For more information, see Registering a Provider. Provider writers can prevent many problems, which appear in error messages through WMI, by performing the following actions: How Provider Writers Can Prevent WMI Problems For more information, see Troubleshooting WMI Client Applications. WMI contains a set of classes for troubleshooting client applications that use WMI providers. Troubleshooting in Scripts and Applications For more information, see Tracing WMI Activity, Logging WMI Activity, and WMI Log Files. The WMI log files no longer exist they were replaced by Event Tracing for Windows (ETW). For more information, see Debugging Providers. Provider writers may also encounter debugging issues unless you are writing a decoupled provider. You can download the WMI Diagnosis Utility at the Download Center. The report also aids Microsoft support services in assisting you. This tool produces a report that can usually isolate the source of the problem and provide instructions on how to fix it. To obtain more information about the source of the problem, you can download and run the WMI Diagnosis Utility diagnostic command line tool. Under any circumstances, do not delete the WMI repository as a first action because deleting the repository can cause damage to the system or to installed applications. Failures can originate in other parts of the operating system and emerge as errors through WMI. If WMI returns error messages, be aware that they may not indicate problems in the WMI service or in WMI providers. **Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008: ** The WMI diagnosis Utility (WMIDiag.exe) is no longer supported starting with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. For more information about troubleshooting problems with WMI scripts and the WMI service, see WMI Isn't Working! WMI Diagnosis Utility If you are an end-user that has experienced an error message concerning WMI, you should go to Microsoft Support and search for the error code you see on the error message.

The following documentation is targeted for developers and IT administrators.

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