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Manage with Windows PowerShell and WMI

In this lab, you'll practice using CIM (Common Information Model) in PowerShell to query, filter and manage systems both locally and remotely. When you're finished with this lab, you'll have a robust system compatibility checker tool that leverages CIM, and a thorough understanding of how to query CIM with PowerShell.

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Lab platform
Lab Info
Rating
(25)
Level
Beginner
Last updated
Jul 30, 2025
Duration
1h 40m

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Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Get Started in the Lab Environment

    Here are the initial instructions and explanation of the lab environment. Read this while your environment is busy creating itself from nothing. Yes, this violates physics; we know. How fun!

  2. Challenge

    Find System Information with CIM

    Discover how to retrieve critical system information using CIM and PowerShell. You'll explore CIM classes, extract instance data, and refine your querying skills to get the exact hardware details you need.

  3. Challenge

    Gather Data from Remote Computers

    Learn to gather system data from remote computers using CIM. You'll handle connectivity issues, efficiently loop through server lists, and organize the collected data into a clear, structured format.

  4. Challenge

    Build a System Compatibility Check Tool

    Put your CIM skills to the test by building a tool to automate system compatibility checks for software deployments. You'll combine querying, filtering, error handling, and reporting into a comprehensive PowerShell script.

  5. Challenge

    Use CIM Sessions

    Master CIM session management in PowerShell. You'll create and reuse sessions for efficient queries, handle errors gracefully, and properly clean up sessions. A key skill for reliable remote system management.

  6. Challenge

    Refactor the System Compatibility Check Tool

    Take your compatibility tool to the next level. You'll refactor it to use efficient CIM sessions, accept multiple computers as input, and save the results to a CSV file for easy analysis and reporting.

  7. Challenge

    Discover Related Information with CIM Associated Instances

    Explore the relationships between CIM classes to uncover related system information. You'll navigate from logical disks to partitions to physical drives, mastering the art of traversing CIM's interconnected data.

  8. Challenge

    Perform File System Cleanup with CIM Methods

    Dive into CIM methods to programmatically manage file systems. You'll learn to query file instances, discover available methods, and invoke them to delete files, automating cleanup tasks with PowerShell and CIM.

About the author

Adam Bertram is an independent consultant, technical writer, trainer, and presenter. Adam specializes in consulting and evangelizing all things IT automation, mainly focused around Windows PowerShell.

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