Talk:Windows Management Instrumentation

Broken Link
The link "WMI at the Windows Hardware Developer Central" is broken, and I can't find the current location of the article. Anyone got an updated link=? --C167 (talk) 10:41, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Naming
Isn't it Windows Management Interface--not instrumentation?

No, the page author(s) is/(are) correct; it's "instrumentation". The following from the MSDN Library: "Summary: Introduces Microsoft Windows Management Instrumentation, part of Windows 2000 (but available for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0), which is designed to help you manage your enterprise systems, applications, and networks as they become larger and more complex." (MSDN Library http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwmi/html/mngwmi.asp) I guess that page is a "little" (O.o) outdated, but I assume the name was never changed. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.224.89.239 (talk • contribs).

This article looks like it has been plagiarised from a microsoft document. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Janstetka (talk • contribs).

I agree - hardly NPOV —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.196.239.2 (talk • contribs).

The article has a header "Why is it important to write a WMI provider for our  customers  ?" in addition to a non-NPOV, no doubt courtesy of M$! I'm no expert on WMI so I won't try editing this, but I think this should be replaced - it's not a wikipedia article. -psych787

Adding to the comment that this page has been plagiarised, note this reference in the document: "This briefly describes the WMI implementation and some of the terms often used when dealing with WMI. More information about WMI is available in this document, in the “Additional Information” section on page 76 ..." I suggest the article be removed.

It would help me to have a WMI for dummies paragraph written without computer terms, in simple English instead. I want to learn what WMI is/does and so know how to respond to pop-ups from my security programs about WMI. Is wikipedia a good place for such basic information? ThanksMandy501 (talk) 10:03, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The article is a bit inaccessible to those untrained in the internals of OSs. Fixing that would require a significant effort. Since this is a volunteer effort, I cannot guarantee you a deadline. Meanwhile, WMI, in simplest terms, is a standardized way to manage and configure installed applications and/or monitor their performance statistics. This should be of interest to developers and system administrators; end users should not have to worry about that. If you are seeing WMI prompts, something is wrong. If you can provide the text of the prompt, I might be able to help you. --soum talk 10:16, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

It's not true that something has to be wrong for WMI to trigger prompts. Firewalls regularly warn when WMI tries to access the internet. Anyone turning to this article to find out what WMI is and why it might be seeking to go online would be almost entirely baffled: this is a classic example of an article which can only be understood by people who know the answers already. Sentences are crammed with more linked technical terms than can be reasonably followed up. The topic may merit a place in Wikipedia, but not this approach to it.GardenQuad (talk) 01:23, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

wrong
"WMI is available as a download for Windows 95 and Windows 98."

Its available for NT4 too —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.16.160.17 (talk) 22:48, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

"The purpose of WMI is to throw random errors at random,..." surely there's an error in that sentence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.198.145.249 (talk) 18:21, 23 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes, you are right, RNGs without a parameter (seed) would essentially repeat a thread of numbers. It would be more proper to say: "throw random({garbage out}) errors at random({user input})".    WurmWoode  T   08:48, 14 April 2023 (UTC)

aims vs results
Maybe the decription is all about the aim and nothing about the result. (Isnt there a large gap ? ) 202.92.40.8 (talk) 01:16, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Refresher
Somewhere it should be mentioned that refresher object (which is required for some queries to work correctly, according to MSDN) is only available to COM and scripting but not to .Net System.Management.

WBEMDUMP.EXE
This command line tool is deprecated and long gone from MSDN. In fact, you would have a hard time finding it anywhere online. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Urkec (talk • contribs) 16:15, 31 May 2009 (UTC)
 * You're fucking telling me. I've been looking for it for hours. Even versions of the SDK from 2002 don't have the damn thing. Why is it so hard to find something that MICROSOFT used to distribute for FREE?

Loaded language?
The language is incomprehensible to outsiders because of the MS-idiosyncratic usage of "management data". I think it is kind of report system that aggregates computer execution data, and enables remote or local programs to collect data for computer health checks, authorization ... and similar control functions. Rursus dixit. ( m bork3 !) 13:04, 27 February 2012 (UTC)
 * you can say that again ! this article really tells nothing by saying a lot, just like some ad-pamphlet :/ --DamnedFoX (talk) 22:26, 31 July 2012 (UTC)
 * I have to agree. I read it and it uses lots of undefined words which probably mean something else outside microsoft. At least some factual examples would be useful. --grin ✎ 05:26, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Awesome Gobbledygook. I have no idea what this article says or what this service (it is a service right?) does.173.69.46.161 (talk) 21:47, 25 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Agree. Too propeller-head. It's not an article that explains. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.46.127.73 (talk) 01:35, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

malware
Interesting tidbit (not justifying to include in main article though): syndiacec.A - malware payload is javascript in WMI. --grin ✎ 05:24, 24 May 2013 (UTC)