{"id":12281,"date":"2011-10-26T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-26T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/heyscriptingguy\/2011\/10\/26\/use-a-powershell-function-to-get-wmi-key-property-values\/"},"modified":"2011-10-26T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2011-10-26T00:01:00","slug":"use-a-powershell-function-to-get-wmi-key-property-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/use-a-powershell-function-to-get-wmi-key-property-values\/","title":{"rendered":"Use a PowerShell Function to Get WMI Key Property Values"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:<\/strong> Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson discusses his version 3 of a Windows PowerShell WMI helper module.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. I have really enjoyed working on my HSGWMIModule project this week. On <\/span>Monday<\/span><\/a><\/span>, I created the base WMI module, and included a couple of really great functions that query the WMI schema and return WMI class methods and properties. On <\/span>Tuesday<\/span><\/a><\/span>, I added a function that returns the key property of a WMI class. This is useful when working WMI instance methods. Today, I create a function that will return the values of those key properties. There are times when I only need to know the key property of a WMI class, and there are other times when I want to see the path to all the possible instances of a WMI class. Today’s function addresses these situations. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Note<\/span><\/b>   <\/span><\/span>As I did in the two previous Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog posts, I have uploaded the current iteration, version 3, of the WMI module to the <\/span>Scripting Guys Script Repository<\/span><\/a><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To use HSGWMImoduleV3<\/b>, I first must “install” it. Installation is simple; I use my Copy-Modules<\/b> function from the <\/span>Windows PowerShell ISE Profile and Modules project<\/span><\/a><\/span> I wrote. I discussed this on <\/span>Friday, October 21, 2011<\/span><\/a><\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Note<\/span><\/b>   If you need more information about Windows PowerShell modules, see <\/span>this collection of Hey, Scripting Guy! posts<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After you have installed the module, import the module by using the Import-Module<\/b> cmdlet. It is not necessary to use the complete module name; all that is required is to use wildcard characters that uniquely identify the module name. I use the command seen here to load the module into my Windows PowerShell ISE:<\/span><\/p>\n

Import-Module hsg*wmi*3<\/span><\/p>\n

After it’s loaded (imported), all the functions contained in the module load onto the function drive. As shown in the following figure, I use the Get-WMIKeyvalue<\/b> function to find the path to instances of the Win32_Process<\/b> WMI class. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the lines in the Get-WMIKeyValue<\/b> function are comment-based help. Therefore, when I use the Get-Help<\/b> cmdlet, as shown in the following figure, nicely formatted help is displayed in the output pane. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The main portion of the Get-WMIKeyValue<\/b> function consists of three parameters, a Get-WMIObject<\/b> command, and a Select-Object<\/b> command: <\/span><\/p>\n

Param(<\/span><\/p>\n

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]<\/span><\/p>\n

    [string]$class,<\/span><\/p>\n

    [string]$computername = $env:COMPUTERNAME,<\/span><\/p>\n

    [string]$namespace = “root\\cimv2”<\/span><\/p>\n

)<\/span><\/p>\n

  Get-WmiObject -Class $class -ComputerName $computername -Namespace $namespace | <\/span><\/p>\n

  Select __PATH<\/span><\/p>\n

} #end function get-WmiKeyvalue<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I call the Get-WMIKeyValue<\/b> function by passing at least the WMI class name. The Get-WmiObject<\/b> cmdlet retrieves the class, and pipes the management object to the Select-Object<\/b> cmdlet where I choose the __Path<\/b> system property. The __Path<\/b> system property returns to the caller of the function. <\/span><\/p>\n

Suppose I want to use the Invoke-WMIMethod<\/b> cmdlet to terminate an instance of Notepad.exe. I use the Get-WMiKeyValue<\/b> function to return instances of the Win32_Process<\/b> WMI class. This command is shown here:<\/span><\/p>\n

Get-WmiKeyvalue win32_process<\/span><\/p>\n

I use the Get-Process<\/b> cmdlet to ensure I get the right instance. The value in the ID property returned by Get-Process<\/b> matches the value in the handle<\/b> <\/i>WMI property of the Win32_Process<\/b> class. I copy the path, and paste it into the path<\/b> <\/i>property of the Invoke-WMIMethod<\/b> class. I then call the terminate<\/b> <\/i>method. The Invoke-WMIMethod<\/b> command is shown here:<\/span><\/p>\n

Invoke-WmiMethod -Path ‘\\\\MRED\\root\\cimv2:Win32_Process.Handle=”4652″‘ -name terminate<\/span><\/p>\n

The commands and associated output are shown in the following figure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, that is about all there is to the Get-WmiKeyValue<\/b> function. Download version 3 of the WMI helper function module from the <\/span>Scripting Guys Script Repository<\/span><\/a><\/span>, and let me know what you think. If there are things you would like to see, just let me know. See you tomorrow. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I invite you to follow me on <\/span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/span> and <\/span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span> If you have any questions, send email to me at <\/span>scripter@microsoft.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>, or post your questions on the <\/span>Official Scripting Guys Forum<\/span><\/a><\/span>. See you tomorrow. Until then, peace.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson discusses his version 3 of a Windows PowerShell WMI helper module.   Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. I have really enjoyed working on my HSGWMIModule project this week. On Monday, I created the base WMI module, and included a couple of really great functions that query the WMI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":596,"featured_media":87096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,4,45,6],"class_list":["post-12281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scripting","tag-scripting-guy","tag-scripting-techniques","tag-windows-powershell","tag-wmi"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"

Summary: Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson discusses his version 3 of a Windows PowerShell WMI helper module.   Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson here. I have really enjoyed working on my HSGWMIModule project this week. On Monday, I created the base WMI module, and included a couple of really great functions that query the WMI […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}