System Inventory Mini-App

Executive Summary:

Virtually all systems administrators need a system-inventory script in their toolkit. SysInfo.hta is WMI "to the max": It collects every property available in 15 Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Win32 classes, including new properties introduced by Windows Vista, and delivers the information for each class in its own Microsoft Excel worksheet. Limiting the amount or type of data collected is as simple as commenting out the subroutines you don't need. An upcoming article will show how to turn SysInfo.hta into a Vista Sidebar gadget.

I started a system inventory script a while ago that uses some very basic Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Win32 classes, and it's grown steadily since then as other needs arose and I discovered more properties of interest. SysInfo.hta is WMI "to the max” and is a type of tool that virtually all systems administrators need in their toolkit. I use the script primarily to generate computer build documentation when a new server goes into production, and from time to time when I need to check out the health and current state of a server or desktop. . . .