WMI Filter to distinguish laptops and desktops

[zalewskim]

Hi,

I am in a situation where we have certain GPO's that need applying to either a laptop or a desktop individually. I was looking at using 2 WMI filters;
1. That detects a laptop and only applies the GPO to the laptops
2. That detects Desktops and only applies to them
I have seen a few posts around on the web but I cant see one the definitivly says they work.

Have you guys in the forum come across or used a successful WMI filter for these purposes?

We are running a 2008 R2 and 2003 R2 mixed domaon with Windows 7 nad XP clients.

Thanks in advance.

[jeff_longley]

My usual trick for finding laptops is to check for the presence of a battery.
You should be able to search for chassis type, but there’s different variations and a laptop in a docking station doesn’t get picked up as a laptop.

What policies are you looking at? It’s just the Preferences section has some fantastic targeting options you can leverage.

[jeremym]

I have one in the book that looks for SODIMMs.. because almost no desktops use SODIMMs.

[raffim]

I use this statement and it works: Select * from Win32_PhysicalMemory where FormFactor = 12

Hope this helps.

My challenge now is to combine this statement with this statement: SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE Version LIKE "6.1%" AND ProductType = "1"

This way I can also differentiate XP from Win 7. I just don't know if it is possible to combine these two statements in one "Query".

My option for now is to create a WMI filter using the Win32_physicalMemory statement above and combine that with the "Security Filtering" option of the GPO to filter for Win 7 laptops/notebooks/tablets using an AD group.

[dwstovall]

I just created a short vbscript that went out and touched all of our machines and did a WMI query of the Win32_PhysicalMemory.FormFactor, and I was pleased to see that some of our laptops showed FormFactor = 12; however, the vast majority showed FormFactor = 8, just like all of the desktops that it touched. I'm not sure that the FormFactor thing is reliable. We have a pretty standard mix of laptop brands and most are fairly new (1-4 years). Just a few reflected 12 (SODIMM), most reflected 8 (DIMM).

[jeremym]

There's not a superduper reliable way then. SODIMM was the best we could think of. Open to other ideas.. !