Recipe2.6.Viewing System Properties | Windows Server Cookbook for Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000

Recipe 2.6. Viewing System Properties

Problem

You want to view the system properties of a server. These properties include operating system version, system manufacturer and model, processors, memory, and logon domain to name a few.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

From the Start menu, select All Programs (or Programs on Windows 2000) You can also get some system information by going to Start OK.

If you want to view the installed hardware on a machine, go to Start OK.

Using a command-line interface

There are numerous ways to get system information from the command line. You can run the new Windows Server 2003 utility, systeminfo.exe against Windows 2000, Windows XP, or other Windows Server 2003 systems. Use the /s option to run the command against a remote server as in this example:

> systeminfo /s <ServerName>

The srvinfo.exe utility, which is available in the Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Resource Kits, can also retrieve system information remotely. It displays a list of installed services, service packs, and hotfixes.

> srvinfo \\<ServerName>

Lastly, the Sysinternals psinfo.exe tool retrieves similar information for a local or remote system. The tool has options for viewing hotfixes (-h option), software (-s option), and disk volume (-d option) information.

> psinfo -h -s -d \\<ServerName>

Using VBScript

' This code prints system information similar to the systeminfo command. ' ------ SCRIPT CONFIGURATION ------ strComputer = "."   ' e.g. rallen-srv01 ' ------ END CONFIGURATION ---------     set dicProductType = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary") dicProductType.Add 1, "Workstation" dicProductType.Add 2, "Domain Controller" dicProductType.Add 3, "Standalone Server"    set objWMIDateTime = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemDateTime")    set objWMI = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2") set colOS = objWMI.InstancesOf("Win32_OperatingSystem") for each objOS in colOS    Wscript.Echo "Host Name: " & objOS.CSName    Wscript.Echo "OS Name: " & objOS.Caption    Wscript.Echo "OS Version: " & objOS.Version & " Build " & objOS.BuildNumber    Wscript.Echo "OS Manufacturer: " & objOS.Manufacturer    Wscript.Echo "OS Configuration: " & dicProductType.Item(objOS.ProductType)    Wscript.Echo "OS Build Type: " & objOS.BuildType    Wscript.Echo "Registered Owner: " & objOS.RegisteredUser    Wscript.Echo "Registered Organization: " & objOS.Organization    Wscript.Echo "Product ID: " & objOS.SerialNumber    objWMIDateTime.Value = objOS.InstallDate    Wscript.Echo "Original Install Date: " & objWMIDateTime.GetVarDate    objWMIDateTime.Value = objOS.LastBootUpTime    Wscript.Echo "System Up Time: " & objWMIDateTime.GetVarDate    Wscript.Echo "Windows Directory: " & objOS.WindowsDirectory    Wscript.Echo "System Directory: " & objOS.SystemDirectory    Wscript.Echo "BootDevice: " & objOS.BootDevice    Wscript.Echo "System Locale: " & objOS.Locale    Wscript.Echo "Time Zone: " & "GMT" & objOS.CurrentTimezone    Wscript.Echo "Total Physical Memory: " & _                  round(objOS.TotalVisibleMemorySize / 1024) & " MB"    Wscript.Echo "Available Physical Memory: " & _                  round(objOS.FreePhysicalMemory / 1024) & " MB"    Wscript.Echo "Page File: Max Size: " & _                  round(objOS.TotalVirtualMemorySize / 1024) & " MB"    Wscript.Echo "Page File: Available: " & _                  round(objOS.FreeVirtualMemory / 1024) & " MB" next     set colCS = objWMI.InstancesOf("Win32_ComputerSystem") for each objCS in colCS    Wscript.Echo "System Manufacturer: " & objCS.Manufacturer    Wscript.Echo "System Model: " & objCS.Model    Wscript.Echo "System Type: " & objCS.SystemType    WScript.Echo "Domain: " & objCS.Domain    Wscript.Echo "Processor(s): " & objCS.NumberofProcessors & _                 " Processor(s) Installed." next     intCount = 0 set colProcs = objWMI.InstancesOf("Win32_Processor") for each objProc in colProcs    intCount = intCount + 1    Wscript.Echo vbTab & "[" & intcount & "]: " & _                 objProc.Caption & " ~" & objProc.MaxClockSpeed & "Mhz" next     set colBIOS = objWMI.InstancesOf("Win32_BIOS") for each objBIOS in colBIOS     Wscript.Echo "BIOS Version: " & objBIOS.Version next

Discussion

One command-line tool I didn't mention in the solutions is wmic.exe. While it isn't available for Windows 2000, it is very handy on Windows Server 2003. I can simulate pretty much everything that the scripting solution does in four commands. Here they are:

> wmic os list full > wmic computersystem list full > wmic cpu list full > wmic bios list full

These commands actually print out more information than the scripting solution because they display all of the properties from the associated classes, not just the ones I chose to display. To run wmic against a remote computer, use the /node option and be sure to enclose the target server name in quotes:

> wmic /node:"srv01" os list full