Microsoft® Windows® Scripting Self-Paced Learning Guide

What Is WMI?

WMI is sometimes referred to as a hierarchical namespace, in which the layers build upon one another like an LDAP directory used in Active Directory, or the file system structure on your hard disk drive. Although it is true that WMI is a hierarchical namespace, the term doesn’t really convey the richness of WMI. The WMI model has three sections that you need to be aware of:

• WMI resources. Resources include anything that can be accessed by using WMI—the file system, networked components, event logs, files, folders, disks, Active Directory, and so on.

• WMI infrastructure. The infrastructure comprises three parts: the WMI service, the WMI repository, and the WMI providers. Of these parts, WMI providers are most important because they provide ...