The Win32_WindowsProductActivation WMI class contains properties and methods related to Windows Product Activation (WPA), such as activation state and grace period. This class also provides the ability to activate the customer's computer online and offline.
Methods
Win32_WindowsProductActivation has 5 methods:
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| ActivateOffline | Activates the system offline using the confirmation ID provided by the Microsoft Clearinghouse license server. |
| ActivateOnline | Exchanges license-related data with the Microsoft Clearinghouse license server. If the method succeeds, it activates the system. |
| GetInstallationID | Retrieves the installation ID which is required to activate a system offline. |
| SetNotification | Enables or disables notification reminders and the activation icon in the notification tray. If activation is not required, or if activation is not pending, calling this method has no effect. |
| SetProductKey | Updates the system product key for a computer. |
Learn more about Invoke-CimMethod and how to invoke commands. Click any of the methods listed above to learn more about their purpose, parameters, and return value.
Properties
Win32_WindowsProductActivation returns 9 properties:
'ActivationRequired','Caption','Description','IsNotificationOn','ProductID',
'RemainingEvaluationPeriod','RemainingGracePeriod','ServerName','SettingID'
Unless explicitly marked as writeable, all properties are read-only. Read all properties for all instances:
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation -Property *
Most WMI classes return one or more instances.
When
Get-CimInstancereturns no result, then apparently no instances of class Win32_WindowsProductActivation exist. This is normal behavior.Either the class is not implemented on your system (may be deprecated or due to missing drivers, i.e. CIM_VideoControllerResolution), or there are simply no physical representations of this class currently available (i.e. Win32_TapeDrive).
ActivationRequired
If 1 (one), system activation is pending for the system. The system must be activated within the number of days indicated by the RemainingGracePeriod property. If 0 (zero), activation is not required during a specific time period.
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation | Select-Object -Property ServerName, ActivationRequired
Caption
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation | Select-Object -Property ServerName, Caption
Description
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation | Select-Object -Property ServerName, Description
IsNotificationOn
If not equal to 0 (zero), and product activation is required, notification reminders (message balloons) are enabled and the activation icon appears in the notification tray. If 0 (zero), notification reminders and the activation icon are disabled.
Windows XP Professional : This property is not available. It becomes available in Windows XP with SP1.
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation | Select-Object -Property ServerName, IsNotificationOn
ProductID
String of 20 characters separated by hyphens in the format, “xxxxx-xxx-xxxxxxx-xxxxx”. This is the same product ID that is displayed under the General tab of the System Properties dialog in Control Panel.
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation | Select-Object -Property ServerName, ProductID
RemainingEvaluationPeriod
If this instance represents beta or evaluation media, this represents the number of days remaining before expiration of the media. Otherwise, this property is set to the largest possible unsigned value.
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation | Select-Object -Property ServerName, RemainingEvaluationPeriod
RemainingGracePeriod
Number of days remaining before activation of the system is required, if the ActivationRequired property is equal to 1.
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation | Select-Object -Property ServerName, RemainingGracePeriod
ServerName
System whose WPA properties and methods are to be accessed. This property is a string that specifies the name of the computer or its IP address.
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation | Select-Object -Property ServerName
SettingID
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation | Select-Object -Property ServerName, SettingID
Examples
List all instances of Win32_WindowsProductActivation
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation
Learn more about Get-CimInstance and the deprecated Get-WmiObject.
View all properties
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation -Property *
View key properties only
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation -KeyOnly
Selecting Properties
To select only some properties, pipe the results to Select-Object -Property a,b,c with a comma-separated list of the properties you require. Wildcards are permitted.
Get-CimInstance always returns all properties but only retrieves the ones that you specify. All other properties are empty but still present. That’s why you need to pipe the results into Select-Object if you want to limit the visible properties, i.e. for reporting.
Selecting Properties
The code below lists all available properties. Remove the ones you do not need:
$properties = 'ActivationRequired',
'Caption',
'Description',
'IsNotificationOn',
'ProductID',
'RemainingEvaluationPeriod',
'RemainingGracePeriod',
'ServerName',
'SettingID'
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation | Select-Object -Property $properties
Limiting Network Bandwidth
If you work remotely, it makes sense to limit network bandwidth by filtering the properties on the server side, too:
Get-CimInstance -Class Win32_WindowsProductActivation -Property $property |
Select-Object -Property $property
Selecting Instances
To select some instances, use Get-CimInstance and a WMI Query. The wildcard character in WMI Queries is % (and not “*”).
The parameter -Filter runs a simple query.
Listing all instances where the property Caption starts with “A”
Get-CimInstance -Class Win32_WindowsProductActivation -Filter 'Caption LIKE "a%"'
Using a WQL Query
The parameter -Query uses a query similar to SQL and combines the parameters -Filter and -Property. This returns all instances where the property Caption starts with “A”, and returns the properties specified:
Get-CimInstance -Query "SELECT ServerName, ActivationRequired, ProductID, RemainingGracePeriod FROM Win32_WindowsProductActivation WHERE Caption LIKE 'a%'"
Any property you did not specify is still present but empty. You might need to use
Select-Objectto remove all unwanted properties:Get-CimInstance -Query "SELECT ServerName, ActivationRequired, ProductID, RemainingGracePeriod FROM Win32_WindowsProductActivation WHERE Caption LIKE 'a%'" | Select-Object -Property ServerName, ActivationRequired, ProductID, RemainingGracePeriod
Accessing Remote Computers
To access remote systems, you need to have proper permissions. User the parameter -ComputerName to access one or more remote systems.
Authenticating as Current User
# one or more computer names or IP addresses:
$list = 'server1', 'server2'
# authenticate with your current identity:
$result = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_WindowsProductActivation -ComputerName $list
$result
Authenticating as Different User
Use a CIMSession object to authenticate with a new identity:
# one or more computer names or IP addresses:
$list = 'server1', 'server2'
# authenticate with a different identity:
$cred = Get-Credential -Message 'Authenticate to retrieve WMI information:'
$session = New-CimSession -ComputerName $list -Credential $cred
$result = Get-CimInstance Win32_WindowsProductActivation -CimSession $session
# remove the session after use (if you do not plan to re-use it later)
Remove-CimSession -CimSession $session
$result
Learn more about accessing remote computers.
Requirements
To use Win32_WindowsProductActivation, the following requirements apply:
PowerShell
Get-CimInstance was introduced with PowerShell Version 3.0, which in turn was introduced on clients with Windows 8 and on servers with Windows Server 2012.
If necessary, update Windows PowerShell to Windows PowerShell 5.1, or install PowerShell 7 side-by-side.
Operating System
Win32_WindowsProductActivation was introduced on clients with Windows XP and on servers with Windows Server 2003.
Namespace
Win32_WindowsProductActivation lives in the Namespace Root/CIMV2. This is the default namespace. There is no need to use the -Namespace parameter in Get-CimInstance.
Implementation
Win32_WindowsProductActivation is implemented in Licwmi.dll and defined in Licwmi.mof. Both files are located in the folder C:\Windows\system32\wbem:
explorer $env:windir\system32\wbem
notepad $env:windir\system32\wbem\Licwmi.mof