Win32_ComponentCategory - powershell.one

The Win32_ComponentCategory WMI class represents a component category. Component categories are groups of Component Object Model (COM) classes with a defined functionality set shared between them. A client using these interfaces queries the registry for the category title and unique identifier called CategoryID, which is created from a globally unique identifier (GUID).

Methods

Win32_ComponentCategory has no methods.

Properties

Win32_ComponentCategory returns 6 properties:

'Caption','CategoryId','Description','InstallDate','Name','Status'

Unless explicitly marked as writeable, all properties are read-only. Read all properties for all instances:

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComponentCategory -Property *

Most WMI classes return one or more instances.

When Get-CimInstance returns no result, then apparently no instances of class Win32_ComponentCategory 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).

Caption

STRING MAX 64 CHAR

A short textual description of the object.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComponentCategory | Select-Object -Property CategoryId, Caption

CategoryId

KEY PROPERTY STRING MAX 16 CHAR

GUID for this component category.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComponentCategory | Select-Object -Property CategoryId

Description

STRING

A textual description of the object.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComponentCategory | Select-Object -Property CategoryId, Description

InstallDate

DATETIME

Indicates when the object was installed. Lack of a value does not indicate that the object is not installed.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComponentCategory | Select-Object -Property CategoryId, InstallDate

Name

STRING

The Name property indicates a descriptive name of this component category.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComponentCategory | Select-Object -Property CategoryId, Name

Status

STRING MAX 10 CHAR

Current status of an object. Various operational and nonoperational statuses can be defined. Available values:

$values = 'Degraded','Error','Lost Comm','No Contact','NonRecover','OK','Pred Fail','Service','Starting','Stopping','Stressed','Unknown'

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComponentCategory | Select-Object -Property CategoryId, Status

Examples

List all instances of Win32_ComponentCategory

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComponentCategory

Learn more about Get-CimInstance and the deprecated Get-WmiObject.

View all properties

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComponentCategory -Property *

View key properties only

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComponentCategory -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 = 'Caption',
              'CategoryId',
              'Description',
              'InstallDate',
              'Name',
              'Status'
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ComponentCategory | 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_ComponentCategory -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_ComponentCategory -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 CategoryId, InstallDate, Caption, Description FROM Win32_ComponentCategory WHERE Caption LIKE 'a%'"

Any property you did not specify is still present but empty. You might need to use Select-Object to remove all unwanted properties:
Get-CimInstance -Query "SELECT CategoryId, InstallDate, Caption, Description FROM Win32_ComponentCategory WHERE Caption LIKE 'a%'" | Select-Object -Property CategoryId, InstallDate, Caption, Description

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_ComponentCategory -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_ComponentCategory -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_ComponentCategory, 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_ComponentCategory was introduced on clients with Windows Vista and on servers with Windows Server 2008.

Namespace

Win32_ComponentCategory 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_ComponentCategory is implemented in CIMWin32.dll and defined in CIMWin32.mof. Both files are located in the folder C:\Windows\system32\wbem:

explorer $env:windir\system32\wbem
notepad $env:windir\system32\wbem\CIMWin32.mof

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