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Files used by Zenmap
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Files used by Zenmap

Zenmap uses a number of configuration and control files, and of course requires Nmap to be installed. Where the files are stored depends on the platform and how Zenmap was configured. The configuration files are divided into two categories: system files and per-user files.

The nmap executable

Zenmap depends on the nmap command-line executable being installed. The program is first searched for in all of the directories specified in the PATH environment variable.

On some platforms the nmap command isn’t commonly installed in any of the directories in PATH. As a convenience for those platforms, the following additional directories will be searched if the command is not found in the PATH:

  • On Mac OS X, the directory /usr/local/bin is searched.

  • On Windows, the parent of the directory containing the Zenmap executable is searched.

To use an absolute path to the executable, or if the executable is installed under a name other than “nmap”, modify the nmap_command_path variable in the [paths] section of zenmap.conf. For example, if you have installed nmap in /opt/bin, use

[paths]
nmap_command_path = /opt/bin/nmap
    

Or if you have a custom-compiled version of Nmap called nmap-custom, use

[paths]
nmap_command_path = nmap-custom
    

See the section called “Description of zenmap.conf”

System configuration files

These files affect the installation of Zenmap across an entire installation. On Unix and Mac OS X, they are in $prefix/share/zenmap, where $prefix is the filesystem prefix Zenmap was compiled with. The prefix is likely /usr or /usr/local, so Zenmap’s file are probably in /usr/share/zenmap or /usr/local/share/zenmap. On Windows, the location also depends on where Zenmap was installed. They are probably in C:\Program Files\Nmap\share\zenmap.

config/

The files under config are copied to per-user configuration directories. See the section called “Per-user configuration files”

docs/

The files in the docs subdirectory are Zenmap’s documentation files.

locale/

The files in the locale/ subdirectory contain translations of the text used by Zenmap into other languages.

misc/options.xml

This file defines human-readable names and descriptions of Nmap command line options. It does not need to be edited. It will be updated to the latest Nmap options whenever Zenmap is upgraded.

misc/os_db.dmp

This is a local copy of Nmap’s nmap-os-db OS database in a different format for Zenmap’s internal use.

misc/profile_editor.xml

This file defines what options are presented by the profile editor (see the section called “The profile editor”). It could be edited with care to alter the profile editor system-wide.

misc/services.dmp

This is a local copy of Nmap’s nmap-service-probes service database in a different format for Zenmap’s internal use.

misc/wizard.xml

This file defines what options are presented by the command constructor wizard (see the section called “The Nmap command constructor wizard”). It could be edited with care to alter the wizard system-wide.

Per-user configuration files

These files affect only one user of Zenmap. Some of them are copied from the config subdirectory of the system files when Zenmap is run for the first time. Per-user files are in $HOME/.zenmap on Unix and Mac OS X, where $HOME is the home directory of the current user. On Windows, they are in C:\Documents and Settings\$USER\.zenmap, where $USER is the name of the current user.

recent_scans.txt

This contains a list of file names of recently saved scans. These scans are shown under the “Scan” menu. Scans must have been saved to a file to appear here. See the section called “Saving and loading scan results” If this file doesn’t exist it is created when Zenmap is run.

scan_profile.usp

This file contains descriptions of scan profiles, including the defaults and those that have been created by the user. It is recommended to use the profile editor (see the section called “The profile editor” to make changes to this file. This file is copied from the system configuration directory the first time Zenmap is run.

target_list.txt

This file contains a list of recently scanned targets. If it doesn’t exist it is created when Zenmap is run.

zenmap.conf

This is Zenmap’s main configuration file. It holds the settings for a particular user’s copy of Zenmap. It is discussed in more detail in the section called “Description of zenmap.conf”

zenmap.db

This is the database of recent scans, as described in the section called “Saving and loading scan results” It is created if it doesn’t exist.

zenmap_version

This file contains the version of Zenmap that was used to create this per-user configuration directory. It may be helpful to compare the version number in this file with the file of the same name in the system configuration directory if you suspect a version conflict. It is simply copied from the system configuration the first time Zenmap is run.


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