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The Best FREE WMI Monitor Tools for Windows Server and Desktop
UPDATED: August 29, 2023
WMI, or Windows Management Instrumentation, is a Microsoft technology for the management of Windows-based workstations and servers. WMI allows network administrators to monitor performance and view or update configurations of Windows computers from a single management interface.
WMI is has a lot in common with SNMP, or Simple Network Management Protocol. SNMP is an older management technology that is still widely used for monitoring and management tasks.
Unlike SNMP, WMI is a proprietary technology from Microsoft, and is specifically designed for Microsoft-based networks, servers and workstations. It is enabled by default on recent Windows machines, and can provide more detail and manageability than SNMP.
Its power, flexibility and ubiquity makes WMI a great choice for managing Microsoft networks and Windows workstations and servers. WMI tools come in many different flavors for many different needs, but here are five of the best that provide great features for free or nearly free.
Our methodology for selecting free WMI monitoring tools
We reviewed various free WMI monitoring and analyzed the options based on the following criteria:
- An autodiscovery system to log all network devices
- Supporting protocols such as SNMP, ping, ect
- A facility to analyze network performance over time
- Graphical interpretation of data, such as charts and graphs
- A free trial period, a demo, or a money-back guarantee for no-risk assessment
SolarWinds WMI Monitor with SAM – 30-day Free Trial
Features, ease of use and flexibility make make this tool a top recommendation.
SolarWinds Free WMI Monitor excels at monitoring Windows hardware and application performance in real-time.
Get started fast with built-in or community-created templates. If the perfect template does not already exist, create your own custom templates without scripting through the built in interface.
The desktop dashboard keeps application, workstation, and server performance information front-and-center, right where it needs to be.
SolarWinds monitor is especially suited to monitoring and tracking down problems with Active Directory and SharePoint.
Diagnosing Active Directory domain controller performance and troubleshooting SharePoint database latency issues are just two examples of the tasks that SolarWinds monitor performs with ease.
The Software is free and also sells its excellent and extremely powerful Server & Application Monitor, adding features such as advanced cloud application management and inventory and availability reports, and much more.
Pros:
- Designed with large and enterprise networks in mind
- Supports auto-discovery that builds network topology maps and inventory lists in real-time based on devices that enter the network
- Has some of the best alerting features that balance effectiveness with ease of use
- Supports both SNMP monitoring as well as packet analysis, giving you more control over monitoring than similar tools
- Uses drag and drop widgets to customize the look and feel of the dashboard
- Robust reporting system with pre-configured compliance templates
Cons:
- Designed for IT professionals, not the best option for non-technical users
Codeplex WMI Explorer
WMI Explorer from Codeplex excels in providing an easy-to-use interface for managing complicated management and configuration tasks.
Pros:
- Completely free
- Uses simple WMI queries
- Does a good job of simplifying large amounts of polled data
Cons:
- The interface could use improvement
Codeplex WMI Explorer allows you to view WMI query language (WQL) queries to see selected properties or objects, and WQL queries can be automatically generated for selected classes. WMI Explorer is free software.
Sapien WMI Explorer
WMI Explorer from Sapien has some features not available in other products. One example is the Technet button which searches the Microsoft TechNet database for your selected WMI object.
Tabs organize Powershell and VBScript code for selected items, while an integrated Powershell console allows for quick experimentation.
The interface will be familiar to many users as it has buttons styled after the Microsoft Office ribbon menus.
Pros:
- Lightweight tool
- Easy to get up and running
- Includes integrated TechNet database search
- Simple and familiar interface
Cons:
- Competing products offer similar features for free
While not free, Sapien's WMI Explorer has a low price of $49, making this tool affordable and a good value for the features provided.
Marc van Orsouw's WMI Explorer
Marc van Orsouw’s WMI Explorer is very good option when you want a PowerShell based WMI tool.
This means that it can run on any recent Windows server without needing to run and installation process.
Pros:
- Great interface
- PowerShell-based WMI with GUI option
- Can run on any modern Windows server
Cons:
- Competing products offer similar features for free
Marc van Orsouw's WMI Explorer is particularly useful when you want to be able to run a WMI tool on all of your servers or when you want to have a quick look at some WMI information without having to preform a software install.
PowerShell
While probably not the tool you would use to discover and monitor WMI information, PowerShell is an excellent tool by itself for working with objects that other tools have helped you discover.
Powershell allows you to write scripts that can globally change configurations or poll a list of servers and workstations for a specific administrative purpose.
For example, you could have PowerShell look for servers and workstations that have not received the latest security patches. PowerShell comes with all Windows 2008 servers and later.
If you are a network administrator and you are not currently taking advantage of WMI Monitoring, you owe it to yourself to download one or more of these tools and give them a try.
Pros:
- Completely free
- Widely used and documented
- Extremly lightweight
- Part of Windows Server
Cons:
- Not the best option for those wanting a GUI
Advanced monitoring, management and scripting are all made much more accessible with the use of these tools.
Free WMI Monitor Tools FAQs
What is WMI?
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a management infrastructure for Windows-based systems that provides a standard way of accessing management information and system parameters
What are some use cases for WMI monitor tools?
- Network monitoring and management
- Server monitoring and management
- Application monitoring and management
- Performance tuning and optimization
- Compliance reporting and tracking
How can I choose the right WMI monitor tool for my organization?
When choosing a WMI monitor tool, you should consider factors such as the features and functionality that are most important to your business, the ease of use and deployment, the level of customer support, and the pricing and licensing model. You may also want to evaluate the vendor's reputation and customer reviews.