A customer asks what processor and RAM his PC has, or a software needs your exact Windows build. You do not need to open the cabinet or install any app — Command Prompt already knows every answer.
Whether you are buying RAM, checking if a PC can run Windows 11, or answering a support question on the phone, the first need is the specification sheet: processor, RAM, motherboard, BIOS version, Windows build. Windows stores all of it and will print it on command. This guide shows the three levels of checking — the one-line answers, the full systeminfo report, and the modern PowerShell replacement for the old wmic commands that Microsoft has now deprecated.
👆 What systeminfo prints — model, processor, BIOS and RAM in one screen. Values shown are from an example PC; yours will list your own hardware.
One command prints almost everything a technician asks for:
systeminfo and press Enter — give it a few seconds to collectsysteminfo > D:\specs.txt writes it to a text filesysteminfo | findstr /C:"Total Physical Memory"When you need more than the command line shows — motherboard details, IRQ and driver lists, the Windows error history — open the graphical report:
msinfo32 and press Enterdxdiag instead — it lists the GPU model and driver versionOften you need just one fact — the exact model before ordering a part, or the serial number for a warranty claim:
wmic csproduct get namewmic bios get serialnumberwmic baseboard get product,manufacturer⚠️ Honest note: wmic is deprecated by Microsoft and is being removed from Windows. It still works on most Windows 10 and 11 PCs today, but do not build new habits on it — use the PowerShell method in the next step, which is its official replacement.
PowerShell is where these queries live now. Open PowerShell and use:
Get-ComputerInfo — a very long list; scroll or filter itGet-ComputerInfo -Property "CsModel","CsProcessors","OsName","OsBuildNumber","BiosBIOSVersion"Get-CimInstance Win32_ComputerSystem | Select-Object TotalPhysicalMemoryGet-CimInstance Win32_BIOS | Select-Object SerialNumberThe output uses property names instead of neat labels, but every value from systeminfo is here — and this method will keep working on future Windows versions.
systeminfo is just one of the 60 commands — see the whole toolkit organised by job in the video.
▶️ Watch Full VideoRun systeminfo and read the Total Physical Memory line — it shows RAM in MB, so 16,384 MB means 16 GB. For a one-line answer use systeminfo | findstr /C:"Total Physical Memory". In PowerShell, Get-CimInstance Win32_ComputerSystem shows TotalPhysicalMemory in bytes.
wmic is officially deprecated by Microsoft and no longer installed by default on the newest Windows builds; it may still be present on many Windows 10 and current Windows 11 PCs. Because its future is over, this guide shows the PowerShell Get-ComputerInfo and Get-CimInstance replacements alongside it.
Not with these commands — they need a running Windows. On a non-booting PC, read the BIOS or UEFI setup screen instead: it lists the CPU, RAM size and storage directly from the hardware, even when Windows is completely broken.