Problem
You want to get information about print queues for printers on the current system.
Solution
To retrieve information about printers attached to the system, use the Win32_ PerfFormattedData_Spooler_PrintQueue WMI class:
PS >GetWmiObject Win32_PerfFormattedData_Spooler_PrintQueue | >> Select Name,TotalJobsPrinted >>
Name TotalJobsPrinted
Microsoft Office Document Image Wr...
0 Microsoft Office Document Image Wr...
0 CutePDF Writer
0 Brother DCP1000
2 _Total
2
To retrieve information about a specific printer, apply a filter based on its name, as shown in Example 244.
Example 244. Retrieving information about a specific printer
PS >$queueClass = "Win32_PerfFormattedData_Spooler_PrintQueue" PS >$filter = "Name='Brother DCP1000'" PS >$stats = GetWmiObject $queueClass Filter $filter PS >$stats | FormatList *
AddNetworkPrinterCalls : 129 BytesPrintedPersec : 0 Caption : Description : EnumerateNetworkPrinterCalls : 0 Frequency_Object : Frequency_PerfTime : Frequency_Sys100NS : JobErrors : 0 Jobs : 0 JobsSpooling : 0 MaxJobsSpooling : 1 MaxReferences : 3 Name : Brother DCP1000 NotReadyErrors : 0 OutofPaperErrors : 0 References : 2 Timestamp_Object : Timestamp_PerfTime : Timestamp_Sys100NS : TotalJobsPrinted : 2 TotalPagesPrinted : 0
To retrieve specific properties, access as you would access properties on other PowerShell objects:
PS >$stats.TotalJobsPrinted
Discussion
The Win32_PerfFormattedData_Spooler_PrintQueue WMI class provides access to the various Windows performance counters associated with print queues. Because of this, you can also access them through the .NET Framework.
$printer = "Brother DCP1000" $pc = NewObject Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter "Print Queue","Jobs",$printer $pc.NextValue()
If you need dedicated infrastructure for Windows workloads, consider a USA Dedicated Server for greater control over PowerShell automation, system monitoring, service management, and server resources.