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PowerShell Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration

PowerShell Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) provides a way of accessing details of your operating system that are normally hidden from the Control Panel, Device manager or IpConfig.  While there are 7 WMI classes dealing with network properties, the most versatile is: WMI Class Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration.

Topics for PowerShell Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration

• PowerShell Command to Display Network Adapter Values
• How to Research Properties for YOUR Computer Configuration
• More Example Scripts for Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration
• How to List More WMI Network Classes
• How to Enable or Disable NIC in PowerShell 3.0

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PowerShell Tutorial to List WMI Classes

Pre-requisites:  Visit Microsoft's site and download the correct version of PowerShell for your operating system.

• Launch PowerShell (Preferably the ISE version)
• Copy the lines of code below (into memory)
• Right-click on the PowerShell symbol
• Edit --> Paste
• Press enter to execute the code.

PowerShell Command to Display Network Adapter Values

While you could employ VBScript to interrogate Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration, PowerShell is much easier and quicker to learn.  A reminder that the master cmdlet is Get-WmiObject, indeed it's worth researching parameters and examples with Get-help Get-WmiObject.

Sample Result

Note 1:  As usual, you can view all a PowerShell cmdlets parameters with Get-Help, for example:
Get-Help Get-WmiObject.

Note 2:  You could use the alias PowerShell gwmi instead of Get-WmiObject

How to Research Properties for YOUR Computer Configuration

I could tell you which properties to script, but it's much better if you learn how to view the master list, then make selections to suit your particular needs or project.

Note 1: Above is a one-line command.  Below is a refinement to filter the properties that you are likely to be interested in.

Note 2:  A reminder that even this command accepts Get-Help, thus you could try:
Get-Help Get-Member -full.  My point is that help will reveal other options, for example -MemberType Method.

Note 3:  See more on Wake-On-Lan.

Note 4: Below is an edited example of the output.

Note 5: Instead of a where clause you simplify to: -MemberType Property [a-z]*

Guy Recommends: A Free Wake-On-LAN Utility

Encouraging computers to sleep when not in use is a great idea - until you are away from your desk and need a file on that remote sleeping machine!

Wake-On-LAN really will save you that long walk to awaken a hibernating machine; however my reason for encouraging you to download this utility is just because it's so much fun sending those 'Magic Packets'.  As Wake-On-LAN (WOL) is free, see if I am right, and you get a kick from arousing those sleeping machines.  WOL also has business uses for example, wakening machines so that they can have their patches applied. 

Download your free copy of Wake-On-LAN

More Example Scripts for Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration

Example to test if you are using DHCP

Note 6:  PowerShell has no word-wrap, thus the backtick ` means continue on the next line.  Beware, there should be no space after the `.

Note 7: Observe PowerShell's trademark the (|) pipe symbol, this means that the output of the main command is pumped into Format-Table.  Now we can decide which or the dozens of possible properties to display.

Example which filters for 'real' IP addresses.  It also displays the default gateway and the MAC address.

Note 8:  You could replace Where-Object {$_.IPEnabled -eq 'True'} with a -filter parameter.  Check the syntax with Get-Help Get-WmiObject -full.

Note 9:  PowerShell has no word-wrap, thus the backtick ` means continue on the next line.  Beware, there should be no space after the `.

Guy Recommends:  A Free Trial of the Network Performance Monitor (NPM)

Solarwinds' Orion performance monitor will help you discover what's happening on your network.  This utility will also guide you through troubleshooting; the dashboard will indicate whether the root cause is a broken link, faulty equipment or resource overload.

Perhaps the NPM's best feature is the way it suggests solutions to network problems.  Its second best feature is the ability to monitor the health of individual VMWare virtual machines.  If you are interested in troubleshooting, and creating network maps, then I recommend that you take advantage of Solarwinds' offer.

Download a free trial of the Network Performance Monitor.

How to List More WMI Network Classes

The additional feature of this script is that refines the search from the broad 'Win32', to the narrower 'Win32_Network'.  The result is a list of network WMI classes.

Learning Points

Note 10:  In practical terms, most of the 7 network classes are disappointing.  However, the class win32_networkadapter has the useful property of netconnectionstatus, and also the handy methods: 'Enable' and Disable'.

Summary of WMI Class Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration

The key information that PowerShell's Get-WmiObject needs is a WMI class.  These Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration examples will help you to research the best properties for your task.  For pure PowerShell research remember Get-Help and Get-Member.

See More Microsoft PowerShell WMI Examples:

• Home   • PowerShell Get-WmiObject   • PowerShell -Query   • PowerShell Select

• Win32_pingstatus   • WMI Win32_NetworkAdapter   • Win32_NetworkAdapterConfig

• Disable NIC   • PowerShell -Filter   • Windows PowerShell   • PowerShell 3.0 Network

Please email me if you have any example scripts. Also please report any factual mistakes, grammatical errors or broken links, I will be happy to correct the fault.

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Guy Recommends: WMI Monitor and It's Free! Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is one of the hidden treasures of Microsoft operating systems. Fortunately, Solarwinds have created the Free WMI Monitor so that you can actually see and understand these gems of performance information.  Take the guess work out of which WMI counters to use for applications like Microsoft Active Directory, SQL or Exchange Server. Download your free copy of WMI Monitor

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