Asset Management - PC Birth Date

AJCButler

AJCButler

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Hi guys
Does anyone know of a asset management tool that can retrieve a date as to when the PC was born or first switched on?
Trying to get this information so we can know when to upgrade the PCs but it is proving hard.
Thanks in advance
Aaron
 
The closest thing I can find would be to run systeminfo and then look for the Original install date - but that relates to the most recent OS installation, rather than hardware age:

Screenshot 2022-01-28 104224.webp
 
Ian said:
The closest thing I can find would be to run systeminfo and then look for the Original install date - but that relates to the most recent OS installation, rather than hardware age:

View attachment 14254
Click to expand...
Thanks Ian.
Does that mean if I was to upgrade my PC to Windows 11 for example today then the Original Install Date would be today?
 
From what I remember, that date will change to the upgrade date - so it's far from ideal.

I wonder if something as simple as checking the creation date of the c:\Windows folder would do it, as that should remain even during an upgrade.
 
No. Unfortunately I checked on mine and I have files from 2002 but I got my new PC about 3 years ago.
 
AJCButler said:
No. Unfortunately I checked on mine and I have files from 2002 but I got my new PC about 3 years ago.
Click to expand...

I can understand files having older dates (as they'll retain the older file date when extracted from the installation media), but the Windows folder itself (c:\windows) should have a creation date from the very first install.

Can you please try opening a powershell terminal and running:

Code: 
Get-Item c:\windows | Format-List

This should show the creation time of just the Windows folder, hopefully providing an upgrade-proof way of finding the original OS provisioning.
 
Go to Device manager and inspect the Events tab of either Processor or Trusted Platform module
 
AJCButler said:
Hi guys
Does anyone know of a asset management tool that can retrieve a date as to when the PC was born or first switched on?
Trying to get this information so we can know when to upgrade the PCs but it is proving hard.
Thanks in advance
Aaron
Click to expand...
If you're running Microsoft Windows, you can access this information through the System Information tool. Type "System Information" into the search box in the taskbar or Start Menu and click the icon for the program. You should see a listing that says "BIOS Version/Date" with this information included.
 
Go to manufactures site and locate the original bios version date this will be when the machime was made this is a close as you'll get
 
Almost all answers are wrong. OS install has NOTHING to do with the age of the pc, otherwise I went through a period where my pc would "be born" every month.

When switching your pc on go in BIOS, usually by pressing DEL or F2 or F10 keys (might also be ESC).
Some BIOS under the first tab (Main) will have a Build Date, otherwise you need to Google your motherboard model.

If its an off the shelf pc you might just google the model of the whole pc and just skip the BIOS thing, just make sure you add to the search the CPU and amount of Ram and or GPU to narrow it down as some OEM sell other components under same model (bit shady)
 
AJCButler said:
Hi guys
Does anyone know of a asset management tool that can retrieve a date as to when the PC was born or first switched on?
Trying to get this information so we can know when to upgrade the PCs but it is proving hard.
Thanks in advance
Aaron
Click to expand...
I would go to Control Panel > Programs, and look at the dates against the manufacturers software out drivers. If there are a lot with the same date installed then it would indicate that this would be when the system was first set up.
 
If you want an automated asset management solution for many machines take a look at Netsupport DNA.
Another one that was good but may no longer available was NetCensus from Tally Systems Corp.
 
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