PowerShell snippet to get the name of each attached monitor

Needed to create this for a colleague. Get the names of attached monitors via WMI/ PowerShell.

$((Get-WmiObject WmiMonitorID -Namespace root\wmi) | %{ $Name = $($_.UserFriendlyName -notmatch 0 | ForEach{[char]$_}) -join ""; Write-Output $Name }) -join ";"

1	$((Get-WmiObject WmiMonitorID -Namespace root\wmi) \| %{ $Name = $($_.UserFriendlyName -notmatch 0 \| ForEach{[char]$_}) -join ""; Write-Output $Name }) -join ";"

The Get-WmiObject WmiMonitorID -Namespace root\wmi cmdlet returns output like this for each attached monitor:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> (Get-WmiObject WmiMonitorID -Namespace root\wmi)


__GENUS                : 2
__CLASS                : WmiMonitorID
__SUPERCLASS           : MSMonitorClass
__DYNASTY              : MSMonitorClass
__RELPATH              : WmiMonitorID.InstanceName="DISPLAY\\HWP3028\\4&23ad1ee&0&UID57547520_0"
__PROPERTY_COUNT       : 9
__DERIVATION           : {MSMonitorClass}
__SERVER               : MYMACHINE
__NAMESPACE            : root\wmi
__PATH                 : \\MYMACHINE\root\wmi:WmiMonitorID.InstanceName="DISPLAY\\HWP3028\\4&23ad1ee&0&UID57547520_0"
Active                 : True
InstanceName           : DISPLAY\HWP3028\4&23ad1ee&0&UID57547520_0
ManufacturerName       : {72, 87, 80, 0...}
ProductCodeID          : {51, 48, 50, 56...}
SerialNumberID         : {54, 67, 77, 53...}
UserFriendlyName       : {72, 80, 32, 87...}
UserFriendlyNameLength : 13
WeekOfManufacture      : 19
YearOfManufacture      : 2015
PSComputerName         : MYMACHINE

__GENUS                : 2
__CLASS                : WmiMonitorID
__SUPERCLASS           : MSMonitorClass
__DYNASTY              : MSMonitorClass
__RELPATH              : WmiMonitorID.InstanceName="DISPLAY\\HWP3027\\4&23ad1ee&0&UID59644672_0"
__PROPERTY_COUNT       : 9
__DERIVATION           : {MSMonitorClass}
__SERVER               : MYMACHINE
__NAMESPACE            : root\wmi
__PATH                 : \\MYMACHINE\root\wmi:WmiMonitorID.InstanceName="DISPLAY\\HWP3027\\4&23ad1ee&0&UID59644672_0"
Active                 : True
InstanceName           : DISPLAY\HWP3027\4&23ad1ee&0&UID59644672_0
ManufacturerName       : {72, 87, 80, 0...}
ProductCodeID          : {51, 48, 50, 55...}
SerialNumberID         : {54, 67, 77, 53...}
UserFriendlyName       : {72, 80, 32, 87...}
UserFriendlyNameLength : 13
WeekOfManufacture      : 19
YearOfManufacture      : 2015
PSComputerName         : MYMACHINE

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> (Get-WmiObject WmiMonitorID -Namespace root\wmi)

__GENUS : 2

__CLASS : WmiMonitorID

__SUPERCLASS : MSMonitorClass

__DYNASTY : MSMonitorClass

__RELPATH : WmiMonitorID.InstanceName="DISPLAY\\HWP3028\\4&23ad1ee&0&UID57547520_0"

__PROPERTY_COUNT : 9

__DERIVATION : {MSMonitorClass}

__SERVER : MYMACHINE

__NAMESPACE : root\wmi

__PATH : \\MYMACHINE\root\wmi:WmiMonitorID.InstanceName="DISPLAY\\HWP3028\\4&23ad1ee&0&UID57547520_0"

Active : True

InstanceName : DISPLAY\HWP3028\4&23ad1ee&0&UID57547520_0

ManufacturerName : {72, 87, 80, 0...}

ProductCodeID : {51, 48, 50, 56...}

SerialNumberID : {54, 67, 77, 53...}

UserFriendlyName : {72, 80, 32, 87...}

UserFriendlyNameLength : 13

WeekOfManufacture : 19

YearOfManufacture : 2015

PSComputerName : MYMACHINE

__GENUS : 2

__CLASS : WmiMonitorID

__SUPERCLASS : MSMonitorClass

__DYNASTY : MSMonitorClass

__RELPATH : WmiMonitorID.InstanceName="DISPLAY\\HWP3027\\4&23ad1ee&0&UID59644672_0"

__PROPERTY_COUNT : 9

__DERIVATION : {MSMonitorClass}

__SERVER : MYMACHINE

__NAMESPACE : root\wmi

__PATH : \\MYMACHINE\root\wmi:WmiMonitorID.InstanceName="DISPLAY\\HWP3027\\4&23ad1ee&0&UID59644672_0"

Active : True

InstanceName : DISPLAY\HWP3027\4&23ad1ee&0&UID59644672_0

ManufacturerName : {72, 87, 80, 0...}

ProductCodeID : {51, 48, 50, 55...}

SerialNumberID : {54, 67, 77, 53...}

UserFriendlyName : {72, 80, 32, 87...}

UserFriendlyNameLength : 13

WeekOfManufacture : 19

YearOfManufacture : 2015

PSComputerName : MYMACHINE

The Name etc. is in ASCII code so we have to take the numbers, convert to [char], and join them to get the name. Here’s what it looks like. I have to remove the 0 and concatenate the rest.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> (Get-WmiObject WmiMonitorID -Namespace root\wmi).UserFriendlyName
72
80
32
87
50
51
55
49
100
0
0
0
0
72
80
32
87
50
51
55
49
100
0
0
0
0

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> (Get-WmiObject WmiMonitorID -Namespace root\wmi).UserFriendlyName

100

So that’s what the first code snippet does. At the end of the pipeline I do a -join “;” because my colleague wanted it semi-colon separated per monitor but that’s optional.