The Windows Management Instrumentation (Winmgmt) service provides a common interface and object model to access management information about operating systems, devices, applications, and services. Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is an infrastructure that provides the ability to build management applications and instrumentation.
The WMI infrastructure is a component in the Windows operating system that moves and stores information about managed objects. It is composed of the Windows Management Instrumentation service and the WMI repository. The Windows Management Instrumentation service acts as an intermediary between the providers, management applications, and the WMI repository, and it places information from a provider into the WMI repository. The service accesses the WMI repository in response to queries and instructions from management applications, and the service can pass information directly between a provider and a management application. In contrast, the WMI repository acts as a storage area for information from the various providers.
The Windows Management Instrumentation service provides access to the management data through a number of interfaces, including COM APIs, scripts, and command-line interfaces. It is compatible with previous management interfaces and protocols, such as Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). The service installs and runs automatically on computers running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. If the service stops, most Windows-based software cannot function properly.
This service is installed by default and its startup type is Automatic.
When the Windows Management Instrumentation service is started in its default configuration, it logs on by using the Local System account.
The Windows Management Instrumentation service is dependent on the following system components:
- Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
- DCOM Server Process Launcher
- RPC Endpoint Mapper
The following system components are dependent on the Windows Management Instrumentation service:
- Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
- IP Helper
- Security Center