Microsoft deprecation of WMIC and impact on Snow Inventory Oracle scanners
Microsoft plans to deprecate the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) tool in future versions of Windows and Windows Server. Starting with Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025, WMIC is disabled by default and will be removed entirely in a future update. This article explains how the deprecation affects Flexera’s products and provides temporary workarounds.
Impact on Snow Inventory scanners
Several Snow Inventory scanners rely on WMIC for collecting Oracle-related inventory data, including:
- Snow Inventory Oracle Scanner
- Snow Inventory Java Scanner
- Snow Inventory Middleware Scanner
If WMIC is unavailable, these scanners will fail with the following error:
'wmic' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.Flexera is actively updating the Oracle scanners to remove the dependency on WMIC. A fully updated version will be released before Microsoft removes WMIC entirely from Windows.
Current status and workaround
Although WMIC is disabled by default in Windows Server 2025 and Windows 11 24H2, it is still available as a feature on demand (FoD). You can re-enable it temporarily using the DISM command. It will be removed from Windows in a future release.
To install WMIC
- Open PowerShell as an administrator.
- Search for PowerShell, right-click it, and select Run as administrator.
- Run the following command:
DISM /Online /Add-Capability /CapabilityName:WMIC- Wait for the installation to complete. This step may take some time.
- Restart the computer if required.
Once enabled, the Snow Inventory Oracle scanners will function as expected.
For official details from Microsoft, see: Features removed or no longer developed in Windows Server.
