It can be very useful to call WMI methods, for example to create new shares, but in PowerShell v2 you had to know the names and exact order of arguments to submit:
$rv = Invoke-WmiMethod -Path 'Win32_Share' -ComputerName $ComputerName -Name Create -ArgumentList $null, $Description, $MaximumAllowed, $Name, $null, $Path, $Type
In PowerShell v3, you can use Get-CimClass to discover methods and arguments, and use Invoke-CimMethod instead. It takes the arguments as a hash table, so order is no longer important:
PS> $class = Get-CimClass -ClassName Win32_Share PS> $class.CimClassMethods Name ReturnType Parameters Qualifiers ---- ---------- ---------- ---------- Create UInt32 {Access, Descripti... {Constructor, Impl.. SetShareInfo UInt32 {Access, Descripti... {Implemented, Mapp.. GetAccessMask UInt32 {} {Implemented, Mapp.. Delete UInt32 {} {Destructor, Imple.. PS> $class.CimClassMethods['Create'] Name ReturnType Parameters Qualifiers ---- ---------- ---------- ---------- Create UInt32 {Access, Descripti... {Constructor, Impl.. PS> $class.CimClassMethods['Create'].Parameters Name CimType Qualifiers ReferenceClassName ---- ------- ---------- ------------------ Access Instance {EmbeddedInstance,... Description String {ID, In, MappingSt... MaximumAllowed UInt32 {ID, In, MappingSt... Name String {ID, In, MappingSt... Password String {ID, In, MappingSt... Path String {ID, In, MappingSt... Type UInt32 {ID, In, MappingSt... # create new share PS> Invoke-CimMethod -ClassName Win32_Share -MethodName Create -Arguments @{Name='Testshare' Path='c:\' MaximumAllowed=[UInt32]4 Type=[UInt32]0}
