| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Platform | IA-32,x86-64, andARM (historicallyItanium,DEC Alpha,MIPS, andPowerPC) |
| Type | Systems management |
| License | Same asMicrosoft Windows |
| Website | learn |
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a set of extensions to theWindows Driver Model that provides anoperating system interface through whichinstrumented components provide information and notification. WMI isMicrosoft's implementation of theWeb-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) andCommon Information Model (CIM) standards from theDistributed Management Task Force (DMTF).
WMI allowsscripting languages (such asVBScript orPowerShell) to manageMicrosoft Windowspersonal computers andservers, both locally and remotely. WMI comes preinstalled inWindows 2000 and later. It is available as a download forWindows NT 4.0,[1]Windows 95, andWindows 98.[2]
Also included with Windows wasWindows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC), aCLI utility to interface with WMI.[3] However, starting withWindows 10, version 21H1 andWindows Server 2022, WMIC is deprecated in favor ofPowerShell.[4]
The purpose of WMI is to define a proprietary set of environment-independent specifications that enable sharing management information between management apps. WMI prescribesenterprise management standards and related technologies for Windows that work with existing management standards, such asDesktop Management Interface (DMI) andSimple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). WMI complements these other standards by providing a uniform model for accessing management data from any source.
Because WMI abstracts the manageable entities withCommon Information Model (CIM) and a collection of providers, the development of a provider implies several steps. The major steps can be summarized as follows:
 | This articleis missing information about the nature of WMI providers. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(February 2025) |
Since the release of the first WMI implementation during theWindows NT 4.0 SP4 era (as an out-of-band download),Microsoft has consistently added WMI providers to Windows:
Many customers have interpreted the growth in numbers of providers as a sign that Microsoft envisions WMI as the ubiquitous management layer of Windows.
Beyond the scripting needs, most leading management solutions, such asMicrosoft Operations Mamager (MOM),System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM),Active Directory Services (ADS),HPOpenView (HPOV), and the various offerings ofBMC Software andCA, Inc. are WMI-enabled, i.e., capable of consuming and providing WMI information. This enablesadministrators who lack WMI coding skills to benefit from WMI.
WMI offers many features out of the box. Here are the most important advantages:
System.Management namespace[7] makes WMI classes available to all .NET apps and scripts written inC# orPowerShell. Beyond the WMI class design and the provider development, the Microsoft development and test teams are not required to create, validate and test new assemblies to support a new namespace in .NET as this support is already available from WMI.To speed up the process of writing a WMI provider, the WMI team developed theWMI ATL Wizard to generate the code template implementing a provider. The code generated is based on the WMI class model initially designed by the developer. The WMI provider developer will be able to interface the pre-defined COM or DCOM interfaces for the WMI provider with its set of native APIs retrieving the management information to expose.
WMI is based on an industry standard calledCommon Information Model (CIM) defined by theDistributed Management Task Force (DMTF). TheCIM class-based schema is defined by a consortium of manufacturers and software developers for the requirements of the industry. Any developer can write code that fits into this model. For instance,Intel develops WMI providers for itsnetwork adapters.HP leveraged existing WMI providers and developed custom WMI providers for itsOpenView enterprise management solutions. IBM'sTivoli management suite consumes WMI. Starting withWindows XP SP2, Microsoft leverages WMI to get status information fromantivirus software andfirewalls.
On theWindows NT family of operating systems, WMI runs as aWindows service calledWinMgmt. On theWindows 9x family, WMI runs in the context of theWinMgmt.exe executable file. On both Windows 9x and Windows NT families,WinMgmt.exe is available as a command-line utility for servicing the WMI repository.[9]
Microsoft provides the following WMI tools for developers and IT pros:
MOFComp.exe): The Managed Object Format (MOF) compiler parses a file containing MOF statements and adds the classes and objects defined in the file to the CIM repository. The MOF format is a specific syntax to define CIM class representation in anASCII file. MOF's role for CIM is comparable toMIB's role forSNMP.MOFComp.exe is included in every WMI installation. Every definition existing in the CIM repository is initially defined in an MOF file. MOF files are located in%SystemRoot%\System32\WBEM. During the WMI setup, they are loaded in the CIM repository.WBEMTest.exe is a WMI tester tool delivered with WMI. This tool allows an administrator or a developer to perform most of the tasks from a graphical interface that WMI provides at theAPI level. Although available under all Windows NT-based operating systems, this tool is not officially supported by Microsoft. WBEMTest provides the ability to:wmi-client, is written inPython and is based onSamba4.[10]WBEMDump.exe requires more specific knowledge about WMI, as it doesn't abstract WMI as WMIC. It is also possible to execute methods exposed by classes or instances. Even if it is not a standard WMI tool delivered with the system installation, this tool can be quite useful for exploring the CIM repository and WMI features.In the.NET Framework, the ManagementClass class represents a Common Information Model (CIM) management class. A WMI class can be aWin32_LogicalDisk in the case of a disk drive, or aWin32_Process, such as a running program likeNotepad.exe.
This example shows howMSNdis_80211_ServiceSetIdentifier WMI class is used to find theSSID of theWi-Fi network that the system is currently connected to in the language C#:
ManagementClassmc=newManagementClass("root\\WMI","MSNdis_80211_ServiceSetIdentifier",null);ManagementObjectCollectionmoc=mc.GetInstances();foreach(ManagementObjectmoinmoc){stringwlanCard=(string)mo["InstanceName"];boolactive;if(!bool.TryParse((string)mo["Active"],outactive)){active=false;}byte[]ssid=(byte[])mo["Ndis80211SsId"];}
TheMSNdis_80211_ServiceSetIdentifier WMI class is only supported on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
The WMI extensions toWDM provide kernel-levelinstrumentation such as publishing information, configuring device settings, supplying event notification fromdevice drivers, and allowing administrators to set data security through a WMI provider known as theWDM provider. The extensions are part of the WDM architecture; however, they have broad utility and can be used with other types of drivers as well (such asSCSI andNDIS).
The WMI Driver Extensions service monitors all drivers and event trace providers that are configured to publish WMI or event trace information. Instrumented hardware data is provided by way of drivers instrumented for WMI extensions for WDM. WMI extensions for WDM offer a set of Windows device driver interfaces for instrumenting data within the driver models native to Windows, soOEMs andIHVs can easily extend the instrumented data set and add value to a hardware/software solution. The WMI Driver Extensions, however, are not supported byWindows Vista and later operating systems.[12]
