Windows Management Infrastructure (MI)

The following documentation describes Windows Management Infrastructure (MI), which is the latest version of management data and operations infrastructure for Microsoft-based operating systems. For previous versions, see Windows Management Instrumentation.

In this section

Why Use MI?

The Windows Management Infrastructure (MI) features represent the latest version of the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) technologies, which are based on the CIM standard from DMTF (Distributed Management Task Force). MI is fully compatible with previous versions of WMI and provides a host of features and benefits that make designing and developing providers and clients easier than ever.

What's New in MI?

Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 introduced new ways of creating Windows Management Infrastructure (MI) applications.

MI Providers and Clients

This section includes several examples that illustrate how to build, register, and test an Windows Management Infrastructure (MI) provider as well as how to consume an MI provider from either a native or managed MI client. Be sure to check out the How to: Configure the MI Development Environment so that you have all the necessary bits downloaded and installed when you begin your development.

Cmdlet definition XML

This section provides information about using cmdlet definition XML, or CDXML, to create PowerShell cmdlets for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

MI Reference

The MI Reference contains the following topics that discuss the core features of Windows Management Infrastructure.

MI Glossary

Windows Management Infrastructure (MI) uses its own collection of terms. Many of these terms are familiar to developers but have new or altered definitions in the MI environment.

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