Visual Studio Hacks

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Chapter 9, Server Explorer Hacks

#76 Enumerate Processes, Drives, Shares, and More

HACK

The Database Project is a valuable tool that can be used to make the manag-

ing of your databases easier and less prone to error.

HACK

#76

Enumerate Processes, Drives, Shares, and

More Hack #76

Using WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation), you can discover

information about a system’s drives, processes, printers, file shares, and

much more. Install and use the WMI extensions for the Visual Studio Server

Explorer.

To access WMI from the Server Explorer, you will first need to download

and install the WMI extensions for Server Explorer from http://msdn.

microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/downloads/list/wmi.asp. Versions are

currently available for Visual Studio .NET 2002 and Visual Studio .NET

2003.

You will need to have the appropriate permission on either

your local machine or the remote server to access WMI

classes. The permissions you need vary based on the WMI

class you are trying to access.

After you have installed these extensions, you will see two new nodes, Man-

agement Classes and Management Events, in the Server Explorer, as seen in

Figure 9-24.

Adding Classes

You can also see in Figure 9-24 a long list of the things you can interface

with through WMI. You can add even more classes by right-clicking on the

Management Classes node and choosing Add Classes. You will see the dia-

log shown in Figure 9-25 ...