Get all data WMI has to offer

Introduction

After looking at dozens of simple scripts and apps that each pull 5-6 fields of information from one WMI class, I decided it would be so much easier to just pull everything into a DataTable and work from there. This simple function exposes all of the properties and values on any given WMI class and returns a DataTable with the results.

The code

First off, you'll need to use these libraries:

Imports System.Data
Imports System.Management
Imports Microsoft.Win32

Next up, create an empty DataTable and a ManagementObjectSearcher to be the base of our query to the WMI service.

Dim dt As New DataTable()

Dim searcher As New ManagementObjectSearcher( _
    "root\CIMV2", _ "SELECT * FROM " & wmiClass)
    'where wmiClass is the input variable

In order to get all of the property names, you have to grab the first ManagementObject in the searcher. Then, simply loop through each of the property names in the object and add a column to the table for each property.

For Each queryObj As ManagementObject In searcher.Get()
    For Each item As PropertyData In queryObj.Properties()
        Try
            dt.Columns.Add(item.Name)
        Catch ex As Exception
        End Try
    Next
    Exit For
Next

Then, loop through each of object in the searcher, and add the values for each property of each object to the data table:

For Each queryObj As ManagementObject In searcher.Get()
    Dim dr As DataRow = dt.NewRow
    For Each item As PropertyData In queryObj.Properties()
        Try
            dr(item.Name) = item.Value
        Catch ex As Exception
        End Try
    Next
    dt.Rows.Add(dr)
Next

That's it! Now, you have a DataTable (dt) with all of the properties and values of the given WMI class. Try setting the wmiClass variable to any of the following:

• Win32_OperatingSystem
• Win32_OnBoardDevice (hardware devices)
• Win32_Process (current processes)
• Win32_Printer (printers)
• Win32_Product (installed software)
• Win32_QuickFixEngineering (installed patches)

Bind dt to a GridView and see the results. If you want to get really fancy, you can also use a DropDownList to set the wmiClass variable and easily see tons of data about your system. Microsoft has a simple reference for many of the WMI tasks here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394585(VS.85).aspx.

Enjoy!