Retrieving System Information

Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Scripting Guide

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Most computer management activities, including troubleshooting computer problems, installing new software, and applying Group Policy, require comprehensive information about how a computer has been configured. This information includes such things as the:

• Operating system installed on a computer.
• Amount of memory installed on a computer.
• Amount of disk space available on a computer.

The System Information snap-in has long been the tool of choice for system administrators needing comprehensive information about a computer, the hardware installed on that computer, and the software running on that computer. The System Information snap-in and a sample of the kind of information it can return are shown in Figure 8.1.

Figure 8.1   System Information Snap-in

System Information Snap-in

Although the System Information snap-in is a useful tool, it does have limitations that make it a less than optimal choice for performing inventories. In particular, this tool:

• Is designed to work on a single computer at a time, and it works best when run against the local computer rather than a remote computer.
• Cannot be automated or customized.
• Does not lend itself to enterprise-wide retrieval and storage of computer information.
• Does not allow for exporting data directly into a database.

  Although it is possible to manually export the data from within System Information, the resulting text file uses a free-form style of formatting that makes it difficult to parse the information and save it to a database.

• Does not allow you to customize data retrieval to meet your needs. In fact, the amount of data returned from System Information is often more than is needed for routine administrative tasks.

To overcome these limitations, system administrators have typically turned to third-party tools. Depending on your needs, however, you can save considerable cost by creating custom Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) scripts that replicate the full functionality of the System Information snap-in. Using a WMI script provides a number of advantages over the System Information snap-in:

• Scripts can be run against a single computer or against multiple computers.
• Scripts can be used to automate data collection.

  For example, a script can be scheduled to run on a group of computers at a specific date and time.

• Scripts can be customized to return only the desired data.
• Scripts can be customized to collect data not retrieved by System Information.

  For example, although System Information can retrieve the name and version number of the operating system, it cannot retrieve more detailed information such as the set of hot fixes that have been applied to the computer.

• Scripts can save data in a standard text file format (such as tab-delimited or comma-delimited), or directly to a database.

Table 8.1 lists the data fields found on the System Information Summary tab and the equivalent WMI classes and properties.

Table 8.1   System Information Fields and Equivalent WMI Classes and Properties

System Information Field	WMI Class and Property
OS Name	Win32_OperatingSystem.Name
OS Version	Win32_OperatingSystem.Version
Service Pack	Win32_OperatingSystem.ServicePackMajorVersion Win32_OperatingSystem.ServicePackMinorVersion
OS Manufacturer	Win32_OperatingSystem.Manufacturer
System Name	Win32_ComputerSystem.Name
System Manufacturer	Win32_ComputerSystem.Manufacturer
System Model	Win32_ComputerSystem.Model
System Type	Win32_Processor.Architecture
Processor	Win32_Processor.Description
BIOS Version	Win32_BIOS.Version
Windows Directory	Win32_OperatingSystem.WindowsDirectory
Locale	Win32_OperatingSystem.Locale
Time Zone	Win32_ComputerSystem.TimeZone
Total Physical Memory	Win32_ComputerSystem.PhsyicalMemory
Available Physical Memory	Win32_OperatingSystem.FreePhysicalMemory
Total Virtual Memory	Win32_OperatingSystem.TotalVirtualMemory
Available Virtual Memory	Win32_OperatingSystem.AvailableVirtualMemory
Page File Space	Win32_OperatingSystem.SizeStoredInPagingFiles

Scripting Steps

Listing 8.1 contains a script that retrieves the specified system information for a computer. To carry out this task, the script must perform the following steps:

1. Create a variable to specify the computer name.
2. Use a GetObject call to connect to the WMI namespace root\cimv2, and set the impersonation level to "impersonate."
3. Use the ExecQuery method to query the Win32_OperatingSystem class.

   This query returns a collection consisting of all the operating systems installed on the computer.

4. For each item in the collection, echo the desired property values.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4, substituting the other desired WMI classes.

   Separate calls are required because WMI allows you to connect to only a single class at a time.

Listing 8.1   Retrieving System Information

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strComputer = "." Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _     & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2") Set colSettings = objWMIService.ExecQuery _     ("SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem") For Each objOperatingSystem in colSettings     Wscript.Echo "OS Name: " & objOperatingSystem.Name     Wscript.Echo "Version: " & objOperatingSystem.Version     Wscript.Echo "Service Pack: " & _         objOperatingSystem.ServicePackMajorVersion _             & "." & objOperatingSystem.ServicePackMinorVersion     Wscript.Echo "OS Manufacturer: " & objOperatingSystem.Manufacturer     Wscript.Echo "Windows Directory: " & _         objOperatingSystem.WindowsDirectory     Wscript.Echo "Locale: " & objOperatingSystem.Locale     Wscript.Echo "Available Physical Memory: " & _         objOperatingSystem.FreePhysicalMemory     Wscript.Echo "Total Virtual Memory: " & _         objOperatingSystem.TotalVirtualMemorySize     Wscript.Echo "Available Virtual Memory: " & _         objOperatingSystem.FreeVirtualMemory     Wscript.Echo "OS Name: " & objOperatingSystem.SizeStoredInPagingFiles Next Set colSettings = objWMIService.ExecQuery _     ("SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystem") For Each objComputer in colSettings     Wscript.Echo "System Name: " & objComputer.Name     Wscript.Echo "System Manufacturer: " & objComputer.Manufacturer     Wscript.Echo "System Model: " & objComputer.Model     Wscript.Echo "Time Zone: " & objComputer.CurrentTimeZone     Wscript.Echo "Total Physical Memory: " & _         objComputer.TotalPhysicalMemory Next Set colSettings = objWMIService.ExecQuery _     ("SELECT * FROM Win32_Processor") For Each objProcessor in colSettings     Wscript.Echo "System Type: " & objProcessor.Architecture     Wscript.Echo "Processor: " & objProcessor.Description Next Set colSettings = objWMIService.ExecQuery _     ("SELECT * FROM Win32_BIOS") For Each objBIOS in colSettings     Wscript.Echo "BIOS Version: " & objBIOS.Version Next

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