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) Accessories System Tools System Information .

You can also get some system information by going to Start Run . Type WinVer and click OK .

If you want to view the installed hardware on a machine, go to Start Run . Type devmgmt.msc and click 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