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AvoidUsingWMICmdlet

  • Article

Severity Level: Warning

Description

As of PowerShell 3.0, the CIM cmdlets should be used over the WMI cmdlets.

The following cmdlets should not be used:

  • Get-WmiObject
  • Remove-WmiObject
  • Invoke-WmiMethod
  • Register-WmiEvent
  • Set-WmiInstance

Use the following cmdlets instead:

  • Get-CimInstance
  • Remove-CimInstance
  • Invoke-CimMethod
  • Register-CimIndicationEvent
  • Set-CimInstance

The CIM cmdlets comply with WS-Management (WSMan) standards and with the Common Information Model (CIM) standard, allowing for the management of Windows and non-Windows operating systems.

How

Change to the equivalent CIM based cmdlet.

  • Get-WmiObject -> Get-CimInstance
  • Remove-WmiObject -> Remove-CimInstance
  • Invoke-WmiMethod -> Invoke-CimMethod
  • Register-WmiEvent -> Register-CimIndicationEvent
  • Set-WmiInstance -> Set-CimInstance

Example

Wrong

Get-WmiObject -Query 'Select * from Win32_Process where name LIKE "myprocess%"' | Remove-WmiObject
Invoke-WmiMethod -Class Win32_Process -Name 'Create' -ArgumentList @{ CommandLine = 'notepad.exe' }

Correct

Get-CimInstance -Query 'Select * from Win32_Process where name LIKE "myprocess%"' | Remove-CIMInstance
Invoke-CimMethod -ClassName Win32_Process -MethodName 'Create' -Arguments @{ CommandLine = 'notepad.exe' }