WMI Browsing Tools

  • Article

Browsing the WMI classes and instances is another effective method that you can use to become comfortable with WMI. Reasons why you might have to directly work with WMI include:

  • An SMS component that uses WMI is not working. When you understand how the component is supposed to work, you can confirm the existence or flow of data in WMI to help you isolate the problem.

  • WMI does not seem to be working properly. You can confirm that the usual namespaces are available, that they have a full complement of classes, and that you can enumerate important instances.

  • You want to write queries, reports, or scripts or extend the inventory collection. Looking at the data as it exists in WMI helps you to confirm that the data you require is available and confirm which classes, instances, and properties you must reference.

  • You want to adjust the way that Resource Explorer displays nodes, as described in the SMS SDK.

Several tools are available that allow you to browse or manipulate WMI data:

  • CIM Studio

  • WBEMTest.exe

  • Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET

  • WMI Command-line (WMIC) tool

  • Other WMI browsing tools

These tools can also be used to manipulate WMI data, execute methods and queries, and perform other WMI functions. Browsing is just the most common use.

Caution

  • The browsing tools can be used to delete or modify classes and instances. However, deleting or modifying SMS classes and instances can result in the loss of valuable data and cause SMS to function unpredictably. Deleting SMS classes can cause tools that use the SMS Provider, such as the SMS Administrator console, to not work.
For More Information

Did you find this information useful? Please send your suggestions and comments about the documentation to smsdocs@microsoft.com.