An unfortunate fact of dealing with computers involves needing information regarding the "interior" of the computer, such as the model numbers for the various internal components, as well as the quantity and types of interface slots. We often need to identify the motherboard for various reasons. Some of those reasons include determining the particular processor (CPU) chipset drivers, graphics drivers and sound card drivers.
Instructions
- 1
Click "Start," (on XP, also click "Run") then type "cmd" and then press Enter. On Windows XP or Vista, this will take you to the "command prompt."
2Type "winmsd" and then press Enter from the command prompt on Windows XP. This will invoke the winmsd system utility to display all the available hardware and software information regarding the system. This includes system manufacturer, full system model, system type, processor information, BIOS version & date, SMBIOS version, memory information and other related hardware and software information.
3Type "msinfo32" and press Enter from the command prompt on Windows Vista. This will invoke the msinfo32 system utility to display all the available hardware and software information regarding the system. This is effectively Vista's replacement for $XP's "winmsd" utility; it gives basically the same information as the "winmsd" utility.
4Type "sysdm.cpl" and press "Enter" from the command prompt on either Vista or XP. Click the "Hardware" tab. Click the "Device Manager" button. Expand the "System Devices" item. Here you will find the same (and more detailed) information as that derived from "winmsd" and "msinfo32 (within the sub-areas of "Device Manager" and within the "System Devices" expanded information).
