Win32_ShadowStorage - powershell.one

The Win32_ShadowStorage class represents the association between a volume for which a shadow copy is made, and a volume to which differential data is written.

Methods

Win32_ShadowStorage has 1 methods:

Method	Description
Create	Creates a differential area storage for the specified Volume.

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_ShadowStorage returns 5 properties:

'AllocatedSpace','DiffVolume','MaxSpace','UsedSpace','Volume'

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

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ShadowStorage -Property *

Most WMI classes return one or more instances.

When Get-CimInstance returns no result, then apparently no instances of class Win32_ShadowStorage 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).

AllocatedSpace

UINT64

Allocated space on the differential area volume.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ShadowStorage | Select-Object -Property AllocatedSpace

DiffVolume

WIN32_VOLUME

Reference to the differential volume.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ShadowStorage | Select-Object -Property DiffVolume

MaxSpace

WRITEABLE UINT64

Maximum space on the differential area volume.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ShadowStorage | Select-Object -Property MaxSpace

UsedSpace

UINT64

Used space on the differential area volume.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ShadowStorage | Select-Object -Property UsedSpace

Volume

WIN32_VOLUME

Reference to the original volume.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ShadowStorage | Select-Object -Property Volume

Examples

List all instances of Win32_ShadowStorage

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ShadowStorage

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

View all properties

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ShadowStorage -Property *

View key properties only

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ShadowStorage -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 = 'AllocatedSpace',
              'DiffVolume',
              'MaxSpace',
              'UsedSpace',
              'Volume'
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_ShadowStorage | 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_ShadowStorage -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_ShadowStorage -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 MaxSpace, UsedSpace, Volume, AllocatedSpace FROM Win32_ShadowStorage 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 MaxSpace, UsedSpace, Volume, AllocatedSpace FROM Win32_ShadowStorage WHERE Caption LIKE 'a%'" | Select-Object -Property MaxSpace, UsedSpace, Volume, AllocatedSpace

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_ShadowStorage -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_ShadowStorage -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_ShadowStorage, 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_ShadowStorage was introduced on clients with None supported and on servers with Windows Server 2003.

Namespace

Win32_ShadowStorage 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_ShadowStorage is implemented in Vsswmi.dll and defined in Vss.mof. Both files are located in the folder C:\Windows\system32\wbem:

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

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