Win32_DFSTarget - powershell.one

The Win32_DFSTarget WMI class represents a target of a Distributed file system (DFS) node.

Methods

Win32_DFSTarget has no methods.

Properties

Win32_DFSTarget returns 9 properties:

'Caption','Description','InstallDate','LinkName','Name','ServerName','ShareName',
'State','Status'

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

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget -Property *

Most WMI classes return one or more instances.

When Get-CimInstance returns no result, then apparently no instances of class Win32_DFSTarget 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

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget | Select-Object -Property LinkName, ServerName, ShareName, Caption

Description

STRING

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget | Select-Object -Property LinkName, ServerName, ShareName, Description

InstallDate

DATETIME

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget | Select-Object -Property LinkName, ServerName, ShareName, InstallDate

LinkName

KEY PROPERTY STRING

Entry path of the node to which this target belongs.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget | Select-Object -Property LinkName, ServerName, ShareName

Name

STRING

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget | Select-Object -Property LinkName, ServerName, ShareName, Name

ServerName

KEY PROPERTY STRING

Name of the server that the node references.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget | Select-Object -Property LinkName, ServerName, ShareName

ShareName

KEY PROPERTY STRING

String representing the name of the share that the node references.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget | Select-Object -Property LinkName, ServerName, ShareName

State

UINT32

State of the target.

Offline

Online

Active

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget | Select-Object -Property LinkName, ServerName, ShareName, State

Status

STRING

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_DFSTarget | Select-Object -Property LinkName, ServerName, ShareName, Status

Examples

List all instances of Win32_DFSTarget

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget

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

View all properties

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget -Property *

View key properties only

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget -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',
              'Description',
              'InstallDate',
              'LinkName',
              'Name',
              'ServerName',
              'ShareName',
              'State',
              'Status'
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DFSTarget | 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_DFSTarget -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_DFSTarget -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 InstallDate, LinkName, Caption, Status FROM Win32_DFSTarget 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 InstallDate, LinkName, Caption, Status FROM Win32_DFSTarget WHERE Caption LIKE 'a%'" | Select-Object -Property InstallDate, LinkName, Caption, Status

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

Namespace

Win32_DFSTarget 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_DFSTarget is implemented in Wmipdfs.dll and defined in Wmipdfs.mof. Both files are located in the folder C:\Windows\system32\wbem:

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

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