Microsoft KB Archive/255713

= Windows 2000 Command-Line Parameters for Msinfo32.exe =

Article ID: 255713

Article Last Modified on 3/1/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

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This article was previously published under Q255713



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=  - Opens the specified .nfo or .cab file

/nfo or /s  - Outputs a .nfo file to the specified file

/report  - Outputs a text-format file to the specified file

/computer  - Connects to the specified computer

/categories (+|-)(all | ) +|-... - Displays or outputs specified categories

/category  - Sets focus to a specific category at startup

High-Level Categories
Category Heading             Category Switch

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================================ 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

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================================ Internet Explorer 5           InternetExplorer Applications                  Apps

Subcategories for Hardware Resources
Subcategory Heading             Subcategory Switch

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====================================== Conflict/Sharing                ResourcesConflicts DMA                             ResourcesDMA Forced Hardware                 ResourcesForcedHardware I/O                             ResourcesIO IRQs                            ResourcesIRQS Memory                          ResourcesMemory

Subcategories for Components
Subcategory Heading             Subcategory Switch

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====================================== 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

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====================================== 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.

Additional query words: winmsd MSINOF32

Keywords: kbhowto kbprogramming KB255713

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