory/SoftwareFile table names used here — if this exact query doesn’t return results in your environment, try the v_GS_-prefixed view names as the first thing to check.

Resources

• Exploring the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Utilising Google Earth Time-Lapse
• Google Earth SCCM Uninstall
• Browse our Windows Admin Toolkit picks on Amazon