DFIRHub

AppCompatPCA

Windowsv1

Author: Andrew Rathbun

AppCompat PCA Folder

Paths

1 path
Paths use Windows environment variable syntax

References

Notes

Credit to rancio#4162 on the Digital Forensics Discord Server who noticed this artifact - https://discord.com/channels/427876741990711298/427936091220344833/1057680326484299786

This artifact appears to be on Windows 11 only and will comprise of the following files:

C:\Windows\appcompat\pca\PcaAppLaunchDic.txt

C:\Windows\appcompat\pca\PcaGeneralDb1.txt

C:\Windows\appcompat\pca\PcaGeneralDb0.txt

PcaAppLaunchDic.txt appears to contain reliable timestamps for evidence of last execution in the format of FILE PATH | TIMESTAMP

I've tested and validated this on my own Windows 11 Pro system where the timestamps updates in real-time upon execution of a given application

Collection commands

# PowerShell Artifact Collection Script
# Target: AppCompatPCA
# Run as Administrator

#Requires -RunAsAdministrator

$ErrorActionPreference = "Continue"
$SourceRoot = "C:"
$DestBase   = "D:\Evidence"
$Summary = @{ Copied = 0; Missed = 0; Errors = 0 }

function Collect-Artifact {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory)][string]$SourceDir,
        [Parameter(Mandatory)][string]$FolderName,
        [string]$FileMask = "*"
    )
    # Expand wildcards in any path segment (e.g. 'Program Files*',
    # 'ScreenConnect Client*'). robocopy itself does not glob the source.
    $sources = @(Get-Item -Path $SourceDir -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
        Where-Object { $_.PSIsContainer })
    if ($sources.Count -eq 0) {
        $Summary.Missed++
        return
    }
    $FullDest = Join-Path -Path $DestBase -ChildPath $FolderName
    $null = New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $FullDest -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    foreach ($src in $sources) {
        robocopy $src.FullName "$FullDest" "$FileMask" /E /COPY:DAT /R:0 /W:0 /NP /NFL /NDL /NJH /NJS 2>$null | Out-Null
        if ($LASTEXITCODE -le 7) { $Summary.Copied++ } else { $Summary.Errors++ }
    }
}

# 1. AppCompat PCA Folder
Collect-Artifact -SourceDir "C:\Windows\appcompat\pca" -FolderName "AppCompat_PCA_Folder"

Write-Host ("Collection complete. Copied: {0}  Missed: {1}  Errors: {2}" -f $Summary.Copied, $Summary.Missed, $Summary.Errors) -ForegroundColor Green

Save as .ps1 and run as Administrator. Use: powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File script.ps1

Included in collections: BasicCollectionSANS_TriageEvidenceOfExecutionKapeTriageProgramExecutionSOFELK