• Home
  • About 404TS
  • Contact

404 Tech Support

Where IT Help is Found

  • Articles
    • Code
    • Entertainment
    • Going Green
    • Hardware, Gadgets, and Products
    • Management
    • Network
    • News
    • Operating Systems
    • Security and Privacy
    • Software
    • System Administration
    • Talking Points
    • Tech Solutions
    • Web
    • Webmaster
  • Reviews
  • Media
    • Infographics
    • Videos
  • Tech Events
  • Tools
    • How do I find my IP address?
    • Browser and plugin tests
  • Get a Technical Consultation
You are here: Home / Articles / Tech Solutions / WMI commands result in “The specified module could not be found.”

WMI commands result in “The specified module could not be found.”

2012-11-01 by Jason

Windows Management Instrumentation has received a few mentions around 404TS in recent months. This morning, I got a closer look at it again. I received what I like to call a “pile of symptoms” and get to try to find the root cause. The symptom that resulted in receiving the initial call was that shutdowns were taking about 10-15 minutes. The first technician to respond also noted that when looking at the Computer properties, it would return ‘not available’ for the “Processor:” and “Installed memory (RAM):” fields.

The computer was set to have a printer installed through the AD security group-based network printer install shutdown script I wrote. Kn0wing this, the technician included me in the troubleshooting process to see if there was something wrong with the script or some other configuration. Running the printer install script manually, an error message was returned. It gave a line number in the script and an error message of “The specified module could not be found”. Looking at the script, it was where a WMI method was being invoked to install the driver. To test WMI functionality further, I ran in the command prompt: wmic.exe computersystem get model. It returned the same error about the module could not be found.

The processor and Installed Memory fields were returning ‘not available’.

Seemingly narrowing the problem down to WMI not functioning correctly, I checked the computer’s services to ensure that the Windows Management Instrumentation service was Started and set to automatic. After confirming that it was started, I tried restarting the service but ran into the same results when trying to invoke something that used WMI.

Fortunately, I was able to find some suggested steps in a seemingly abandoned TechNet forum thread that had no further comments to confirm whether or not the problem worked for the requesting poster. Fortunately, I can confirm that the recommended steps work once the computer is restarted.

1. Log onto Windows 7 with an administrator account, click Start, type services.msc in the Start Search box and press Enter.
2. In the right pane of the Service console, locate and right-click Windows Management Instrumentation, and then select Stop to stop the service.
3. Start Windows Explorer, and then locate the %SystemRoot%System32WbemRepository folder.
4. Backup and delete all the files in the %SystemRoot%System32WbemRepository folder.
5. Restart the computer.

The files that were deleted will be re-created when the computer restarts.

Note: The Windows Management Instrumentation service starts automatically when you restart the computer.

If the issue persists, please re-register WMI DLL files and re-compile WMI mof files to check if the issue can be resolved. Here are the detailed steps:

1. Disable and stop the Windows Management Instrumentation service.
2. Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
3. In the Command Prompt, type cd %windir%system32wbem and press Enter.
4. Type for /f %s in (‘dir /b *.dll’) do regsvr32 /s %s and press Enter to re-register WMI DLL files.
5. After completed, type for /f %s in (‘dir /b *.mof’) do mofcomp %s and press Enter to re-compile WMI mof files.
6. After that, type the command wmiprvse /regserver and press Enter.
7. Start the Windows Management Instrumentation service and change the Startup Type back to Automatic.

Upon completing those steps and restarting the computer, all of the previous symptoms were resolved: Computer Properties lists available hardware, the printer script completed successfully and allowed the computer to shutdown is less than 30 seconds, and the WMIC command was able to return the model of the computer.

Filed Under: Tech Solutions

Trending

  • Screenshot of Petya RansomwarePSA: Severe Global Ransomware Attack Underway
    In Articles, Security and Privacy
  • Don’t forget security for each device
    In Infographics
  • Using RunAs With Active Directory Users And Computers and Group Policy Management Console
    In Code, Security and Privacy, System Administration

Latest Media Posts

Find Out Where To Download SNES ROMs

Find Out Where To Download SNES ROMs

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

  • Popular
  • Latest
  • Today Week Month All
  • How to ‘Unblock’ multiple files at a time with PowerShell How to 'Unblock' multiple files at a time with PowerShell
  • Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability
  • Read the Event Logs on Windows Server Core Read the Event Logs on Windows Server Core
  • SOLVED: “This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked.” SOLVED: "This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked."
  • Command line to take ownership and change permissions Command line to take ownership and change permissions
  • Making Distributed Software Development Work: Strategies and Best Practices for Managing Remote Teams Making Distributed Software Development Work: Strategies and Best Practices for Managing Remote Teams
  • customer contactless payment for drink with mobile phon at cafe counter bar,seller coffee shop accept payment by mobile.new normal lifestyle concept The Latest Innovations In Payment Technology
  • How Digital Technology Brought the Rise of the CMO   How Digital Technology Brought the Rise of the CMO  
  • How to Purchase Cryptocurrencies? How to Purchase Cryptocurrencies?
  • Top 6 necessary aspects to consider when hiring Angular developers Top 6 necessary aspects to consider when hiring Angular developers
Ajax spinner

Elevator Pitch

404 Tech Support documents solutions to IT problems, shares worthwhile software and websites, and reviews hardware, consumer electronics, and technology-related books.

Subscribe to 404TS articles by email.

Recent Posts

  • Making Distributed Software Development Work: Strategies and Best Practices for Managing Remote Teams
  • The Latest Innovations In Payment Technology
  • How Digital Technology Brought the Rise of the CMO  

Search

FTC Disclaimer

404TechSupport is an Amazon.com affiliate; when you click on an Amazon link from 404TS, the site gets a cut of the proceeds from whatever you buy. This site also uses Skimlinks for smart monetization of other affiliate links.
Use of this site requires displaying and viewing ads as they are presented.

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in