How to tell when Windows was installed on a computer

Updated: 02/04/2024 by Computer Hope
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There are a few ways to determine when the version of Windows you are currently using was installed on the computer. Below are each of the ways.

Finding Windows install date using systeminfo

Users who are running Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Vista, 7, 8, 10, or 11 can use the systeminfo command to show when Windows was installed on the computer. To run and use the systeminfo command, follow these steps.

Note

If you've upgraded to a newer version of Windows (e.g., upgraded Windows 8 to Windows 10), the original install date shown is the date of the upgrade.

  1. Open the Windows command line.
  2. From the command line, type the following command to show only the original install date. If you are using a non-English version of Windows, this command may not work, and you may want to use one of the other options.
systeminfo|find /i "original"

If done properly, systeminfo should return output similar to the example shown.

Original Install Date:     12/17/2015, 7:09:50 PM

or

  1. Open the Windows command line.
  2. From the command line, type systeminfo and press Enter to see output similar to the following example. The "Original Install Date" is when Windows was installed on the computer.
Host Name:                 COMPUTERHOPE
OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
OS Version:                10.0.10586 N/A Build 10586
OS Manufacturer:           Microsoft Corporation
OS Configuration:          Standalone Workstation
OS Build Type:             Multiprocessor Free
Registered Owner:          Computerhope
Registered Organization:   Computer Hope
Product ID:                00000-00000-00000-AAAAA
Original Install Date:     12/17/2015, 7:09:50 PM
System Boot Time:          3/28/2016, 6:57:39 AM
System Manufacturer:       Dell Inc.
System Model:              XPS 8300
System Type:               x64-based PC
Processor(s):              1 Processor(s) Installed.
                           [01]: Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7 Genuine Intel ~3401 Mhz
BIOS Version:              Dell Inc. A06, 10/17/2011
Windows Directory:         C:\WINDOWS
System Directory:          C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device:               \Device\HarddiskVolume1
System Locale:             en-us;English (United States)
Input Locale:              en-us;English (United States)
Time Zone:                 (UTC-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada)
Total Physical Memory:     8,174 MB
Available Physical Memory: 2,955 MB
Virtual Memory: Max Size:  16,366 MB
Virtual Memory: Available: 6,455 MB
Virtual Memory: In Use:    9,911 MB
Page File Location(s):     C:\pagefile.sys
Domain:                    WORKGROUP
Logon Server:              \\MicrosoftAccount
Hotfix(s):                 10 Hotfix(s) Installed.
                           [01]: KB3116900
                           [02]: KB3124200
                           [03]: KB3124262
                           [04]: KB3124263
                           [05]: KB3135173
                           [06]: KB3139907
                           [07]: KB3140741
                           [08]: KB3140743
                           [09]: KB3140768
                           [10]: KB3144756
Network Card(s):           2 NIC(s) Installed.
                           [01]: DW1501 Wireless-N WLAN Half-Mini Card
                                 Connection Name: Wi-Fi
                                 Status:          Media disconnected
                           [02]: Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet
                                 Connection Name: Ethernet
                                 DHCP Enabled:    Yes
                                 DHCP Server:     192.168.1.1
                                 IP address(es)
                                 [01]: 192.168.1.52
                                 [02]: fe00::b0b0:0000:0000:0000
Hyper-V Requirements:      VM Monitor Mode Extensions: Yes
                           Virtualization Enabled In Firmware: Yes
                           Second Level Address Translation: Yes
                           Data Execution Prevention Available: Yes

Finding Windows install date in the registry

The install date is in the Windows registry for all versions of Windows.

Note

If you've upgraded to a newer version of Windows (e.g., upgraded Windows 8 to Windows 10), the install date is the date of the upgrade.

  1. Open the registry.
  2. Browse to the following path.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\
  1. Once in the folder above, locate the "InstallDate" key, which contains the hexadecimal and decimal value of the date Windows was installed. Open the "InstallDate" key.
  2. Select Decimal to get the decimal value, which is the date in epoch time. Once this value is copied, use an epoch converter to convert that value to a readable date. Below is an example of an epoch and its converted date value.

Epoch value: 1450404590

GMT value: Fri., 18 Dec. 2015 02:09:50 GMT