Windows Management Instrumentation

This is an easy point of conversion. Anytime you used GetObject() or some other means of retrieving WMI information, just use the Get-Wmiobject cmdlet or its convenient alias, Gwmi, in PowerShell. However, notice that just running it with a class name won't return every property of the class by default:

 PS C:\> gwmi win32_operatingsystem SystemDirectory : C:\WINDOWS\system32 Organization    : SAPIEN Technologies, Inc. BuildNumber     : 2600 RegisteredUser  : Don Jones SerialNumber    : 76487-338-1820253-22242 Version         : 5.1.2600 

Notice that this doesn't return every property for the class. Instead, the properties shown are defined by a special view within PowerShell. While you can update that view to list more properties, you can also use the -property parameter if there's a specific property you need:

 PS C:\> gwmi win32_operatingsystem -property buildnumber BuildNumber      : 2600 __GENUS          : 2 __CLASS          : Win32_OperatingSystem __SUPERCLASS     : __DYNASTY        : __RELPATH        : __PROPERTY_COUNT : 1 __DERIVATION     : {} __SERVER         : __NAMESPACE      : __PATH           : 

If necessary, you can assign that to a variable. However, notice that you get back a collection of multiple instances that can be referred to individually by number as shown here:

 PS C:\> $obj = gwmi win32_logicaldisk PS C:\> $obj[0] DeviceID     : A: DriveType    : 2 ProviderName : FreeSpace    : Size         : VolumeName   : PS C:\> $obj[1] DeviceID     : C: DriveType    : 3 ProviderName : FreeSpace    : 91841773568 Size         : 153006624768 VolumeName   : 

If you just need a specific property from an instance:

 PS C:\> $obj[1].DriveType 3 

Run Help Gwmi to get a comprehensive list of parameters, or refer to Appendix A of this book.