How to Add a Category to a Windows Driver

Article
10/04/2022

In Configuration Manager, you add a category to a Windows driver by adding the unique identifier for the category to the SMS_Driver Server WMI ClassCategoryInstance_UniqueIDs array property. The array contains one or more string identifiers that match the SMS_CategoryInstance Server WMI ClassCategoryInstance_UniqueID property value. There is an instance of SMS_CategoryInstance Server WMI Class object for each category in the system.

Note

The unique identifier for a driver category is prepended with the text "DriverCategories". Other category types have different text.

A category has localization information, and it is from the SMS_CategoryInstance Server WMI ClassLocalizedCategoryInstanceName property that the display name of the category is obtained.

To add a category to a Windows driver

Set up a connection to the SMS Provider. For more information, see SMS Provider fundamentals.
Get the SMS_Driver object for the driver you want to add a category to.
Get the category name identifier from the SMS_CategoryInstance Server WMI Class object that matches the desired category.
Add the category identifier to the SMS_Driver Server WMI Class object CategoryInstance_UniqueIDs array property.
Commit the SMS_Driver Server WMI Class changes.

Example

The following example method adds a category to a Windows driver. driverID is a valid SMS_Driver Server WMI Class object. For more information, see About Operating System Deployment Driver Management.

For information about calling the sample code, see Calling Configuration Manager Code Snippets.

Sub AddDriverCategory(connection,driver,categoryName)  

    Dim categories  
    Dim category  
    Dim driverCategoryID  
    Dim categoryID  
    Dim results  
    Dim existingCategory  

    ' Find the category that matches the supplied category name.  
    Set results = _  
      connection.ExecQuery("SELECT * From SMS_CategoryInstance WHERE LocalizedCategoryInstanceName = '" _  
      + categoryName+ "'")  

    ' If the category was found, add it to the driver.  
    For Each category in results  

        If IsNull(driver.CategoryInstance_UniqueIDs) or UBound (driver.CategoryInstance_UniqueIDs) = -1 Then  
            ' It is empty. Add the category.  
            driver.CategoryInstance_UniqueIDs =  Array(category.CategoryInstance_UniqueID)  
         Else  

            ' Determine if the category is already applied to the driver.  
            For each existingCategory in driver.CategoryInstance_UniqueIDs   
                if existingCategory = category.CategoryInstance_UniqueID Then  
                    WScript.Echo "Already added"  
                    Exit Sub  
                End If  
            Next      

            ' Add the category.  
            categories = driver.CategoryInstance_UniqueIDs  
            Redim Preserve categories (UBound (driver.CategoryInstance_UniqueIDs)+1)  
            categories (Ubound (categories)) =  category.CategoryInstance_UniqueID   
            driver.CategoryInstance_UniqueIDs = categories  
        End If  

        driver.Put_         
    Next      
End Sub

public void AddDriverCategory(  
    WqlConnectionManager connection,  
    IResultObject driver,  
    string categoryName)  
{  
    try  
    {  
        // Get the category.  
        IResultObject results = connection.QueryProcessor.ExecuteQuery(  
        "SELECT * From SMS_CategoryInstance WHERE LocalizedCategoryInstanceName = '" + categoryName + "'");  

       ArrayList driverCategories = new ArrayList(driver["CategoryInstance_UniqueIDs"].StringArrayValue);//;driverCategories);  

        foreach (IResultObject category in results)  
        {  
            foreach (string driverCategory in driverCategories)  
            {  
                // Do nothing if the driver already has the category.  
                if (driverCategory == category["CategoryInstance_UniqueID"].StringValue)  
                {  
                    Console.WriteLine("Already exists");  
                    return;  
                }  
           }  

            // Add the category to the action.  
           driverCategories.Add(category["CategoryInstance_UniqueID"].StringValue);  
        }  

        // Update the driver.  
        driver["CategoryInstance_UniqueIDs"].StringArrayValue = (string[])driverCategories.ToArray(typeof(string));  
        driver.Put();  

    }  
    catch (SmsException e)  
    {  
        Console.WriteLine("Failed to add the category" + e.Message);  
        throw;  
    }  
}

The example method has the following parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
`Connection`	- Managed: `WqlConnectionManager` - VBScript: SWbemServices	A valid connection to the SMS Provider.
`driver`	- Managed: `IResultObject` - VBScript: `SWbemObject`	The Windows driver. It is an instance of SMS_Driver Server WMI Class.
`categoryName`	- Managed: `String` - VBScript: `String`	The name of an existing category. This matches the SMS_CategoryInstance Server WMI Class `LocalizedCategoryInstanceName` property.

Compiling the Code

This C# example requires:

Namespaces

System

System.Collections.Generic

System.Text

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine

Assembly

microsoft.configurationmanagement.managementprovider

adminui.wqlqueryengine

Robust Programming

For more information about error handling, see About Configuration Manager Errors.

.NET Framework Security

For more information about securing Configuration Manager applications, see Configuration Manager role-based administration.

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