Look at Schema of WMI Class with PowerShell

Doctor Scripto

Summary: Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, talks about using Windows PowerShell to look at the schema of a WMI class. Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. One of the cool things about WMI is that it is largely self-describing. This means that I can use WMI and look at WMI. With the CIM cmdlets, this goes even a step further. For example, if I want to look at the Win32_Desktop WMI class, I can use the Get-CimClass cmdlet, and examine it:

PS C:> Get-CimClass win32_desktop

   NameSpace: ROOT/cimv2

CimClassName         CimClassMethods      CimClassProperties      

————                        —————          ——————      

Win32_Desktop                       {}                   {Caption, Description,… From this output, I can see that the class appears in the Root/cimv2 WMI namespace. Not really a surprise because that is the default namespace. I can also see that there are no methods. This means that I will not be able to do much more than view information. I can drill down further to see the properties. To do this, I select and expand the cimClassProperties property. This is shown here:

Get-CimClass win32_desktop | select -ExpandProperty cimclassproperties The output, however, scrolls and scrolls because each property is more than a simple name. It contains qualifiers, flags, and more. Here is the output for the first couple of properties:

PS C:> Get-CimClass win32_desktop | select -ExpandProperty cimclassproperties

Name               : Caption

Value              :

CimType            : String

Flags              : Property, ReadOnly, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {MaxLen, read}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : Description

Value              :

CimType            : String

Flags              : Property, ReadOnly, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {read}

ReferenceClassName : One of the things that is interesting is that the qualifiers are Read Only. Some properties are actually Read/Write; therefore, the class may not expose a method, but it still has updatable properties. I first look for all Read properties. This command and partial output are shown here:

PS C:> (Get-CimClass win32_desktop | select -ExpandProperty cimclassproperties).where({$psitem.qualifiers -match ‘read’})

Name               : Caption

Value              :

CimType            : String

Flags              : Property, ReadOnly, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {MaxLen, read}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : Description

Value              :

CimType            : String

Flags              : Property, ReadOnly, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {read}

ReferenceClassName :  Now, I want to see if there are any writable properties exposed via this class. Here is the command I use:

PS C:> (Get-CimClass win32_desktop | select -ExpandProperty cimclassproperties).where({$psitem.qualifiers -match ‘write’})

PS C:>  Hmm…nothing comes back. Well, that was to be expected. I happen to know of a WMI class, Win32_ComputerSystem, that contains a few writable properties. So I test my command on that class. Here is the command and the results:

PS C:> (Get-CimClass win32_computersystem | select -ExpandProperty cimclassproperties).where({$psitem.qualifiers -match ‘write’})

Name               : Roles

Value              :

CimType            : StringArray

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {read, write}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : AutomaticManagedPagefile

Value              :

CimType            : Boolean

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {MappingStrings, read, write}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : AutomaticResetBootOption

Value              :

CimType            : Boolean

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {MappingStrings, read, write}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : CurrentTimeZone

Value              :

CimType            : SInt16

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {MappingStrings, read, write}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : EnableDaylightSavingsTime

Value              :

CimType            : Boolean

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {write}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : SystemStartupDelay

Value              :

CimType            : UInt16

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {DEPRECATED, MappingStrings, Privileges, read…}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : SystemStartupOptions

Value              :

CimType            : StringArray

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {DEPRECATED, MappingStrings, Privileges, read…}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : SystemStartupSetting

Value              :

CimType            : UInt8

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {DEPRECATED, MappingStrings, Privileges, read…}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : Workgroup

Value              :

CimType            : String

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {MappingStrings, read, write}

ReferenceClassName : It seems that some of the properties are deprecated. This means that I am not supposed to use them. I wonder if I can find an easier way to see this information. I modify my command. This command is pretty long, and it is a single-line command that wrapped on the blog:

PS C:> (Get-CimClass win32_computersystem | select -ExpandProperty cimclassproperties).where({$psitem.qualifiers -match ‘write’ -and $psitem.qualifiers -match ‘deprecated’})

Name               : SystemStartupDelay

Value              :

CimType            : UInt16

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {DEPRECATED, MappingStrings, Privileges, read…}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : SystemStartupOptions

Value              :

CimType            : StringArray

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {DEPRECATED, MappingStrings, Privileges, read…}

ReferenceClassName :

Name               : SystemStartupSetting

Value              :

CimType            : UInt8

Flags              : Property, NullValue

Qualifiers         : {DEPRECATED, MappingStrings, Privileges, read…}

ReferenceClassName : It looks like the startup stuff is all deprecated. If I only want to look at the property names, I can choose it directly from my query. This is shown here:

PS C:> (Get-CimClass win32_desktop | select -ExpandProperty cimclassproperties).name

Caption

Description

SettingID

BorderWidth

CoolSwitch

CursorBlinkRate

DragFullWindows

GridGranularity

IconSpacing

IconTitleFaceName

IconTitleSize

IconTitleWrap

Name

Pattern

ScreenSaverActive

ScreenSaverExecutable

ScreenSaverSecure

ScreenSaverTimeout

Wallpaper

WallpaperStretched

WallpaperTiled Because I may not know what qualifiers a WMI class supports, I can easily use the Get-CimClass cmdlet to return those qualifiers:

PS C:> (Get-CimClass win32_process).CimClassQualifiers.name

Locale

UUID

CreateBy

DeleteBy

dynamic

provider

SupportsCreate

SupportsDelete

PS C:> (Get-CimClass win32_desktop).CimClassQualifiers.name

Locale

UUID

dynamic

Privileges

provider

PS C:> (Get-CimClass win32_Computersystem).CimClassQualifiers.name

Locale

UUID

dynamic

provider

SupportsUpdate Keep in mind that these are qualifiers on the WMI class itself, not qualifiers on the properties. I can obtain a list of all the qualifiers on all of the properties, sort them, and then get the unique qualifier names. This is shown here:

PS C:> (Get-CimClass win32_process | select -ExpandProperty cimclassproperties).qualifiers.name | sort | get-unique

CIM_Key

Fixed

key

MappingStrings

MaxLen

Override

Privileges

Propagated

read

ValueMap That is all there is to using Windows PowerShell to look at a WMI class schema. CIM Week will continue tomorrow when I will talk about more cool stuff. I invite you to follow me on Twitter and Facebook. If you have any questions, send email to me at scripter@microsoft.com, or post your questions on the Official Scripting Guys Forum. See you tomorrow. Until then, peace. Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy 

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