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© Copyright 2001-2012 EMCO Software Introduction to WindowsManagement Instrumentation Knowledgebase Article Company web site: emcosoftware.comSupport email: support@emcosoftware.com Support telephone:+44 20 3287-7651+1 646 233-1163
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© Copyright 2001-2012 EMCO Softwareemcosoftware.com Introduction to Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Knowledgebase Article 2 Introduction to Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI; formerly WBEM) and WMI extensions for Windows Driver Model(WDM) are the foundations for manageability in Windows XP /Windows 2000 and Windows Millennium Edition/Windows 98.The purpose of WMI is to define a non-proprietary set of environment-independent specifications. Thesespecifications allow management information to be shared between management applications that run in both similarand dissimilar operating system environments. WMI prescribes enterprise management standards and relatedtechnologies that work with existing management standards, such as Desktop Management Interface (DMI) andSNMP. WMI complements these other standards by providing a uniform model. This model represents themanaged environment through which management data from any source can be accessed in a common way.WMI uses the Common Information Model (CIM) and Internet protocols for providing management data. TheDMTF will use current WMI technologies as it continues to develop its standards, including development of theCIM event model, query mechanisms to CIM, and XML encodings for CIM objects.Even though interest in automating administrative tasks via scripting grows steadily, it will still be a while beforeWindows Scripting Host, Active Directory Services Interface, or Windows Management Instrumentation becomescommon items in administrative toolkits on part with standard Administrative Tools inclu