Group Policy WMI filters

WMI filters are useful to further filter Group Policy Objects (GPOs), beyond what is possible/convenient with groups.

Distinguish between x86 and x64 computers:

x86

Select AddressWidth from Win32_Processor where (AddressWidth=”32″)

x64

Select AddressWidth from Win32_Processor where (AddressWidth=”64″)

Determine Windows version:

Use this filter to determine the Windows version and role:

select * from Win32_OperatingSystem where Version like “6.%” and ProductType = “1”

  • The Version property returns values that begin with the following characters (the % symbol is a wildcard character that represents other characters that can follow, but do not help distinguish the version number):
    Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7 6.1%
    Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista 6.0%
    Windows Server 2003 5.2%
    Windows XP 5.1%
    Windows 2000 5.0%
  • The ProductType property returns the following values:
    Client versions of Windows 1
    Server versions of Windows that are operating as a domain controller 2
    Server versions of Windows that are not operating as a domain controller (typically referred to as member servers) 3

Determine computer type (laptop, desktop etc.)

NOTE: The PCSystemType property in only available on Windows Vista and later OSs.

SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystem WHERE PCSystemType = 1

These are the possible values for PCSystemType:

Value Meaning
0 Unspecified
1 Desktop
2 Mobile
3 Workstation
4 Enterprise Server
5 Small Office and Home Office (SOHO) Server
6 Appliance PC
7 Performance Server
8 Maximum

(I’d really like a computer with type 8, please!)

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