Backup or restore WMI repository

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Applies To: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012

Procedures in this topic are slightly different in Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8. For information on new ways to do tasks in Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8, see Common Management Tasks and Navigation.

To back up or restore the WMI repository

  1. Open the WMI Control console: Click Start , click Run , type wmimgmt.msc and then click OK .

  2. In the console tree, right-click WMI Control , and then click Properties .

  3. Click the Backup/Restore tab.

  4. Click Back Up Now or Restore Now .

Additional considerations

  • To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group might be able to perform this procedure. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure.

  • You must be running as the local computer administrator to save the backup file in the %Windir%\System32\Wbem\Repository folder. Otherwise, you can save it in the Documents folder for the account profile.

  • When you click Back Up Now to back up the repository manually, you can back up to a specified file name, and later restore from that saved file. This approach can be useful if you want to save a specific configuration of classes. You also can run the Winmgmt command at a command prompt and restore from the saved file. For more information about using the Winmgmt command, click Start , click Run , and type winmgmt /?