SUMMARY
Windows 2000 includes Microsoft System Information (Msinfo32.exe), which is an updated version of the Microsoft Windows NT Diagnostics tool (Winmsd.exe).
You can start Microsoft System Information with Winmsd.exe as in Windows NT 4.0, but the difference under Windows 2000 is that Winmsd.exe is a stub executable file that starts Msinfo32.exe. Msinfo32.exe is located in the Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo folder.
System Information displays a comprehensive view of your hardware, system components, and software environment. The system information that is displayed is organized into three top-level categories that correspond to the following nodes on the console tree:
- Hardware Resources: This node displays hardware-specific settings, namely direct memory access (DMA), IRQs, I/O addresses, and memory addresses. The Conflicts/Sharing node identifies devices that are sharing resources or that are in conflict. This can help identify problems with a device.
- Components: This node displays information about your Windows configuration and is used to determine the status of your device drivers, networking, and multimedia software.
- Software Environment: This node displays a snapshot of the software loaded in computer memory. You can use this information to see if a process is still running or to check version information.
NOTE: Other programs may add nodes to System Information that display information specific to the program.
MORE INFORMATION
There are a variety of command-line options that you can use to automate Msinfo32.exe. The purpose for calling Msinfo32.exe instead of the Winmsd.exe stub executable file is for control of the process.
Msinfo32.exe Usage
/? - Displays the Help dialog box
/msinfo_file=filename - Opens the specified .nfo or .cab file
/nfo or /s filename - Outputs a .nfo file to the specified file
/report filename - Outputs a text-format file to the specified file
/computer computername - Connects to the specified computer
/categories (+|-)(all | categoryname) +|-(categoryname)... - Displays or outputs specified categories
/category categoryname - Sets focus to a specific category at startup
High-Level Categories
Category Heading Category Switch
=============================================
System Summary SystemSummary
Hardware Resources Resources
Components Components
Software Environment SWEnv
The following items are add-ons that may or may not be present.
Category Heading Category Switch
=============================================
Internet Explorer 5 InternetExplorer
Applications Apps
Subcategories for Hardware Resources
Subcategory Heading Subcategory Switch
===================================================
Conflict/Sharing ResourcesConflicts
DMA ResourcesDMA
Forced Hardware ResourcesForcedHardware
I/O ResourcesIO
IRQs ResourcesIRQS
Memory ResourcesMemory
Subcategories for Components
Subcategory Heading Subcategory Switch
===================================================
Multimedia ComponentsMultimedia
Display ComponentsDisplay
Infrared ComponentsInfrared
Input ComponentsInput
Modem ComponentsModem
Network ComponentsNetwork
Ports ComponentsPorts
Storage ComponentsStorage
Printing ComponentsPrinting
Problem Devices ComponentsProblemDevices
USB ComponentsUSB
Subcategory for Software Environment
Subcategory Heading Subcategory Switch
===================================================
Drivers SWEnvDrivers
Environment Variables SWEnvEnvVars
Jobs SWEnvJobs
Network Connections SWEnvNetConn
Running Tasks SWEnvRunningTasks
Loaded Modules SWEnvLoadedModules
Services SWEnvServices
Program Groups SWEnvProgramGroup
Startup Programs SWEnvStartupPrograms
OLE Registration SWEnvOLEReg
The following example gathers each high-level category into a separate .nfo file, which can be read by Msinfo32.exe.
start /wait msinfo32.exe /nfo syssum.nfo /categories +SystemSummary
start /wait msinfo32.exe /nfo cmpnt.nfo /categories +components
start /wait msinfo32.exe /nfo swenv.nfo /categories +swenv
start /wait msinfo32.exe /nfo hwdres.nfo /categories +resources
start /wait msinfo32.exe /nfo ie.nfo /categories +internetexplorer
start /wait msinfo32.exe /nfo apps.nfo /categories +Apps
The following example gathers basic system summary information and conflicts into an .nfo file, which can be read by Msinfo32.exe.
start /wait msinfo32.exe /nfo conflicts.nfo /categories
+systemsummary+componentsproblemdevices+resourcesconflicts+resourcesforcedhardware
The Conflicts.nfo file that is created contains the following top-level categories:
System Summary
Hardware Resources
Components
Under Hardware Resources, the Conflict/Sharing and Forced Hardware subcategories are present. Under Components, the Problem Devices subcategory is present.
The following example gathers the Software Environment information but does not include the Program Groups and Startup Programs subcategories. The .nfo file that is created can be read with Msinfo32.exe.
start /wait msinfo32.exe /nfo swenv.nfo /categories +swenv-swenvprogramgroup-swenvstartupprograms
NOTE: The
start /wait switch is used in the examples for batch file and/or command-line execution from a Cmd.exe command prompt. The
start switch is required to start Msinfo32.exe and the
/wait switch does not process the next item until the current item completes. Using the
start /wait switches ensures that the computer is not overloaded because some of the Msinfo32.exe categories can use a large amount of CPU time.