PowerShell WMI and CIM Classes and namespaces
Example
There are many classes available in CIM and WMI which are separated into multiple namespaces. The most common (and default) namespace in Windows is root/cimv2. To find the righ class, it can useful to list all or search.
List available classes
You can list all available classes in the default namespace (root/cimv2) on a computer.
3.0
CIM:
Get-CimClass
WMI:
Get-WmiObject -List
Search for a class
You can search for specific classes using wildcards. Ex: Find classes containing the word process.
3.0
CIM:
> Get-CimClass -ClassName "*Process*"
NameSpace: ROOT/CIMV2
CimClassName CimClassMethods CimClassProperties
------------ --------------- ------------------
Win32_ProcessTrace {} {SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR, TIME_CREATED, ParentProcessID, ProcessID...}
Win32_ProcessStartTrace {} {SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR, TIME_CREATED, ParentProcessID, ProcessID...}
Win32_ProcessStopTrace {} {SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR, TIME_CREATED, ParentProcessID, ProcessID...}
CIM_Process {} {Caption, Description, InstallDate, Name...}
Win32_Process {Create, Terminat... {Caption, Description, InstallDate, Name...}
CIM_Processor {SetPowerState, R... {Caption, Description, InstallDate, Name...}
Win32_Processor {SetPowerState, R... {Caption, Description, InstallDate, Name...}
...
WMI:
Get-WmiObject -List -Class "*Process*"
List classes in a different namespace
The root namespace is simply called root. You can list classes in another namespace using the -NameSpace parameter.
3.0
CIM:
> Get-CimClass -Namespace "root/SecurityCenter2"
NameSpace: ROOT/SecurityCenter2
CimClassName CimClassMethods CimClassProperties
------------ --------------- ------------------
....
AntiSpywareProduct {} {displayName, instanceGuid, pathToSignedProductExe, pathToSignedReportingE...
AntiVirusProduct {} {displayName, instanceGuid, pathToSignedProductExe, pathToSignedReportingE...
FirewallProduct {} {displayName, instanceGuid, pathToSignedProductExe, pathToSignedReportingE...
WMI:
Get-WmiObject -Class "__Namespace" -Namespace "root"
List available namespaces
To find available child-namespaces of root (or another namespace), query the objects in the __NAMESPACE-class for that namespace.
3.0
CIM:
> Get-CimInstance -Namespace "root" -ClassName "__Namespace"
Name PSComputerName
---- --------------
subscription
DEFAULT
CIMV2
msdtc
Cli
SECURITY
HyperVCluster
SecurityCenter2
RSOP
PEH
StandardCimv2
WMI
directory
Policy
virtualization
Interop
Hardware
ServiceModel
SecurityCenter
Microsoft
aspnet
Appv
WMI:
Get-WmiObject -List -Namespace "root"
