Article ID: 255713
Article Last Modified on 3/1/2007
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
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=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.
Additional query words: winmsd MSINOF32
Keywords: kbhowto kbprogramming KB255713