---
description: The legacy static API that predates WinRMClient — still supported, summarized for reference.
date_published: 2026-07-29
date_modified: 2026-07-29
canonical_url: https://metricshub.org/winrm-java/legacy.html
---

# Legacy API

On this Page

- [WQL queries](#wql-queries)
- [Remote commands](#remote-commands)
- [Behavior notes](#behavior-notes)

Before the fluent [WinRMClient](apidocs/org/metricshub/winrm/WinRMClient.html), the library was used through two static one-shot helpers. They remain **fully supported and unchanged** — existing code keeps working — but each call opens a connection, authenticates, runs one operation, and closes everything. New code should use the [fluent API](index.html); see [Migrating from 1.x](migrating-from-1x.html) for the mapping.

## WQL queries

[WinRMWqlExecutor.executeWql(...)](apidocs/org/metricshub/winrm/wql/WinRMWqlExecutor.html):

```java
WinRMWqlExecutor result = WinRMWqlExecutor.executeWql(
    protocol,        // WinRMHttpProtocolEnum.HTTP or HTTPS (null → HTTP)
    hostname,        // mandatory
    port,            // Integer, null → 5985 (HTTP) / 5986 (HTTPS)
    username,        // "DOMAIN\\user" or "user", mandatory
    password,        // char[]
    namespace,       // null → ROOT\CIMV2
    wqlQuery,        // mandatory
    timeout,         // long, milliseconds, > 0
    ticketCache,     // java.nio.file.Path, null for NTLM
    authentications  // List<AuthenticationEnum>, null/empty → NTLM
);

result.getHeaders();        // List<String> — column names
result.getRows();           // List<List<String>> — values in header order
result.getExecutionTime();  // long, milliseconds
```

Declared exceptions: [WinRMException](apidocs/org/metricshub/winrm/exceptions/WinRMException.html), [WqlQuerySyntaxException](apidocs/org/metricshub/winrm/exceptions/WqlQuerySyntaxException.html), `java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException` — all **checked**.

## Remote commands

[WinRMCommandExecutor.execute(...)](apidocs/org/metricshub/winrm/command/WinRMCommandExecutor.html):

```java
WindowsRemoteCommandResult result = WinRMCommandExecutor.execute(
    command,              // mandatory
    protocol,             // null → HTTP
    hostname,             // mandatory
    port,                 // null → protocol default
    username,             // mandatory
    password,             // char[]
    workingDirectory,     // nullable
    timeout,              // long, milliseconds, > 0
    localFileToCopyList,  // List<String> of local files to copy first, nullable
    ticketCache,          // nullable
    authentications       // null/empty → NTLM
);

result.getStdout();
result.getStderr();
result.getStatusCode();     // process exit code
result.getExecutionTime();
```

Files listed in `localFileToCopyList` are copied to the host first, and each reference to them in `command` is rewritten to the remote copy — the same engine as the fluent `upload(...)`; see [File Transfers](file-transfers.html).

Declared exceptions: `java.io.IOException`, `java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException`, [WindowsRemoteException](apidocs/org/metricshub/winrm/exceptions/WindowsRemoteException.html) — all **checked**.

## Behavior notes

- **One connection per call**: every invocation performs a full authentication handshake. Code that polls the same host repeatedly pays that cost on every call — the main reason to move to the reusable `WinRMClient`.
- The output character set of a command is detected before each call (one extra WQL query per call; the fluent client caches it).
- TLS configuration is global only: the `org.metricshub.winrm.tls.insecure` system property (see [TLS / HTTPS](tls.html)); there is no per-call trust store.
- Authentication schemes come from [AuthenticationEnum](apidocs/org/metricshub/winrm/service/client/auth/AuthenticationEnum.html) (`NTLM`, `KERBEROS`), with the same ordered-fallback semantics as the fluent [AuthScheme](apidocs/org/metricshub/winrm/AuthScheme.html).
- For advanced use, the underlying reusable executor is also public: [WinRMExecutorFactory.createInstance(...)](apidocs/org/metricshub/winrm/service/WinRMExecutorFactory.html) returns a [WindowsRemoteExecutor](apidocs/org/metricshub/winrm/WindowsRemoteExecutor.html) — but the fluent `WinRMClient` is the supported way to get connection reuse.