The Microsoft Win32 provider retrieves and updates data relevant to Windows systems—data such as the current settings of environment variables and the attributes of a logical disk. With the Win32 provider, management applications can use WMI to easily access this data. The Win32 provider retrieves its information by making Windows function calls and querying the system registry.
The Win32 provider defines the classes used to describe hardware or software available on Windows systems and the relationships between them.
As an instance and method provider, the Win32 provider implements the standard IWbemProviderInit interface as well as the following IWbemServices methods:
This learning path covers Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and Common Information Model (CIM). These technologies help to access information about a computer. Additionally, both technologies provide local and remote access to management information from the operating system, computer hardware, and installed software.