How to troubleshoot WMI errors

Created by NHC IT Support, Modified on Thu, 24 Oct, 2024 at 8:37 AM by NHC IT Support

In some cases Acronis products may produce an error caused by malfunction in Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). For example, an operation fails with message "WMI 'ExecQuery' failed".

Examples of error log: click to expand

WMI is Windows Management Instrumentation, Acronis uses its functionality on Windows machines to get information about disks, system and services. The WMI errors indicate that Acronis Agent had attempted a query via WMI tools and WMI tools failed to process it.

This article describes how to troubleshoot WMI errors.

Confirm WMI is broken

  1. Launch the WMI MMC snapin: go to Start -> Run -> type wmimgmt.msc 
  2. Right click WMI Control (Local) and click Properties

     Alternatively, you can open WMI properties by going to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. In the left-hand pane, click Services & Applications -> WMI Control, right-click and select Properties.

  3. If WMI is working correctly, you will see Successfully connected window as shown below. 

  4. If you see Invalid class or any other error message then WMI is not working properly

Enabling WMI event tracing

By default, WMI events are not traced. This procedure describes how to use Event Viewer to enable WMI event tracing and locate WMI events. 

  1. Open Event Viewer: 

    - press Win + R;
    - in the Run window that opens, type eventvwr.msc and press Enter

  2. On the View menu, click Show Analytic and Debug Logs:

  3. Locate the Trace channel log for WMI under Applications and Service Logs > Microsoft > Windows > WMI Activity.
  4. Right-click the Trace log and select Properties. Click the Enable Logging check box to start the WMI event tracing.

  5. Reproduce the issue.
  6. WMI events appear in the event window for WMI-Activity. Double-click an event in the list to see the detailed information. 
  7. In some cases, the event will contain instructions on how to resolve a particular error. For other events, use the Event ID and Source in your search to find additional information online.

If needed, contact MS Support for assistance with WMI troubleshooting.

How to check WMI repository consistency

In Windows Vista or higher, you can check if the repository is damaged with the following command from the elevated Command Prompt (Start -> Search -> type "cmd" -> right-click and select Run as administrator):

winmgmt /verifyrepository

If the repository is not corrupted, a “WMI Repository is consistent” message will be returned. If the repository is consistent, you need to troubleshoot more granularly using the WMI Events in Event Viewer.

If the command returns that the WMI database is in an inconsistent state, perform recovery of the repository as described below.

Rebuilding WMI repository manually can result in some 3rd party products not working until reinstallation. 
It is strongly recommended to create a backup of your system before making changes to WMI repository. In case Acronis product does not work properly due to WMI errors, you can create a backup using Acronis Bootable Media or a third-party tool.
How to rebuild WMI repository: click to expand

1. Disable and stop the WMI service.

     sc config winmgmt start= disabled

(note the blank space before disabled)

     net stop winmgmt

(this will also ask to stop Acronis services)

 2. Run the following commands

     Winmgmt /salvagerepository %windir%\System32\wbem      

     Winmgmt /resetrepository %windir%\System32\wbem

3. Re-enable the WMI service and reboot the machine

     sc config winmgmt start= auto

 If the problem remains after consistency check, rebuild the WMI repository:

 1. Disable and stop the WMI service.

     sc config winmgmt start= disabled 

     net stop winmgmt

2. Rename the repository folder located at %windir%\System32\wbem\repository to repository.old.

3. Re-enable the WMI service.

     sc config winmgmt start= auto

 4. To recreate the repository, you need to run a WMI-using application. The simplest way to do this is to launch the WMI MMC snapin again (Start -> Run -> wmimgmt.msc), right click WMI Control (Local) and click Properties. There will be a delay of some seconds while a new repository is created. 

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