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WMI classes are inherited from each other, and that’s something you can take advantage of. Take this line:
PS> Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Printer
It will return all printers found by WMI. Printers are inherited from more generic classes, and this shows the inheritance tree:
PS> Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Printer | Select-Object -ExpandProperty __derivation -First 1 CIM_Printer CIM_LogicalDevice CIM_LogicalElement CIM_ManagedSystemElement
So if you are not specifically interested in printers, but rather more widely on hardware, choose a more generic parent class, like CIM_LogicalDevice. This will give you a complete hardware inventory in just one line:
PS> Get-WmiObject -Class CIM_LogicalDevice
Manufacturer Name Status StatusInfo
------------ ---- ------ ----------
Realtek Realtek High Def... OK 3
Kona OK
Intel Corporation Intel(R) 8 Serie... OK
Intel Corporation Intel(R) Wireles...
Microsoft Microsoft Kernel...
ASIX AX88772B US...
Microsoft Virtueller Micro...
Microsoft Bluetooth-Gerät ...
Microsoft Microsoft-ISATAP...
Microsoft-ISATAP...
Microsoft Teredo Tunneling...
Microsoft Von Microsoft ge...
Microsoft-ISATAP...
Microsoft-ISATAP...
Microsoft-ISATAP...
Microsoft-ISATAP...
ASIX AX88772B US...
Microsoft-ISATAP...
Microsoft-ISATAP...
Virtueller Micro...
Microsoft-ISATAP...
Microsoft-ISATAP...
Microsoft-ISATAP...
-Virtual Battery 0- CRB Battery 0
(...)
And this will return the classes involved, so you get a good overview of how WMI calls your hardware types:
PS> Get-WmiObject -Class CIM_LogicalDevice |
Group-Object -Property __Class -NoElement
Count Name
----- ----
1 Win32_SoundDevice
1 Win32_Battery
1 Win32_IDEController
20 Win32_NetworkAdapter
1 Win32_PortableBattery
10 Win32_Printer
1 Win32_Processor
2 Win32_DiskDrive
7 Win32_DiskPartition
1 Win32_Fan
2 Win32_Keyboard
5 Win32_LogicalDisk
2 Win32_MappedLogicalDisk
1 Win32_MemoryArray
2 Win32_MemoryDevice
2 Win32_PointingDevice
1 Win32_SCSIController
2 Win32_USBController
6 Win32_USBHub
5 Win32_Volume
4 Win32_CacheMemory
1 Win32_DesktopMonitor
1 Win32_VideoController
1 Win32_VoltageProbe
1 Win32_MotherboardDevice
8 Win32_Bus
134 Win32_PnPEntity
It basically takes all the instances derived from CIM_LogicalDevice and groups them by “__Class” which is their real class name.
