Have you ever wondered where the computer stores all the information about itself?
This article is about how to find the current specs (data) of your Windows PC and save them if you like.
Steps
Step 1. It is assumed that your computer is turned on. Click the Start menu and select "Run" (almost at the bottom). If you do not see Run in the Start menu, then you most likely have this option turned off. If you already have one, skip this part and go straight to step 2. Simply right-click on the Start menu or taskbar and choose Properties. There should be a tab called "Start Menu". Click one and look for something like "Customize". A list of all the options for your Start menu should appear. Look for Run and make sure it's on. Click "OK" when exiting the current window, but make sure you clicked "Apply" otherwise your changes will not take effect.
Step 2. Click the Start button again, and once you have the Run option, click on it
You will see a small window pop up with an address bar and a few buttons.
Step 3. Enter the following into the address bar
msinfo32
Step 4. Press Enter
Depending on how fast your computer is, you should soon see a larger pop-up called System Information. If nothing happens or you get an error, you probably entered it incorrectly. Please try again or copy and paste the command from this webpage.
- The home page will provide a System Summary of the basics of your system, usually starting with the operating system. This is where you get most of the basic information you are looking for.
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Find System Specs Step 4
Step 5. Try exporting information
If you want instead of clicking every dropdown menu you want to see, you can export all the information to a text file that you can read in one page at a time.
Step 6. First, make sure you select the first entry in the left pane
System Summary. If you do not do this, then you will not save all information about the computer, only the part that you managed to enter.
Step 7. From the File menu in the upper left corner, click the Export button
Step 8. Find a good place to put the file you are exporting
The desktop is a good place to be because it is easy to find (however, usually placing large files on the desktop can slow down your computer).
Step 9. Check the current directory you are in (look at the address bar at the top)
And find one that you can access easily or that you visit frequently.
Step 10. If you just want to go all the way to the desktop without having to click, just type
(these are 2 dots) in the filename bar almost at the bottom (not the address bar at the top) and press Enter on your keyboard.
This nifty little trick will put you in a directory (file folder) above the one you were in. Depending on how deep you are in your files, doing this a couple of times will usually take you to your desktop (you will know this when you enter 2 dots, hit Enter, and nothing happens because you are as high as you can go)
Step 11. Select a description for the file name such as
"My computer's info" so you know what it is when you look for it later.
Step 12. Enter the selected filename in the filename line below and press Enter
Depending on how fast your computer is and how old it is (the amount of system information, errors and logs that have accumulated), you will soon have a Notepad file (. TXT) that contains everything there is to know about a PC
Step 13. Find where you saved it and then go ahead and open it (hope you chose a description for the title
).
- The first page will cover the basics, after which it tends to be confusing and doesn't make any sense. A professional computer technician will be able to figure this out, but for mere mortals like us, this is just nonsense.
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Find System Specs Step 13
Step 14. Keep watching
But if you look long enough, you will find useful information such as: recommendations for any devices that are not working as expected, error logs when programs crash (there will be a lot of them!) And some information about your hardware.
With the right skills, you can probably diagnose your computer's problems with this system information log
Advice
- If you don't want to use the Run option or you can't find it, you can also access it from the command line. Click the Start menu and select Programs. Find Accessories near the top and click it. You should see a small black icon and the words: "Command Prompt". Press it and you should soon see the old MS-DOS OS - a black command line. Enter msinfo32 as before and a system information window should appear. Repeat steps 5 - 13.
- There are a couple of other ways to see system information besides the method outlined in the main body of the article. But this one is generally safer because nothing can be modified or changed, read-only. This keeps you from accidentally changing something important on your computer causing it to become unusable (won't work correctly).
- Msinfo32 depends on Help and Support. If this service is disabled, then you need to start it before starting these steps.
- You can also access System Information by selecting the Start menu, then All Programs, then Accessories, then System tools, and finally clicking System Information.