*****************
Python WMI Module
*****************

What is it?
===========

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is Microsoft's implementation of 
Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM), an industry initiative to provide 
a Common Information Model (CIM) for pretty much any information about a 
computer system.

The Python WMI module is a lightweight wrapper on top of the win32all
extensions, and hides some of the messy plumbing needed to get Python to
talk to the WMI API. It's pure Python and should work with any version of
Python from 2.1 onwards (list comprehensions) and any recent version of win32all.


Where do I get it?
==================

http://tgolden.sc.sabren.com/python/wmi.html


How do I install it?
====================

When all's said and done, it's just a module. But for those
who like setup programs:

python setup.py install


Prerequisites
=============

If you're running a recent Python (2.1+) on a recent Windows (2k, 2k3, XP)
and you have Mark Hammond's win32 extensions installed, you're probably
up-and-running already. Otherwise...

  Windows
  -------
  If you're running Win9x / NT4 you'll need to get WMI support
  from Microsoft. Microsoft URLs change quite often, so I suggest you
  do this: http://www.google.com/search?q=wmi+downloads

  Python
  ------
  http://www.python.org/ (just in case you didn't know)

  pywin32 (was win32all)
  ----------------------
  http://starship.python.net/crew/mhammond/win32/Downloads.html
  Specifically, builds 154/155 fixed a problem which affected the WMI
  moniker construction. You can still work without this fix, but some
  more complex monikers will fail.

  makepy
  ------
  You may have to compile makepy support for some typelibs. The following
  are reported to be significant:

  Microsoft WMI Scripting Library
  WMI ADSI Extension Type Library
  WMICntl Type Library

  If you've not done this before, start the PythonWin environment, select
  Tools > Com Makepy utility from the menu, select the library by name, and
  click [OK].


How do I use it?
================

There are examples at: http://tgolden.sc.sabren.com/python/wmi_cookbook.html
but as a quick taster, try this, to show all stopped services:

import wmi

c = wmi.WMI ()
for s in c.Win32_Service ():
  if s.State == 'Stopped':
    print s.Caption, s.State