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The WMI Filter Contest - are you the knight in shining armor?

Answered The WMI Filter Contest - are you the knight in shining armor?

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  • Monday, February 18, 2008 10:30 AM
     
     Answered
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    1

    Oh - I almost forgot to report back - we found the winner and got a great tip I think:

     

    The whole idea of this contest was to find a WMI filter spotting DESKTOP computer - and I think we (a guy named Joel) nailed it, by looking for Win32_MemoryFormfactor!

    This is a nice solution I think:
    Select * from Win32_PhysicalMemory where FormFactor != 12

    If you want a laptop go for:
    Select * from Win32_PhysicalMemory where FormFactor = 12

     

    More info on that WMI class:
    http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394347%28VS.85%29.aspx

    Now, there's no such things as a buletproof WMI filter - and we know that - the mission was to find something close to 99%! A formfactor value of 12 means SODIMM, so that will be pretty close according to my testing, but of course these queries depend on hardware - and hardware is not just hardware...

     

    Anyway - I like the tip and hopefully somebody out there will find it as usefull as I do! 

     
  • Wednesday, May 02, 2012 2:07 PM
     
     
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    0

    How about PCSystemType?  This value is tailor-made to distinguish between Chassis types.  The possible values are 

    0 (0x0)

    Unspecified
    1 (0x1)

    Desktop
    2 (0x2)

    Mobile
    3 (0x3)

    Workstation
    4 (0x4)

    Enterprise Server
    5 (0x5)

    Small Office and Home Office (SOHO) Server
    6 (0x6)

    Appliance PC
    7 (0x7)

    Performance Server

     
  • Thursday, December 06, 2012 4:02 PM
     
     
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    PCSystemType is not available on XP, so this is difficult.  And, since 'desktop' and 'workstation' are interpreted very differently by hardware manufacturers (and different staff and the same manufacturers), you have to still review every model to see if still shows up as 'desktop' when you expect it to.

    I think Joel nailed it best.

    Nash Pherson, Senior Systems Consultant
    http://www.nowmicro.com - http://myitforum.com/myitforumwp/author/npherson
    <-- If this post was helpful, please click "Vote as Helpful".


    • Edited by NPherson Thursday, December 06, 2012 4:03 PM
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  • Tuesday, December 18, 2012 12:32 AM
     
     
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    Another person pointed out to me that SODIMM's are used in some Lenovo All-In-One computers.  So, as the original poster says... there is no such thing as a bullet proof WMI filter.

    Nash Pherson, Senior Systems Consultant - http://www.nowmicro.com - http://myitforum.com/myitforumwp/author/npherson <-- If this post was helpful, please click "Vote as Helpful".