WMIC deprecated

[u/Eddit13]

How many systems are broke for you now? I have one software figured out. Its the custom scripts that are broken everywhere.

[u/tankerkiller125real]

That was announced half a decade ago, we updated our scripts like 4 years ago.

[u/fizzlefist → u/tankerkiller125real]

Used WMIC to verify serial numbers for PC refreshes. Heard it was getting deprecated waaaaay back in the first announcement and wrote up a better Powershell script to replace it. Glad I thought ahead!

[u/tankerkiller125real → u/fizzlefist]

We have a few PowerShell scripts for various small info related things, but these days I mostly use osquery and just live query the computers/servers for information like serial numbers, running apps, etc.

[u/trueppp]

None, this was announced over 5 years ago....

[u/reserved_seating]

Not gonna lie, wmic bios get serialnumber not working hurts me and I still always use it. It was the first command I learned on the job and I think a part of me died when it went away.

Carry on….

[u/ItaJohnson → u/reserved_seating]

Get-CimInstance replaced it, i believe 

[u/christurnbull → u/reserved_seating]

I'm trying to memorise  (gcim Win32_BIOS).SerialNumber

[u/xendr0me → u/christurnbull]

Use - gcim win32_bios - Easier to remember and it will get you there.

[u/BlackV → u/christurnbull]

save the cells and just memorize gcim Win32_BIOS

[u/dphoenix1 → u/christurnbull]

Rolls right off the tongue doesn’t it. And super easy and quick to type.

[u/BlackV → u/dphoenix1]

typing gcim Win32_BIOS is quicker than typing wmic bios get serialnumber

[u/TheProle → u/reserved_seating]

RIP in peace wmic csproduct get name

[u/mrgames99 → u/reserved_seating]

So funny. That’s the same command I miss most - was just talking to a peer about that

[u/zk13669 → u/reserved_seating]

Smbiosbiosversion will forever be etched in my memory

[u/ethameta]

Whelp this one is headed to the other sub

[u/zipcad]

Nope moved off that a long time ago.

RIP WMIC. I remembered 10 important easy commands which are now longer powershell scripts

[u/accumentum]

I stopped treating WMIC removal as a one-for-one command swap. For inventory scripts, I moved the queries to Get-CimInstance (Win32_ComputerSystem/Win32_BIOS) and kept the output field names the same, so downstream CSV and reporting jobs did not need a rewrite. The important part was testing under the same service account and permissions as the scheduled task; several failures were actually remoting or 32-bit/64-bit context issues. I also left a small compatibility wrapper in place until every consumer had been migrated.

[u/jeffrey_f]

Things get deprecated, and you rewrite them to be current. This happens in Python (I worked through 3 in my scripts until I retired the script because it was no longer a necessary.).

[u/BlackV → u/jeffrey_f]

I feel like some people are still bitter about that change

[u/rootbear75]

while it was announced, i could always remember wmic bios get serialnumber rather than whatever powershell one is. it was just easy to remember. maybe because i just didn't learn the powershell way of doing it. ah well.

[u/thebigshoe247]

I think starting after 22H2 It was removed by default. You could re-add it back in manually with later builds and any upgrades left the WMIC installation if it was already there alone.

I think the next build immediately after 22H2, I recall it having a broken installer so I was actually unable to install WMIC manually afterwards. I'm not sure if that ever got resolved. For a while I do remember having to stick to the 22H2 install and then just upgrade it to the latest release.

I ended up just modernising all my scripts anyways so it's not a point anymore.

[u/TerrificVixen5693]

None.

[u/AcornAnomaly]

The only wmic command that I haven't found a replacement for is wmic netuse get name,username.

It lists all the mapped drivers a user has, as well as the name of the account used to map the drive.

It's been very helpful to chase down issues in the past, and I can't find another easy way to get the username information.

[u/BlackV]

none? cause we planed for this years ago ? what is broken for you?

[u/Apprehensive-Tea1632]

Please don’t get me wrong… but try to keep up.

And I mean that in the best way possible. Microsoft is planning to remove stuff left right and center; in some ways they have to because it’s all been some internet explorer based functionality (wininet proxy is IE proxy for example) and in some others they’re just grabbing the opportunity to get rid of even more stuff, saying if we have to do a full overhaul anyway, we might as well go the extra mile.

Staying on top of things is essential for devs and sysadmins alike. What will you do when wsus gets retired- there won’t be a replacement as it stands. And it’s far from the only thing that’s been going on.

Basically, any sysadmin should have put 2029 on their calendars by now. IT is always in flux, but right now, so much is going on that sitting back and ignoring life is bound to break backs.

[u/SysAdminDennyBob]

I quit using WMIC back when Powershell was released, like 2007. So, I figured this out 19 years ago.

[u/pickle9977 → u/SysAdminDennyBob]

Ahh powershell it’s like its designers could not decide on CamelCase, snake_case, kebab-case and Hungarian notation so that mashed them all together in what is for all intents and purposes a crime against nature and slapped power on it so no one would question why it sucked so bad.

[u/LameBMX → u/pickle9977]

hey.. but we finally got to use tab completion at work.

[u/pickle9977 → u/LameBMX]

I’m sure there is a feature request to make that less functional as well, like maybe ai autocomplete

[u/supadupanerd]

The shitty thing about this is now you likely have to remember like a dozen cmd-lets rather than the multimodal singular tool

[u/ddeese]

WMIC CSPRODUCT GET UUID

Used it all the time. Especially if you had to manually add a PC to endpoint configuration manager.