WMI Classes
This section provides WMI class and reference page information. For more information about how to retrieve class or instance data, see Manipulating Class and Instance Information. The following table lists, describes, and provides links to specific WMI class information. For more information and script code examples of using WMI classes to obtain a variety of operating system and hardware data, see WMI Tasks for Scripts and Applications. For examples in C++, see WMI C++ Application Examples. Connecting to WMI on a Remote Computer shows how to obtain remote data.
| Section | Description |
|---|---|
| Win32 Classes | Schema classes included in the root\cimv2 namespace. These are the primary classes for working with Windows-based operating systems. |
| WMI Registry Classes | Classes that manipulate registry keys and values. You can use these classes to change, add, or delete registry keys and values. |
| WMI System Classes | Predefined classes that are included in every namespace in the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) core. You can recognize a WMI system class because the name begins with a double underscore (__). These classes provide much of the basic functionality for WMI. The WMI system classes are similar in purpose to the system tables in SQL server. |
| Monitor Display Classes | WMI Monitor Display classes contain data supplied by the WDM Provider that provide data about display monitors. The classes are defined in Wmicore.mof and are located in the root\wmi namespace.
|
| IPMI Classes | Classes that supply data from the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) provider when appropriate baseboard management controller (BMC) hardware is available.
|
| MSFT Classes | Other Microsoft classes that offer the means to manipulate several operating system features, such as remote events and policy extensions. The WMI Troubleshooting classes are MSFT classes that provide data about WMI operations. |
| CIM Classes | Common Information Model (CIM) schema classes. If you want to write your own WMI classes then you can inherit from one or more of these classes. The WMI Win32 Classes inherit from the CIM classes. |
| Standard Consumer Classes | A set of WMI event consumers which trigger an action upon receipt of an arbitrary event. For more information, see Monitoring Events. |
| MSMCA Classes | Classes that offer a means to manipulate and describe a system event. These classes are included in the operating system. |
| WMI C++ Classes | Complete listing of the WMI C++ Provider Framework classes. The Provider Framework classes are obsolete and not recommended. For alternative ways to write a WMI COM provider or a WMI provider that uses the System.Management namespace in the .NET Framework, see Using WMI. |
Naming Conventions for WMI Classes and Properties
Property names must conform to the Managed Object Format (MOF) syntax defined by the Distributed Management Task Force (DTMF). The initial identifier characters must be from the letters a through z and the underscore character (_). All additional characters must be from the letters a through z, the underscore character, and the numerals 0 through 9. For more information, see the Unicode Usage section of the CIM Specification Version 2.2.
SQL reserve words should not be used in class and property names. For a complete list of the SQL reserve words and for more information, see the Guidelines section of the CIM Specification Version 2.2.
Document Conventions for a WMI Class Reference Page
This section identifies and describes the document conventions for a WMI class reference page.
A typical reference page contains a syntax block, methods table, and a properties list.
- Syntax block
A simplified version of MOF code that includes the class name, parent class (if any), and class properties, in alphabetical order, with data types.
- Methods table
If a class has methods, the methods are listed in the table immediately following the syntax block. Each implemented method is linked to a reference page.
- Properties list
Each class property is listed with a data type, access type (read-only or read/write), qualifiers, and a description of the property.
Syntax block
class Win32_xyz : CIM_xyz
{
uint16 abc ;
string def ;
};
Methods table
| Win32_xyz methods | Description |
|---|---|
| SomeMethod | Brief description of what the method does. |
Properties list
- abc
-
Data type: uint16
Access type: Shows whether you have read/write or read-only access to this property.
Qualifiers: If present, shows the qualifiers for the property. For example, KeyOverride.
Describes the property and provides inheritance information for the property. For example, this property is inherited from CIM_xyz. There is a link to the parent class if Microsoft provides an implementation of that class. However, the CIM classes are not available.
- def
-
Data type: string
Access type: Read-only
Description of the property.
Remarks
Gives more information about the class, if applicable. Also provides derivation information, if applicable.
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Build date: 3/9/2012
You can access and manipulate WMI objects using PowerShell. PowerShell's GET-WMIObject provides access to WMI classes on local or remote computer.
PowerShell's Get-WMIObject cmdlet enables you to specify the namespace and class name of the managed object you with to utilise as well as the machine to operate against. Once you have obtained the object, you can access its properties and methods - just like any other .NET object. To access WMI objects on a remote system, you need to specify credentials (you can use get-credential cmdlet to create a PSCredential object you can provide to Get-WMIObject).
Some of the WMI Classes are decorated with simple PoweShell samples. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/tags-cloud.aspx?tag=powershell+code+wmi for a list of classes decorted.
- 6/10/2007
- Thomas Lee
- 5/22/2009
- Thomas Lee