Gathering System Information Without GUI Interaction (253534)

MORE INFORMATION

The basic tool that is used to gather system information in Windows NT 4.0 is Winmsd.exe. This utility does not exist in Windows 2000; the Msinfo32.exe tool has replaced it. It is located in the System_drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo folder. There is no path to this folder by default, so you must start Msinfo32.exe by using the full path. For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: In addition to a more detailed graphical view of a local or remote computer's configuration, Msinfo32.exe supports additional command-line switches to generate text-based system information files about the software and hardware configuration from a local or remote computer. This is also true for Windows NT 4.0-based computers, with minor restrictions.

If you cannot use Winmsd.exe locally or do not have an appropriate tool to gather system information on a Windows NT 4.0-based computer, a remote output from Msinfo32.exe might be sufficient.

If a remote Console service is installed on the Windows NT 4.0-based computer, you can use the following command to create a text-based system information file: Msinfo32.exe supports the following command-line switches to generate a local or remote system information file:

Switch	Description
/?	Display this Help
/msinfo_file	Open the specified .nfo or .cab file
/nfo or /s	Outputs an .nfo file with the specified file name
/report	Outputs a text-format file to the specified file name
/computer	Connects to the specified computer
/categories	Displays or outputs the specified categories
/category	Set focus to a specific category at startup

Note that the generation of the text file can take some time, depending on the complexity of the system.