Configure and troubleshoot Windows Management Instrumentation

23 July 2000 by Snakefoot | Comment » | Trackback Off
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) will fail to start or operate properly if the WMI repository is corrupt. Depending on what version of Windows, there are different ways to repair/rebuild/reset the WMI repository:
  • Windows Vista/2008:

    winmgmt /verifyrepository
    winmgmt /salvagerepository

  • Windows XP (Requires atleast SP2):

    rundll32 wbemupgd, UpgradeRepository

  • Windows 2003 (Requires atleast SP1):

    rundll32 wbemupgd, RepairWMISetup

  • Other versions (Note it will reset the ICS and ICF configuration):
    1. winmgmt /clearadap
    2. winmgmt /kill
    3. winmgmt /unregserver
    4. winmgmt /regserver
    5. winmgmt /resyncperf
    6. net stop winmgmt
    7. del %windir%\system32\Wbem\Repository\*.* /s
    8. net start winmgmt
    9. %windir%\system32\wbem\wbemtest.exe
More Info MS Technet - WMI Isn't Working!
More Info MS KB Q216738
More Info MS KB Q266416
More Info MS KB Q305992
More Info MS KB Q823775 (Replaces Q319101)
More Info MS KB Q875605

Note if for some obscure reason wanting to disable the WMI service, then WinMgmt.exe will complain, this can be solved by running these commands before disabling:

winmgmt /clearadap
winmgmt /kill
winmgmt /unregserver

To see all parameters for WinMgmt.exe :

winmgmt /?

Updated: 14 July 2008

Comments:

Comment by Tim Ewald - 30 January 2008 @ 18:07 Reply

Great information! Saved me a lot of hair pulling. Thanks!

Comment by badr - 6 February 2008 @ 19:44 Reply

thank you soo much that was soo helpfull . you are the master :)

Comment by Torii Tom - 21 February 2008 @ 22:17 Reply

The first command (rundll32 wbemupgd, UpgradeRepository) worked on my PC; thank you very much.

Comment by Qiss - 2 March 2008 @ 21:14 Reply

Great Great Great !!!
(rundll32 wbemupgd, UpgradeRepository) worked for me, (i typed it in the RUN console in the START menu, if your reading this and wondering where to type it.)
Thx alot man, great site and great work….more power to you….cheers again and take it easy.

Comment by SHERIFF - 3 April 2008 @ 11:39 Reply

Big thnx!
It working!!!

Comment by Hydra - 12 August 2008 @ 13:44 Reply

You are a genius! I’ve been hunting for days to find this fix and the first thing I’ve tried on your site did it. Absolutely the best!

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