For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
Sensor in Other Languages
Dutch: WMI (Klant Specifiek)
French: WMI personnalisé
German: WMI (Benutzerdef.)
Japanese: WMI カスタム
Portuguese: WMI (customizado)
Russian: Нестандартный WMI
Simplified Chinese: WMI 自定义
Spanish: WMI (personalizado)
Remarks
This sensor has a high performance impact. Try to stay below 200 WMI sensors in total per probe. Above this number, consider using multiple remote probes for load balancing.
You cannot add this sensor to the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance. If you want to use this sensor, add it to a remote probe device.
Add Sensor
The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the settings that are required to create the sensor. You can change nearly all settings on the sensor's Settings tab after creation.
Custom Query Specific
Setting
Description
Channel Name
Enter a name for the channel in which PRTG shows the received data. PRTG shows this name in graphs and tables. Enter a string.
Select a .wql file. The sensor executes it with every scanning interval.
The list contains WQL scripts that are available in the \Custom Sensors\WMI WQL scripts subfolder of the PRTG program directory on the probe system. Store your script there. If used on a cluster probe, you must store the file on all cluster nodes.
Your query must return an integer or float value. Strings are not supported. Use the WMI Custom String sensor in this case.
Basic Sensor Settings
Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.
If the name contains angle brackets (<>), PRTG replaces them with braces ({}) for security reasons. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What security features does PRTG include?
This setting is for your information only. You cannot change it.
Tags
Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.
It is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).
For performance reasons, it can take some minutes until you can filter for new tags that you added.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:
wmicustomsensor
Priority
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority () to the highest priority ().
Custom Query Specific
Custom Query Specific
Setting
Description
Namespace
Enter the WMI namespace for the query.
WQL File
Shows the .wql file that this sensor executes with every scanning interval.
Your query must return an integer or float value. Strings are not supported. Use the WMI Custom String sensor in this case.
PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.
Placeholder <#PH1>
In your WQL script, you can use up to three placeholders to which you can assign a value in this field. Enter a string for variable <#PH1> or leave the field empty.
Placeholder <#PH2>
In your WQL script, you can use up to three placeholders to which you can assign a value in this field. Enter a string for variable <#PH2> or leave the field empty.
Placeholder <#PH3>
In your WQL script, you can use up to three placeholders to which you can assign a value in this field. Enter a string for variable <#PH3> or leave the field empty.
If Value Changes
Define what the sensor does when the sensor value changes:
Ignore changes (default): Do nothing.
Trigger 'change' notification: Send an internal message indicating that the sensor value has changed. In combination with a change trigger, you can use this mechanism to trigger a notification whenever the sensor value changes.
Unit String
Enter a unit for the data that the sensor receives from your script. This is for display purposes only. The unit is displayed in graphs and tables. Enter a string.
Multiplication
Define a multiplier for the received values. The default value 1 does not change received values. Enter an integer.
Division
Define a divisor for the received values. The default value 1 does not change received values. Enter an integer.
Debug Options
Debug Options
Setting
Description
Result Handling
Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:
Discard result: Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval.
In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.
Sensor Display
Sensor Display
Setting
Description
Primary Channel
Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.
You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.
Graph Type
Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:
Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic. You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).
Stack Unit
This setting is only visible if you enable Stack channels on top of each other as Graph Type. Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are stacked on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.
Inherited Settings
By default, all of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window.
Access Rights
Access Rights
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.
Channel List
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
Channel
Description
Downtime
In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status
[Value]
The retrieved numeric value
This channel is the primary channel by default.
More
KNOWLEDGE BASE
Why do I have to store SQL sensor queries and custom scripts in files on the probe computer?